Plan Approved to Build Townhouse on Site of 2006 Fatal Explosion

Upper East Side, NY — The City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted Tuesday to approve plans to build a five-story townhouse on the site of a 2006 explosion, New York YIMBY reported.

Prior to the explosion, 34 E. 62nd St. was occupied by a building constructed in 1882, YIMBY reported. In 2006, Dr. Nicholas Bartha died after allegedly starting the blast that leveled the building, the New York Times reported that year.

Bartha was embroiled in a bitter divorce and sent his wife an email saying, “You always wanted me to sell the house. I always told you, ‘I will leave the house only if I am dead.’ You ridiculed me. You should have taken it seriously," reported the Times.

Bartha was given the moniker "Dr. Boom" by the tabloids.

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The new building, designed by H.S. Jessup Architecture, will rise five stories and serve as a single-family home, YIMBY reported.

During Tuesday's Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting the commissioners argued the merits of the design and whether it was appropriate for the designated historic district.

"HDC finds that while the proposed design is not offensive and would be constructed of appropriate materials, it raises the question of whether it is appropriate to construct faux historic houses in historic districts,” testified the Historic Districts Council’s Barbara Zay, as reported by YIMBY. “Introducing a design that is of our time or replicating the house that originally stood here would be acceptable strategies, but this house, while thoughtfully picking up details found in the neighborhood, does neither. The house might look like it has always been here, but we are not sure that would be an honest approach.”

The plan was eventually approved, but commissioners will require the designers to work with LPC staff going forward.

>>> Read the full report from New York YIMBY here.

[Photo: Google Maps street view circa September 2015]