TWA is taking off

From PIX11:

An icon of the Jet Age is poised to soar anew: The landmark TWA Flight Center at Kennedy Airport will reopen next year as the gateway to a swank new hotel that will give new wings to the TWA name.

The TWA Hotel, which is now under construction, is rising next to the original Flight Center, which is being restored to its "Mad Men" splendor.

Commissioned by aviation tycoon Howard Hughes and designed by famed architect Eero Saarinen, the Flight Center opened in 1962.

Hopefully, Pepper the missing cat takes up residence there.

Steinway Mansion undergoing extensive restoration

Henry E Steinway Mansion Restoration 2017 from Gabriel Espinosa on Vimeo.

"Wow! What a stroke of good luck I had today! After taking Pilar to the airport I took Logan on a mini-tour of the old neighborhood. One of the sites I wanted to show him was the old Steinway Mansion (of Steinway piano fame) in Astoria. We drove up to it and apparently the old house has a new owner who decided to restore the mansion to it's former glory and then some! The place was buzzing with workers and I asked if I could come in to take some pictures. I was allowed. I went through the entire house from the tiny watch tower at the top where it is said Mr. Henry E. Steinway, the original builder/owner of the mansion and also the founder of the Steinway Piano Company had a scope with which he used to check out what used to be North Beach and is now Astoria Park, all the way down to the basement! What an exhilarating adventure this was! They have kept all the original fixtures, wood, crown moldings, fireplaces, chandeliers, stairwells, etc and are skilfully restoring everything by hand. In these pictures you will see almost every room and close up details of the interior and exterior architecture and decor. The old cars and van in these images were there, exactly as they are now, when I was a kid back in the 70's. Unfortunately the place is shrouded in plastic sheeting because of the work but it is see-thru so you can see just about everything." - Gabriel Espinosa

More restoration work at the Steinway Mansion

The portico roof of the Steinway Mansion is being reconstructed.

George the Atheist has a photo history.

Everything old is new again

Brownstoner has some pretty amazing photos of 2 houses in the Prospect Heights historic district which were almost completely lost, but were eventually resurrected and sold for millions:

Both houses have sold within the last two years, each for $3.4 million — No. 580 in 2015 and No. 578 in 2016.

But preservation is a waste of money...

Architect draws up better plan for Astoria Park diving pool

From DNA Info:

The Parks Department has planned for years to pave over the shuttered pool and turn it into a performance space, a proposal approved by Community Board 1 and the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2013.

But the plan has drawn criticism from some residents who would rather see the pool restored to its original use.

Andrew Tesoro, who runs the Manhattan firm Tesoro Architects, says he's come up with a design for the space that would keep it functional all year-round. He submitted it to the Parks Department earlier this month.

"As an architect, I object somewhat to the plans of the Parks Department," he said.

The diving pool should retain an "aquatic function" rather than be filled in, he added. "It should have at least other uses."

Tesoro envisions restoring Astoria Park's diving pool for swimming and using it as an ice rink in the winter, then adding a deck-like stage opposite the diving boards to use for events and performances.

He came up with the idea after being approached by Kathleen Springer, an Astoria resident who's spearheaded a campaign to get the pool reopened, Tesoro said, noting the "spectacular design" of the Astoria Park Pool complex.

"It's important to take this precious resource and do as much as we can with it," Tesoro said.

Tesoro doesn't have an exact figure for how much the plan would cost to implement, but thinks it could possibly be cheaper or close in cost to the Parks Department's current plan for the site.

"Filling a 17-foot basin with gravel and then paving over half an acre of that with attractive material — that's not inexpensive activity," he said.

Why the hell is this 18th century church in Elmhurst not landmarked?

Jim Henderson/Wikipedia

"St. James Church in Elmhurst is looking to develop its property where the old church (later parish hall) sits.

It was built in 1735 and is the oldest surviving Anglican building in the City of New York.

In all likelihood, it will be necessary to tear down the Old Parish Hall to make the property attractive to developers.

The property is on the national register, but does NOT have landmark status by the city, and could be torn down. The building is probably one of the oldest buildings standing in Elmhurst, and one of a few historical buildings left in Elmhurst." - anonymous

Ok, so if the Landmarks Conservancy and the state paid for a full restoration, then why has this building not been designated, Ms. Mary Beth Betts?

A unique piece of architecture

Take a look inside Rockaway's wedding cake house, courtesy of the Rockaway Times.

Love it or hate it, it's story is pretty interesting.

Another grand Brooklyn theater being restored

From DNA Info:

It's encore time for the historic Paramount Theatre in Fort Greene.

A Barclays Center affiliate recently partnered with Long Island University Brooklyn to return the 1920s theater — with its ornate moldings, vaulted ceilings, lustrous gold details and painted dome — to being an entertainment venue for the first time in more than half a century.

Paramount, located on the corner of DeKalb and Flatbush avenues, is currently used as a gymnasium for students but will soon host a variety of live entertainment including music, comedy and boxing, according to Barclays Center officials.

Artists such as Buddy Holly, Chuck Berry, Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra played the theater's stage in its 1930s and '40s heyday until LIU bought the space in 1960 and used it for basketball games.

The school opened a new gym in 2005 and the Paramount was then primarily used as practice space for the school's baseball, softball, tennis and track teams.

Elmhurst Elks Lodge may get upgrade

From the Queens Tribune:

An Elmhurst landmark will get some upgrades, but it needs help from the community first.

Constructed in the 1920s, the former Elks Lodge at 82-10 Queens Blvd. was designated a City landmark in 2001. According to Landmarks Preservation Commission documents, some of the features that earned the building its designation include a bronze elk statute at its entrance, ornate carvings around its entryway and its brick, limestone and granite façade.

Today, these designs are somewhat daunted by the current of traffic on Queens Boulevard and the crowd of neighboring buildings. Meanwhile, certain elements of the lodge are falling into disrepair; bricks have slipped out of the exterior walls and some balustrades are chipped or missing.

Nevertheless, it is a building busy with activity, and one of the several groups that use the Elks Lodge have found a way to restore it to its former state.

Last year, the New Life Community Development Corporation applied for a grant to restore the building with the State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.

“We thought, maybe they would throw us a bag of cement or a couple of shovels or something,” New Life CDC executive director Redd Sevilla said.

Instead, in December, Parks awarded New Life CDC a matching grant of $500,000 for the restoration.

It was “the miracle that happened on Queens Boulevard,” Sevilla said.

According to Parks spokesman Randy Simons, the grant constitutes a 75 percent reimbursement of the total project cost, up to $500,000. This means that a restoration costing $666,667 would achieve the full $500,000 reimbursement, with New Life CDC fronting the initial cost and ultimately paying the difference.

New Life CDC has until the end of 2015 to fundraise for the project.

Drunken vandals caught

From the Queens Chronicle:

The two men who trashed part of a World War II memorial in Woodhaven while in a supposed drunken haze have been caught, according to community leaders.

"WE GOT THEM," the Woodhaven Business Improvement District posted on its Facebook page. "We have been notified that the two perpetrators that stole our Wreath and American Flags from our World War II Monument on our Forest Parkway Plaza Area only to destroy our Wreath and desecrate our American Flags have been arrested."

The post states that the two men are "unfortunately" Woodhaven residents.

And in other positive war memorial news, the Captain Malcolm Rafferty monument featured in this post has been restored by NYC Parks and Newtown Historical Society.

Flushing Airport wetlands to be restored

From the Times Ledger:

The city is set to restore 12 acres of wetlands surrounding Flushing Airport as part of a plan to extend 132nd Street in College Point.

The city Economic Development Corporation released a public bid last week to find a general contractor to work on the project, which will restore the open wetlands that are home to many plant and animal species.

The restoration work is required by the state Department of Conservation and will also form a stable foundation for the roadway, the EDC said.

The restored wetlands will also provide a habitat for wildlife life to thrive and will filter toxins from water which drains into Mill Creek and Flushing Bay.

The Flushing Airport was once one of the city’s busiest airplane hubs before it was closed in 1984, but has since sat idle and vacant.

Part of the site, which is not protected as wetlands, came close to being redeveloped in 2004, but plans pushed by the Bloomberg administration to build a 585,000−square−foot wholesale distribution center were scuttled amid significant community opposition.

A few years later, a number of community leaders tried to convince the EDC to build a soft recreation site there. It would have included baseball fields, a driving range, an education center and nature trails, all designed with green infrastructure in mind, but the city did not approve the plan.

A spokesman said EDC continues to explore possibilities for the site.

James Cervino, a marine scientist who pushed for the soft recreation site and the chairman of Community Board 7’s Environmental Committee, said that if the land is redeveloped for industrial use, it will require a buffer zone around it to ensure the wetlands are not contaminated.

Spectacular restoration unveiled

Curbed has a look inside the restored Loew's Kings Theater in Brooklyn, and while it looks beautiful, I can't help but be sad knowing that the RKO Keith's will never be restored that way.

Fixing Fort Totten

From the Queens Courier:

Upgrades are coming for buildings at the historic Fort Totten Park.

The Commanding Officer’s House and the chapel at Fort Totten are set to be revitalized, according to the Parks Department, which oversees both structures and announced Aug. 8 that it is accepting bids for a contractor to do the work.

The deteriorating roof on the Commanding Officer’s House, which is used as administrative offices for the Parks Department, will be replaced with new slate shingles, and the building’s columns and cornices will be restored to their former glory.

Also, the capitals atop the columns will be replaced with ones from the building’s original design, and the metal balcony on the second floor will be repaired.

Students restoring Prospect Cemetery

From the Times Ledger:

...after renovations that included the removal of the vegetation and the restoration of the on-site vacant Chapel of the Sisters, a group of volunteers and workers from Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery are repairing dozens of the toppled headstones.

“This is very interesting,” said volunteer Luci Cooke, 19, a college student from Brown University. “It’s actually excellent because I recognized some of the names in the tombstones.”

Cooke was working alongside Vivian Normant and Ali Dore, two of the five students visiting from France and helping in the project through an exchange program sponsored by Preservation Volunteers.

They were restoring the tombstone of Angeline Cornwell, who died in 1908 at age 78.

“This is a very good experience,” said Dore. “The work is hard, but I like it.”

Normant was an English teacher in France, but now she is getting her B.A. in art history back home to teach art to high school students.

“I love the work that is being done,” she said. “We are touching a part of history.”

The group, which includes students from Williamsburg High School for Architecture and Design, has restored about 50 damaged headstones. The project will also relandscape the grounds and institute an interpretative history of the place.

The colonial burial ground, next to the York College campus, dates back to 1660.

Posturing over pavilion

From The Forum:

Borough advocates have been pushing for preservation at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park since the city secured funding to restore the New York State Pavilion, which stands within it.

In the latest chapter of ongoing efforts to beautify the northeast Queens park, state Assemblyman Andrew Hevesi (D-Forest Hills) announced he helped secure $250,000 along with the city Parks Department to renovate two baseball fields there, officials said. Hevesi and Parks acquired the money through a Community Capital Assistance grant and said it will help install new backstops and fencing, re-grade the infield and add grass turf in the center to prevent flooding.

[Not the Pavilion]

Hevesi’s announcement came just days after New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo rolled out more than $5 million in awards to 14 different historic spots that suffered damage from Superstorm Sandy in 2012 – one of them being the New York State Pavilion.

Cuomo allotted $127,000 of that money to the city Parks Department to help pay for a conditions assessment of damages to the pavilion’s cable roof structure.

[Wow! $127,000! That's like 1/10 of 1% of what's needed to restore it.]

This month, the New York Mets baseball club also announced it would be donating part of Friday’s home game ticket sales towards the People for the Pavilion advocacy group to help preserve the pavilion in celebration of the 50th and 75th anniversaries of the World’s Fair. In a statement, the team reflected on the historic site and how extra funding was needed to help keep it standing.

The team is playing like shit. I bet that was a huge haul of dough! And the Mets just noticed that the Pavilion needed help after being in the same park with it since 1964?

If anyone thinks these efforts are serious, there's a bridge in Brooklyn I'll sell you.

U-Haul clock to get fixed

From the Queens Gazette:

A four-sided clock tower with a timepiece that has been frozen in place for decades is about to be rejuvenated.

The U-Haul building, situated on the Flushing River along College Point Boulevard in Flushing, was visited recently by New York City clock masters Marvin Schneider and Forrest Merkowitz who have both worked on clocks around the city, including the weekly winding of the timepiece atop the New York City Municipal Offices on Broadway and Leonard Street in Manhattan.

For years the hands of the clock have been stuck at about the 11 o’clock position.

Schneider and Merkowitz were pleased to find during a visit last December that all the original parts remained inside the clock tower.

The building, and its timepiece made by the Seth Thomas Clock Company in Connecticut, dates back to 1925. It was constructed by W & J Sloane Furniture Co. for their subsidiary, the Company of Master Craftsmen. Serval Zipper Company purchased the building in 1942. In 1979 it was taken over by U-Haul, which continues to operate a storage center in the space to this day.

The future of the Forest Hills Tennis Stadium

From the Times Ledger:

The Forest Hills Stadium’s revival as a concert venue has gotten rave and raw reviews alike from the surrounding community.

The West Side Tennis Club, which owns the stadium at 1 Tennis Place, invited neighbors to share feedback on last summer’s Mumford & Sons concert with the company hired to put on shows, Madison House Presents, as it finalizes this summer’s lineup.

Madison House Presents has booked Zac Brown Band, an Atlanta-based folk group, for June 21 and Modest Mouse and Brand New, two indie bands, for Aug. 9. The concert promoters aim to plan up to four more shows this summer.

Close to 70 people packed into Our Lady of Mercy Church Monday to share their thoughts. Complaints ran the gamut, from a “pop-up shop” hawking gear on front lawns to throngs of concert-goers clogging the path to subway stations.

But others spoke passionately about the need to preserve a structure built in 1923 to host the US Open and went on to welcome music giants such as Bob Dylan and Barbra Streisand. The city considered landmarking the structure, but decided restoring it would be too expensive.

Mike Luba, of Madison House Presents, said selling roughly 16,000 general admission tickets for the Mumford & Sons concert proved too many. Going forward, he said Madison House Presents would limit admission to roughly 13,000 for seated concerts and 14,000 for standing concerts. An assigned seating system will be used to discourage attendees from arriving early in pursuit of good spots.

Luba said neighbors would be given access to advanced ticket sales and deals.

He noted that a permanent stage would be arriving within weeks. Reinstalled seats, wider aisles and new handrails are also in the works.

“It was a good learning experience for us all,” Luba said of the Mumford & Sons concert. “It’s a little tricky getting a 100-year-old stadium back up and running.”

So it wasn't landmarked because LPC decided that restoring it was too expensive, but it's being restored now, so why not landmark it?

My favorite line of the piece, from Karen Koslowitz: “Mumford & Sons, this isn’t really my kind of music. I like Jay-Z. And my grandson just e-mailed me today that July 11 they’re going to be at the Giants’ stadium, so Jay-Z’s not coming here.”

Something's going on at the Keith's (but we're not sure what)

The Flushing Phantom sent these pics in of the RKO Keith's Theater on Northern Blvd.

DOB issued a permit for work in the landmarked foyer, but there's still a stop work order on the property. There's also a permit applied for on 4/4/14 but when you try to view the info, you get this message: "THIS JOB IS IN HUB SELF-SERVICE AND CANNOT BE VIEWED UNTIL ACCEPTED."

Hmmm...

Beautiful building to be restored

From DNA Info:

A long-neglected Hell's Kitchen landmark — which was covered in scaffolding for decades and had become home to squatters and vagrants in recent years — is getting an overhaul to become a boutique hotel, its owners announced.

The Windermere, a landmarked Queen Anne-style building at West 57th Street and Ninth Avenue, is set to be transformed into a 175-room upscale hotel with an outdoor rooftop space, according to owner Mark Tress, who purchased the property in 2009.

In addition to the hotel rooms, Tress also plans to build permanent affordable housing, which would take up 28 percent of the building, plus retail spaces on the ground floor, the developer said.

"We find the proposed work for the most part praiseworthy and welcome, especially after the building’s long history of neglect and decay," Community Board 4 wrote in a largely positive letter to the Landmarks Preservation Commission after a meeting last week.

However, CB4 objected to the ninth-floor rooftop extension, and hoped that a handicapped access platform would be changed so it blended into the building.

World's Fair statue being restored

From the Daily News:

For the first time in almost 50 years, gold stars are shining above the towering Rocket Thrower in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

The bronze statue, crafted for the 1964 World’s Fair, has been reborn, thanks to a meticulous restoration that is in its final phase.

More than 40-feet tall, the artwork evokes both Space Age and Classical imagery with its a male figure launching a rocket into space — a constellation of stars at his fingertips.

When sculptor Donald De Lue’s artwork was unveiled at the fair, it was derided by some critics. But then-Parks Commissioner and World’s Fair mastermind Robert Moses rushed to its defense.