The Landmarks Preservation Commission is considering whether to landmark a flamboyant South Beach-style hotel in the middle of Midtown. The Metropolitan, at 569 Lexington Ave. on the corner of 51st Street, was built by the architect Morris Lapidus, who also designed such Miami gems as the Eden Roc, where Jayne Mansfield honeymooned, and the Fontainbleau, feted in the 1964 James Bond movie “Goldfinger.”

“I’m considering the issue and the history of the building,” Landmarks Commissioner Robert Tierney told The New York Sun earlier this week. “Our staff is studying it, and no decision will be made until we have more information.”

If the commission’s staff decides the property merits further consideration, a public hearing will be scheduled, known as “calendaring.” After the property is put on the calendar, the commission can vote at any time whether to designate the site as a landmark. The commission is considering the building now because Metropolitan Hotel Inc., which bought the building more than a year ago, is renovating the facade and changing some of the historic details, causing concern among preservationists.

“They have begun to change the original windows, and the atomic age sign now says Metropolitan, instead of the original Summit, from when it was known as the Summit Hotel, which is very concerning,” said a preservationist, John Jurayj, who is a member of the Historic District Council and the Modern Architecture Working Group.

“There are three Lapidus buildings in the city, and two have already been altered significantly,” he said. “I want to make sure we save the last one before it is too late.”

There are more than 1,200 buildings designated landmarks in the city, and only a dozen are modern, Mr. Jurayj said. The curving profiles, bold signs, glazed tiles, and bright colors that characterize Mr. Lapidus’s style opposed the Bauhaus aesthetic that was popular during the 1960s era. Many of the modern landmarks that have been designated in the city are of the Bauhaus style, including most famously the Seagram Building by Bauhaus creator Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. “There is the Seagram’s building, the Lever House – these iconic buildings – but so many others have been ignored and destroyed.”

“A number of very significant modern buildings have been demolished or altered, and we need to act soon because they are endangered and their architecture is important to this city,” said the director for historic preservation at the nonprofit Municipal Arts Society, Lisa Kersavage. “A lot of people don’t recognize the beauty of these buildings, it doesn’t have as broad an appeal as say, Victorian-era buildings, and, because of this, they have been overlooked.”

Mr. Tierney has argued that more modern buildings have not been designated landmarks because they must be at least 30 years old, putting many only 10 years past eligibility.

“Many buildings are just now coming into the pipeline, and we will see more and more modern buildings designated landmarks as time goes on,” he said.