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60 MADISON AVENUE (BTWN EAST 26TH AND EAST 27TH STREETS), APPLICATION FOR MODIFICATION OF BUILDING ENTRANCE.
At the scheduled monthly meeting of Community Board Five on Thursday, January 16, 2014, the Board passed the following resolution by a vote of 26 in favor; 0 opposed; 1 abstaining; 1 present not entitled to vote:
WHEREAS, 60 Madison Avenue is a 12 story L-shaped Beaux Arts style office building, located between East 26th Street and East 27th Street, within the Madison Square North Historic District, and was commissioned and constructed by the Neptune Realty Company in 1909-10, to the design of the renowned architectural firm, Maynicke & Franke; and
WHEREAS, The Applicant proposes to replace the existing entrance on Madison Avenue with a stainless steel storefront and a frameless glass door in a tripartite design with stainless steel signage behind the glass and with a new stainless steel and patterned glass canopy extending four feet from the building's façade; and
WHEREAS, The existing building entrance on Madison Avenue in the southernmost storefront bay, consisting of a non-historic stucco portal surrounded by glass, was installed in the late 1970s or early 1980s, prior to the designation of the Madison Square North Historic District in 2001; and
WHEREAS, Over time, there has been some modifications at the street level, most notably the relocation of the main entrance from East 26th Street to Madison Avenue; however, the building's graceful masonry façade, constructed in a blend of limestone, brick and terra-cotta, has remained remarkably intact; and
WHEREAS, The proposed design supports details of the historical elements of the building, calling for a tripartite layout of the doors and transom above, referencing the transom in the existing storefront, as well as the tripartite spandrel panel motif currently displayed in the storefront and the adjacent bays; and
WHEREAS, The proposed stainless steel and patterned glass canopy is strikingly modern, not historically contextual with, and therefore unsuitable for, the building and the Beaux Arts style employed at the time of its construction; therefore be it
RESOLVED, Community Board Five recommends denial of the application to modify the building entrance at 60 Madison Avenue because the proposed stainless steel and patterned glass canopy is inappropriate.