Another prominent Midtown Manhattan building could bedemolishedand replaced with a 26-story mid-rise tower.
The Demarest Building, a 19th-century, iron-framed structure on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 33rd Street, has long been loved for its three-story-high arched windows and unique history as a high-end horse carriage showroom and later as the home of the world’s first electricelevator. Its owners, Pi Capital Partners, filed an application for the new building this summer but have yet to begin the paperwork for a demolition permit,according toamNewYork.
Over the past few years,preservationgroups have tried without success to stop the project. They worry that, if destroyed, the Demarest Building would be a major loss for the city, given its architectural and technological legacy. It was designed in 1890 by local firm Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell, the practice ofSt. Patrick’s Cathedral建筑师詹姆斯Renwick Jr .)和由亚伦T。Demarest, a prominent carriage and automobile manufacturer. The then-upcoming Carnegie Hall was thought tobe the design inspirationfor the light-orangeBeaux Artsbuilding, though it’s unlikely since they were built around the same time.
Preservationistsare set to gather todayat 10:30 a.m.at a rally on-site (339 Fifth Ave.) to protest the Demarest’s potential demolition. The event is co-organized by theGreenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, which hasrepeatedly appealedto the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) to designate the building as a local landmark and has launched a petition (here) to save the building. The LPC claims its exterior has been altered too much since opening nearly 140 years ago.
Andrew Berman, the organization’s executive director, toldamNewYorkthat despite any changes, the Demarest Building is particularly significant given its age and because it’s a “great link to New York’s commercial past and its development as the commercial capital of the world.”
Situated blocks away fromPenn Stationand near Herald Square as well as the Empire State Building, the structure is and has always beena cornerstone of activity. While now the ground floor contains a Wendy’s, a souvenir shop, and a money exchange, the upper portion of its tan brick facade—with its terra-cotta panels and detailing—has remained architecturally iconic, preservationists argue ,and should be saved.
