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The Real Estate Project's 
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Campaign to Save The Cathedral Church of
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We call upon the National Trust for Historic Preservation
to intervene against massive construction Please read and sign our petition
and share our URL with friends: |
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The Real Estate Project's
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The southeast corner development envelope (upper right), up to 65% of the volume of which may be occupied by a building, has been leased for 99 years to luxury housing developer
AvalonBay Communities, Inc. (Note: Click on our tab or window to return to our site.).
Columbia University holds the option on a 99-year lease of the north sector development envelope (left hand side),
68% of the volume of which may be occupied by a building, immediately adjacent to the
Note that the guidelines here are very large-scale. The southeast corner construction would rise to 200 feet (20 stories) and stretch 240 feet in length—comparable to an average New York City block. The massive northern envelope, walling off 113th Street from Amsterdam Avenue to Morningside Drive, allows building to the eave line of
Here is AvalonBay's design for the southeast corner
200 feet tall, 240 feet long, stretching from the Diocesan House to Morningside Drive along Cathedral Parkway, the towering glassed wall of 300 luxury apartments would mock and profane the Medieval character of the Close.
Read the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation (OPRHP)'s finding under review provisions of The Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation Law, Section 14.09:
Based on our review of the proposed new construction, it is OPRHP's opinion that the proposed Residential Tower would have an Adverse Impact upon the nationally significant Cathedral of St. John the Divine and Close. The introduction of a new tower, based on the submitted designs, is incompatible in scale with the historic campus and would diminish the strong visual presence of the Cathedral while crowding the contributing ancillary buildings. The proposed tower would obscure views of the Cathedral and obscure critical sightlines within the Close. In addition to its immense scale, the proposed exterior design of glass and pre-cast panels is inconsistent with the character of the historic buildings and the high quality of design, materials, and workmanship that they represent.
[from OPRHP's letter of February 9, 2007 to AvalonBay's environmental review consultant]
Meanwhile, the excavation for the tower/garage
. . . opening a new view of the various Gothic styles of the Cathedral's ancillary buildings: (left to right) the Tudor Gothic Diocesan House, the steeply roofed Medieval French château style of the Cathedral House and Deanery, the English Collegiate Gothic Choir School.
Note the immediate juxtaposition of the excavation's plastic sheets and pilings and the Deanery.
Our series below, Photographs of the Cathedral Church and Close, further explores the effect of AvalonBay's proposed design: its Adverse Impact on the Cathedral Church and its historic Close as determined by the New York State Historic Preservation Office.
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Photographs of the Cathedral Church and Close
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The website is |
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We welcome all comments and questions. This is a campaign of, by, and for all New Yorkers and suggestions will be adopted.
The Morningside Heights Historic District Committee and The MHHDC's Campaign to Save The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine and its historic Close can be reached in several ways:
By e-mail: [email protected]
By mail: Morningside Heights Historic District Committee / PO BOX 250344, Columbia Station / New York, NY 10025
By phone: 212-665-8535
The Campaign to Save The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine and its historic Close is an effort