Date

Hon. Robert B. Tierney, Chair
New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
1 Centre Street , 9 th Floor North
New York , NY 10007

Dear Chairman Tierney:

Re: Expansion of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District

I write in support of the proposal submitted by the Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America to expand the boundaries of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The current historic district excludes many landmark-worthy cast-iron-fronted and masonry buildings along the west side of West Broadway, the east side of Crosby Street, and portions of Howard, Broome, and Grand Streets east of Crosby. These buildings should be designated as a part of an expansion to the SoHo historic district.

Margot Gayle, the world's leading expert on cast-iron architecture and the person most-responsible for saving SoHo from demolition, will turn 100 years old on May 14, 2008. Margot has long been dissatisfied with the existing boundaries of the SoHo historic district and since 1974 has wanted to see them expanded. The designation of this proposed expansion to the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District would be a wonderful centennial birthday gift to Margot.

The buildings within the proposed expansion share the same neighborhood history and patterns of development as those buildings within the designated district. Both the buildings within and on the outside edges of the district were built primarily in the post-Civil War period as store-and-loft and warehouse buildings. In addition, the buildings on the outside edges of the historic district have the same architectural quality and styles as those buildings within the district. Masonry and cast-iron-fronted buildings in architectural styles ranging from French Second Empire to Romanesque Revival and Italianate are found both within and along the outside edges of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District.

The proposed expansion includes many outstanding examples of commercial buildings designed by preeminent nineteenth-century architects. Architects D. & J. Jardine designed many buildings in the historic district as well as in the proposed extension – including the cast-iron-fronted 28 Howard Street (1872), the brick and terra cotta building at 423 Broome Street (1883-84), and the 1880-81 store-and-loft building at 474-478 West Broadway. Detlef Lienau, one of mid-nineteenth-century New York’s finest architects, designed 22-26 Howard Street in the Neo-Grec style. The building’s design is incredibly pioneering for its early date, 1864-65, and the building is one of the most significant in the area. Other major nineteenth-century commercial architects who designed buildings both inside the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District and in the proposed extension include Robert Mook, Samuel A. Warner, Renwick & Sands, George F. Pelham, Louis Korn, Griffith Thomas, and John B. Snook, among others.

Clearly, there is no logical reason why these buildings were excluded from the 1974 designation of the SoHo-Cast Iron Historic District. The time has come to ensure that these buildings, which are just as significant as those already protected under the Landmarks Law, are designated as a part of an expansion to the SoHo historic district. Without such an expansion, they remain threatened by demolition or insensitive change.

Sincerely,

Name
Address

cc: The Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society in America, 232 East 11th Street, New York, NY 10003