Meenakshi Srinivasan

Major controversy ensued earlier this week between preservationists and city officials when the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) released a proposal to de-calendar 94 historic sites and two historic districts. The plan would have left these locations, including Long Island City’s Pepsi sign, Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman building, and Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, completely unprotected and ripe for alterations […]

Just a month before the year-long celebration of the landmarks law's 50th anniversary is set to commence, the preservation community was dealt what is perhaps its biggest blow since the demolition of Penn Station. The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission revealed in its public review meeting last Wednesday that it would de-calendar 95 historic sites and two historic districts throughout the five boroughs, removing the historic buildings and spaces from the landmarking to-do list and leaving them completely unprotected. Proponents of the plan argue that many places on the list have been there for 50 years, and their removal would free up the LPC's backlog. Preservationists dismiss this claim, citing that the fact that the historic sites have sat unlandmarked for so long is all the more reason this out-of-nowhere proposal is bad public policy. Some of the more high-profile locations under consideration include Long Island City’s Pepsi sign, Manhattan’s Bergdorf Goodman building, and Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
More on the de-calendaring and what it means