10 east 82nd street is the yellow building in the middle (Google Maps)
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At this month’s Community Board 8 Landmarks Committee meeting, Upper East Siders gathered virtually to weigh in on the most pressing issues of our time: whether a townhouse renovation was too symmetrical, and if replacing wood windows with aluminum ones should be considered an act of architectural treason.
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Case #1: A New Face for 10 East 82nd Street — or the End of Civilization as We Know It?
The owners of 10 East 82nd Street, a townhouse described by its own architects as the “ugly duckling” of the block, proposed a full exterior makeover. Their dream? Re-clad the whole building in limestone, replace the front doors, pull the rear out by nearly nine feet, and add a rooftop bulkhead — all in the name of elegance, energy efficiency, and cohesion. (See the visual presentation here.)
Their presentation was polished, their renderings were crisp, and the board hated every inch of it.
“I think you are not proposing an alteration,” said board member Marco. “What it is is a new building, because you remove completely the rear, you remove completely the front, and nothing is left.”
Board member Alida Camp opposed nearly every part of the plan: “I oppose everything here. I don’t think the façade should be limestone. It looks wrong. I don’t like the double width doors… It’s too much. It doesn’t feel federal. It doesn’t look federal. It’s really tall. I oppose rooftop additions generally.”
Another board member criticized the design’s massing: “All of the windows seem somewhat larger than they ought to be. There’s very little wall left.” He also called the overall rhythm “clumpy.”
“I’m so tired of seeing limestone on buildings that don’t want limestone,” said David Helpern, the Landmarks Committee Co-Chair.
The board unanimously voted to reject the application.
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Case #2: St. David’s School Learns a Hard Lesson in Wood vs. Aluminum
Next came 15 East 88th Street, a grand Delano & Aldrich building owned by the elite St. David’s School. Their request? Replace historic wood windows with aluminum tilt-and-turn ones. According to their architect, it was part of an effort to “upgrade and meet the current energy requirements.” (Here’s the Powerpoint presentation.)
The proposal landed with all the warmth of a cold draft through an aluminum frame.
“When you have a gem like that, to start to cut corners when you’re in it for so much revenue to begin with, I think is really an abomination, frankly,” said Gayle Baron, who lives on the block and has spent the past 50 years walking by the building.
“To my way of thinking, this building wants to have wood windows,” said Helpern, again thinking about the needs of buildings themselves. “It wants to be respected. When you buy a building like this, you don’t buy it to change it. You buy it to maintain it. And I think there’s actually a moral issue about how you think about this, about this building and the windows. So I’m very opposed.”
Even the window operation drew skepticism. Marco asked whether only half the window would open and added, “The traditional material is wood.”
This application was also firmly rejected by the board.
A Quick Recap of the Priorities
Global conflict? Climate change? Urban housing crises? That’s for other boards. Here on the Upper East Side, it’s about whether your balcony proportions make your window look “like it’s wearing a top hat” or if your mullion is just a bit too thick.
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