In One Fell Swoop, 11 Midtown East Buildings Landmarked

The Shelton Hotel building at 525 Lexington Avenue at East 49th Street. | JACKSON CHEN

BY JACKSON CHEN | The Landmarks Preservation Commission has designated 11 buildings in the Midtown East neighborhood as landmarks in an important early stage of the major rezoning of the area.

The Midtown East rezoning plan, which aims to promote modern office building construction in an area from East 39th to East 57th Streets and Fifth Avenue to Third, with the district extending east to Second Avenue between 42nd and 43rd Streets, relies on developers’ ability to purchase unused development rights from landmarked buildings in order to exceed the density limits they would otherwise face. As that plan begins its rollout, the LPC considered a dozen buildings deemed worthy of landmarking.

The Beverly Hotel at 557 Lexington Avenue at East 50th Street | JACKSON CHEN

The 12 buildings considered on November 22 — 11 of which received unanimous support by the commission — were identified according to the period in which they were constructed. The Minnie Young Residence at 19 East 54th Street and the Martin Erdmann Residence at 57 East 55th Street fall into the pre-Grand Central Terminal era, built prior to the construction of the transit hub in the early 20th century. Numerous other sites from this era — including St. Patrick’s Cathedral and the Villard Houses, on Madison Avenue between East 50th and 51st Streets — have already won landmark designation in the Midtown East area.

The majority of the designated buildings were built in what the LPC calls the Grand Central/ Terminal City Era, which extends from early last century until 1933. The nine buildings in this category — which complement 17 already designated, including Grand Central itself, the Waldorf Astoria, and Saks Fifth Avenue — are 18 East 41st Street, the Hampton Shops Building at 18-20 East 50th Street, the Yale Club of New York at 50 Vanderbilt Avenue at East 44th Street, the Pershing Square building at 125 Park Avenue across 42nd Street from Grand Central, the Graybar at 420 Lexington Avenue at East 43rd Street, 400 Madison Avenue between East 47th and 48th Streets, the Shelton Hotel at 525 Lexington Avenue at East 49th Street, the Beverly Hotel at 557 Lexington Avenue at East 50th Street, and the Hotel Lexington at 511 Lexington Avenue between East 47th and 48th Streets.

In designating these buildings within Grand Central/ Terminal City Era, the LPC noted the impact that the construction of major regional transportation infrastructure at 42nd Street had on the development of Midtown East.

The Hotel Lexington at 511 Lexington Avenue between East 47th and 48th Streets. | JACKSON CHEN

The remaining building under consideration, 601 Lexington Avenue at East 53rd Street, also known as the former Citicorp Tower, was categorized under the Post-Grand Central/ World War II Era because of its more recent construction. Built between 1973 and 1978, if designated, the building would be the city’s youngest landmark. According to the LPC, research on the building is still being carried out, but the commission hopes to vote on landmarking status for 601 Lexington by year-end.

Most of the proposed designations garnered little opposition during public hearings split between July 19 and September 13. Representatives of the Pershing Square building owner SL Green and of the Real Estate Board of New York spoke in opposition to that designation, but the rest won widespread support for landmarking from stakeholders.

In comments about the 11 designations, the LPC’s chair, Meenakshi Srinivasan, praised the collaboration among city agencies that would “further enhance the New York urban experience of the old coexisting with the new.”

Other commissioners voiced satisfaction that prior to the Midtown East rezoning getting fully underway the LPC was able to secure landmark protections for such a broad swath of historic buildings.

The Minnie Young Residence at 19 East 54th, one of two new landmark designations from the pre-Grand Central Terminal Era. | JACKSON CHEN

“We’re all aware especially in this year that the city is undergoing rather dramatic transformation,” Commissioner Adi Shamir-Baron said, noting the large construction site just west of Grand Central on 42nd Street where a 1,401-foot tower will eventually stand. “I think the most stunning is the experience of the demolition site at One Vanderbilt at 42nd, 43rd [Streets] and Madison and Vanderbilt [Avenues].”

She added, “It’s heart-stopping to come by it and you think and wonder what on earth could fill it… still there’s this kind of ache around that site. I just think the designation of these buildings both individually but especially in aggregate, this 11 goes some way in filling that gaping hole.”

Commissioner Michael Goldblum said he hopes to see more collaborative work like this going forward between the LPC and the Department of City Planning.

“It’s just been an amazing effort, not only because of the number and the speed at which it’s been done, but because of the approach,” Goldblum said. “The notion of not making a district but really looking at the area as a whole in concert with City Planning to try to identify examples of buildings that were representative of periods of development and make sure those works were saved.”

In the future, Goldblum added, he would like to see additional initiatives like this happen on a “more integrated systemic basis,” so that the city is able to holistically balance preservation and modernization.