Willem De Kooning's Old Home Landmarked

UNION SQUARE, NY — A city commission has voted to landmark Willem de Kooning's former home and studio, clearing the way to permanently preserving the building from major construction or demolition.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the home, located at 827-831 Broadway, for landmark status on Tuesday morning. The buildings will be officially landmarked once approved by the full City Council.

“Through their association with Willem de Kooning, a succession of influential artists, and the rise of Abstract Impressionism, these buildings participated in New York City’s emergence as the center of the art world after World War II. This designation recognizes their immense cultural significance and celebrates the contributions of the artists who inhabited them,” said Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan

The landmark designation takes immediate affect. City Council has the power to disprove or modify the landmark status, although such action is rare.

The abstract artist de Kooning worked in a studio on the top floor of the stately cast iron buildings 831 Broadway. Since last year, preservationists have been pleading with the city to landmark both 831 and its neighbor, 827 Broadway, to save it from the wrecking ball. Investors announced plans last year to demolish both buildings and replace them with a 14-story tower with retail and office space. The building's owners withdrew those plans after outcry, and now say they will wait to present plans until after the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission makes a decision on the buildings.

The LPC, which protects significant NYC structures by designating buildings as landmarks or as part of historic districts, decided this year to consider landmark applications for the cast-iron buildings, which were built in 1866. On Tuesday, the commission held a public hearing, during which preservations with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and other groups asking that the structure be landmarked.

Image credit: Ciara McCarthy / Patch