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David Chipperfield-designed West Village condo finally gets Landmarks approval

Third Time's the Charm

David Chipperfield-designed West Village condo finally gets Landmarks approval

It seems the third time’s the charm for David Chipperfield.

After twice declining to approve his firm’s proposal for a West Village condo, pictured above, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) has okayed the design, which has changed only slightly since its last hearing.

The proposed structure, at 11-19 Jane Street, sits on a largely residential side street in the Greenwich Village Historic District. Chipperfield’s work would replace a two-story parking structure with a six-story condominium building. The firm’s first proposal, a white precast concrete building, was rejected by LPC in July of last year. A January proposal did not fare any better and was turned down mostly on the basis of its out-of-character entrances and sliding windows.

The new design features casement windows divided by red brick mullions topped by stone lintels that echo the neighbors. A more subtle penthouse roofline responded to commissioners’ concerns around the building’s height.

In a post-decision statement, preservation advocacy group the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation (GVSHP) remained deeply unimpressed with Chipperfield’s most recent round of revisions, suggesting the condo would look better beside a highway off-ramp:

It is deeply disappointing that the Landmarks Preservation Commission chose to approve a design which is so patently inappropriate for the Greenwich Village Historic District and for Jane Street. The design is barely changed from the one roundly criticized by the public and rejected in January. It still looks like a chain motel, it’s still too large, and it still sticks out like a sore thumb.  The changes made by the architect since January are the proverbial rearranging of the deck chairs on the Titanic.  This design might look at home next to the off-ramp of I-95, but it does not make sense on this historic side street. We hoped for better from this architect, and from the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Though the project received unanimous approval, the commission urged the architects to continue to refine the design, especially the windows at street level.

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