New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings and sites by granting them landmark or historic district status, and regulating them after designation. It is the largest municipal preservation agency in the nation. As of July 1, 2020, the LPC has designated more than 37,800 landmark properties in all five boroughs. Most of these are concentrated in historic districts, although there are over a thousand individual landmarks, as well as numerous interior and scenic landmarks.
The demolition of Pennsylvania Station was a key moment in the preservationist movement, which led to the creation of the LPC.
Example of a plaque placed on a Landmark designated building, this example in midtown Manhattan
Preservation Foundation plaque
Before the LPC was founded, buildings such as the Andrew Carnegie Mansion were preserved largely based on individual or group advocacy.
Pennsylvania Station (1910–1963)
Pennsylvania Station was a historic railroad station in New York City that was built for, named after, and originally occupied by the Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR). The station occupied an 8-acre (3.2 ha) plot bounded by Seventh and Eighth Avenues and 31st and 33rd Streets in Midtown Manhattan. As the station shared its name with several stations in other cities, it was sometimes called New York Pennsylvania Station. Originally completed in 1910, the aboveground portions of the building were demolished in 1963, and the underground concourses and platforms were heavily renovated to form the current Pennsylvania Station within the same footprint.
View from the northeast in the 1910s
A sketch of Pennsylvania Station, Office of McKim, Mead and White
The Main Waiting Room, c. 1911, with bronze statue of PRR President Alexander Johnston Cassatt, in niche on left
The large clock under the glass dome in the main concourse