BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | The first plan wasn’t a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle but rather a Tammany turtle rooftop addition. But it could just as well have been one as far as the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which rejected it, was concerned.
That design would have added a 30-foot-high, tortoise shell-shaped glass dome atop the old Tammany Hall, at E. 17th St. and Park Ave. South. The shell-shaped addition was intended to evoke Chief Tamanend, a.k.a. Chief Tammany, the namesake of the notorious Democratic organization that built Tammany Hall, which was dedicated in July 1929.
The tortoise was the symbol of the Lenape people, and the chief was often depicted standing atop one, a bit like a 17th-century version of a Segway. As for Tammany Hall, well, it was the symbol of political corruption.
On Tues., March 10, BKSK architects presented L.P.C. with a redesign of the two-story rooftop addition. It’s now a de facto dome — not scallop shaped — plus now includes a band of dark-colored composite “sun shade” slats, to simulate the building’s existing historic slate roof tiles that would be removed.
Harry Kendall of BKSK this time made no mention of turtle-surfing chiefs, instead referring to the new dome as akin to that of Thomas Jefferson’s home at his Monticello plantation.
The exteriors of the ground-floor commercial spaces would also be spruced up and made uniform.
Although some of the commissioners voiced concerns, in the end, they unanimously approved the new design.
Meenakshi Srinivasan, L.P.C. chairperson, said the changes satisfied their previous concerns and would not detract from the building’s appearance.
The dome — which would not be illuminated at night — is part of a plan to gut-rehab the building, which is currently home to the New York Film Academy and the Union Square Theater. The owner’s intention is to convert the building to commercial office use.
Jack Taylor, a member of the Union Square Community Coalition, was disappointed at the approval of the design, and said it’s only “minimally better” than the previously shown turtle shell.
“It’s nothing that preservationists want, as far as I’m concerned,” he said.
It was only a bit more than a year ago that the former “temple of corruption” was designated an individual New York City landmark.
“We pressured L.P.C. for 29 years to landmark Tammany Hall — and now we got into this,” Taylor lamented of the O.K.’d dome
The building was previously owned by the International Ladies’ Garment Workers’ Union, which, Taylor noted, renamed its auditorium the Roosevelt Theater in honor of New Dealer F.D.R.
“Of course,” Taylor noted, “the Tammany building was designed to simulate the old Federal Hall on Wall St., where Washington took the oath of office. The original Federal Hall was a Georgian design — there certainly was no dome.”
On top of all that and only adding to the indignity, he pointed out, April marks 50 years since the signing of the city’s Landmarks Law, which created the L.P.C. Preservationists will be partying it up everywhere to mark the anniversary.
And so, the building’s owner has now been granted a certificate of appropriateness to construct the dome. But to Tammany Hall purist Taylor, it will forever be inappropriate.
He said he’ll also be sorry to see the theater get booted from the building to make way for offices.
“A musical version of ‘The 39 Steps,’ the classic British movie thriller, is coming to the theater in May,” he noted.
