Friday, June 12, 2015

City halts fire escape removal

From DNA Info:

The architect pushing to remove fire escapes from two SoHo buildings has been ordered to stop, according to city officials and records.

Joseph Pell Lombardi, an architect specializing in preservation of historic buildings, wants to remove the front and back fire escapes from 69 and 71 Greene St. as part of a renovation of the two buildings.

The Department of Buildings approved Lombardi's application for 69 Greene St. last week and Lombardi expected to meet with a plan examiner this week regarding 71 Greene St.

But the DOB issued a stop work order for 69 Greene St. after an inspection on Monday, records show. A DOB spokesman said Lombardi "failed an audit for code compliance."

The stop-work order specifies that Lombardi must verify tenant safety "such as egress and safety with active [construction] jobs," and specifically mentions sprinklers. It also mentions "conformance with approved jobs" and "performing permitted work in accordance with plans/permits.
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1 comment:

Anonymous said...


What an asshole is this architect if he ever even graduated from a decent architectural school.
Tourists visit Soho just to see these stairs and to take pictures of them.
The stairs are a signature of this part of NYC.