Oh, hell! City ruining church
Nixes plan to save historic windows
THE struggle to save the facade of Manhattan’s historic, 110-year-old Christ Church has run out of miracles. The city’s Department of Buildings has nixed developer Sam Chang’s plan to restore and preserve the beautiful, windowed upper portion of the chapel on West 36th Street and incorporate it into a new 26-story Marriott-brand hotel he’s putting up — after the agency initially blessed the job last year.
Chang’s decision to spare most of the church’s exterior front wall delighted community members and preservationists who had urged him to restore and keep the two-level facade, distinguished by five arched, English Gothic-style windows on the higher level.
But the DOB found that because the wall’s upper portion is set back by a mere 5¹/2 feet from the lower portion, it violated neighborhood “street wall” zoning regulations.
The agency quietly yanked its earlier approval in March “without much warning,” said Chang’s lawyer, Patrick Jones.
The rules require any new building on cross-blocks in the former Garment District area to have a sheer, 80-foot high facade, partly intended to prevent deep, sidewalk-level setbacks that create “dead zones” that discourage pedestrian use and vibrant street life.
Although the chapel facade is more than a century old, the DOB regards Chang’s entire project as a “new building” — meaning the upper chapel wall, much taller and more visible than the one at ground level, must go.
Chang is considering a plan to replicate the look of the windowed level using modern materials. Preservationists are appalled. Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the nonprofit Historic Districts Council, said, “It’s a crying shame when the developer and the community are trying to work together on a mutually ad- vantageous solution and the city is what’s standing in the way.”
He added, “The street wall regulation is a good rule, but this is a situation where an exception should be made.”
The DOB said Chang could seek a waiver from the city’s Standards and Appeals Board. But a source said Chang would have to prove to the board that a copycat wall would be more expensive than keeping the real one — when, in fact, restoring the original would cost more.