Please call or email LANDMARK WEST! with any questions: (212) 496-8110, landmarkwest@landmarkwest.org . And please email us any photos showing progress!

12 W. 68th St. as designated by the LPC in 1990 (below)

Timeline1925

1990

2007

2008

2009

2012

2015

Studio building at 12 W. 68th St. is built behind 14 W. 68th St. (1895, architect Louis Thouvard)

12 W. 68th St. with illegal 2008 roof-top addition (above)

LPC designates Upper West Side/ Central Park West Historic District with over 2,000 buildings, encompassing 12-14 W. 68th St. along with the Hotel des Artistes and First Church of Christ, Scientist (visit landmarkwest.org for a map).

Architect Lester E. Tour files application with Dept. of Buildings to construct rooftop addition at 12 W. 68th St., but fails to apply to LPC as required.

DoB approves permits for “illegal” rooftop addi-tion. LW! reports illegal construction to LPC.

12 W. 68th St. owners ask LPC to “legalize” the rooftop addition; LPC declines. Owners spend next two years trying to circumvent the law.

LPC requires removal of illegal rooftop addition and approves new design.

Illegal 2008 addition is finally removed. Con-struction begins on LPC approved plan (see image right)

LANDMARK EST! is the Upper West Side’s preservation and development “watchdog” organization. Back in 2008, when a neighbor’s eagle eyes spotted a suspicionsly inapproriate rooftop addition to eyes spotted a suspicionsly inapproriate rooftop addition to 12-14 West 68th Street (in the Upper West Side/ Central Park West Historic District, immediately north of the Hotel des Artistes at 1 West 67th Street and adjacent to the First Church of Christ, Scientist, CPW at 68th Street) we sprang into action. LW! reported the structure to the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). The LPC confirmed that a full fifth floor addition had been constructed without LPC approvalapproval. A long saga ensued, (see timeline below) involving court dates, changes of ownership, and lots of neighbors’ letters, hearings and testimony at LPC.

But for LW’s vigilance, and your active support (thank you!) this illegal addition to our Historic District might have slipped through the cracks. And if it can happen here, it can happen anywhere.

FINALLY, GOOD NEWS! The illegal rooftop addition is coming down and being replaced with a smaller, more appropriate structure.

Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty...and landmarks preservation too!

Hotel Des Artists -----------------------

West 68th St.------------------ V

V

The LPC-approved rooftop addition (see image left) will have a shorter overall profile, slope back at the northern edge, and be set back from the original parapet line.

The illegal rooftop addition (profiled in red) has been removed. Its replacement (profiled in white) will be significantly smaller.

illegal addition