City confers landmark status to youngest building, plans to designate some of oldest

The Landmark Preservation Commission designated four buildings as landmarks today, including the youngest ever: the Japan Society at 333 East 47th Street, built in 1971. The Modernist building was designed by Junzo Yoshimura and is home to the cultural center.

The three other buildings that garnered the distinction were the Engineers’ Club Building at 32 West 40th Street, built in 1907, the Neighborhood Playhouse at 466 Grand Street built in 1955, and the Greston Gatehouse at 4695 Independence Avenue in the Bronx built in 1866 by James Renwick, Jr.

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The city also held seven public hearings and scheduled 16 more to rule on landmark protection for more than 1,100 sites citywide — most of which fall under proposals for historic districts that include 190 buildings on the Riverside-West End section of the Upper West Side and 940 buildings in Queens’ Central Ridgewood neighborhood.

“The commission made a great deal of progress today towards protecting many more of New York City’s architecturally, culturally and historically significant sites,” said LPC Chairman Robert Tierney in a statement. “We voted to hold hearings on plans to landmark some of the city’s oldest buildings, designated its youngest landmark and took action on 1,100 buildings in between.” TRD