Hearing Set For Controversial NoHo Building Demolition

LOWER MANHATTAN, NY — A controversial application for a new building in Lower Manhattan is appearing before the Landmarks Preservation on Tuesday.

The application seeks to gain approval to demolish a one-story garage at 27 East 4th Street and replace it with a six-story building.

The controversy surrounding the NoHo building application doesn't come from the property itself, but instead from what the garage is next to.

The garage at 27 East 4th Street, just outside the West Village, is directly adjacent to the Merchant's House Museum (Tredwell House,) which is one of New York's first landmarks and considered the only nineteenth-century family home still standing.

It was built in 1832.

The Merchant's House also appears on the New York State Register of Historic Places and National Register of Historic Places.

While the application to construct the six-story building included steps to provide safeguards against damaging the Merchant's House during the construction, critics of the application say that the applicants did not offer proof that the "house would not suffer damage, especially to the irreplaceable decorative plaster."

You can read the full application here.

Community Board 2, which covers most of Lower Manhattan, met on Dec. 17 to discuss the application.

During the testimony, around 60 members of the public and members of the Tredwell family spoke in opposition to the application.

There was no testimony from the public in support.

Members of the community board also emphasized that the proposed building's size would dwarf the Merchant's House Museum. They added that it "does not provide a suitable intermediate transition in height from the house to building."

At the end of the meeting, all 46 members of Community Board 2 voted unanimously to send a recommendation to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to deny the application.

You can read the community board's full resolution about the subject here.