Two More Buildings on Lower East Side Are Landmarked
Even as the Bloomberg administration is pushing for a rezoning of the Lower East Side, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission is extending landmark protection status to more and more buildings in the area.
Konrad Fiedler
Public National Bank of New York building at 106 Avenue C. 9
Yesterday, Landmarks designated two new Lower East Side buildings — the Wheatsworth Bakery and the Public National Bank — as landmarks. That brings to six the total number of Lower East Side buildings that have been designated as landmarks over the past year.
The Wheatsworth Bakery and the Public National Bank were two of six sites that were given landmark protection yesterday by the commission.
A spokeswoman for Landmarks, Lisi de Bourbon, said the designations on the Lower East Side were incidental to the Planning Commission's plans for a rezoning. "The Bloomberg administration is working on several fronts to preserve New York's distinctive neighborhoods. We usually work closely with the planning department, but in this case we undertook a survey as an independent effort. These designations came out of that survey," she said.
Situated at 444 E. 10th St. between avenues C and D, the Wheatsworth Bakery, completed in 1928, served as a cracker and flour manufacturer. The Milk Bone dog biscuit was invented and produced there.
The seven-story brick building was designed by J. Edwin Hopkins and closed in 1957. It now serves as a public storage warehouse.
The Public National Bank is situated at 106 Avenue C, at 7th Street.
The building was designed by the architect Eugene Schoen, who studied under one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession, the architect Josef Hoffmann.
The commission also approved the designation of two WPA-era pools and recreation centers — the Tompkinsville pool and recreation center and the Betsy Head pool and recreation center in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. A former firehouse in East Harlem designed by the firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons also received designation.
