Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts

Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, founded in 1982, is an independent, not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to preserving the architectural legacy, livability, and sense of place of the Upper East Side.
Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, founded in 1982, is an independent, not-for-profit membership organization dedicated to preserving the architectural legacy, livability, and sense of place of the Upper East Side. The Upper East Side of Manhattan, anchored by six historic districts is one of New York City’s best preserved, most stable, most diverse, and most livable neighborhoods. It is also one of the most vulnerable, because its good qualities are exactly what real estate investors and speculators are looking for. They want to put their money where prospective tenants and homeowners want to put theirs. To strike the right balance between preservation and renewal is a difficult, full-time job. Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts has been doing that job for twenty-five years and we need your help to continue preserving and protecting this world-famous neighborhood. FRIENDS regularly monitors, attends and testifies before the Community Board, Landmarks Preservation Commission, City Planning Commission, Art Commission and City Council, acting as community advocate to encourage appropriate development on the Upper East Side. FRIENDS also keeps busy educating the public. For our young friends, we teach second and fourth graders a three-part course on learning to appreciate the built environment. For adults, we hold symposia, sponsor walking tours, and annually give awards to individuals for community service and owners of properties and their architects for outstanding preservation projects.

Tonight! Join us at 6:00 pm to hear the latest from elected officials and neighborhood advocates in the fight against ov...
06/27/2019
Overdevelopment Forum

Tonight! Join us at 6:00 pm to hear the latest from elected officials and neighborhood advocates in the fight against overdevelopment.

City Council Office Start Time Thursday, June 27, 2019 - 6:00pm End Time Thursday, June 27, 2019 - 8:00pm Location The CUNY Graduate Center365 5th AvenueNew York , NY 10016United States Event Registration First Name Last Name Address Address City State Postal Code Phone Email Add to Calendar 2019-06...

Happening now - Francis Morrone on NYC transit history @ryansdaughterny #ues #yorkville #nyc #transitnerd #nychistory
06/20/2019

Happening now - Francis Morrone on NYC transit history @ryansdaughterny #ues #yorkville #nyc #transitnerd #nychistory

The end of the State Legislative session is next week... will an important bill to curtail zoning loopholes in resident...
06/12/2019
Sign the Petition

The end of the State Legislative session is next week... will an important bill to curtail zoning loopholes in residential buildings make it out of committee?

Sign the petition and call/email Assembly Speaker Carl E. Heastie (518-455-3791 and [email protected]) and Housing Chair Assemblyman Steven Cymbrowitz (518-455-5214 and [email protected])!

Demand an End to Real Estate Loopholes in NY

We're thrilled to announce that the LPC has designated the First Hungarian Reformed Church and the National Society of C...
06/11/2019
Two New Upper East Side Landmarks!

We're thrilled to announce that the LPC has designated the First Hungarian Reformed Church and the National Society of Colonial Dames Headquarters as individual landmarks in Yorkville!

Big crowd at CB8 tonight to ask questions of Gary Barnett of Extell about two pending development sites on the UES at 79...
05/14/2019

Big crowd at CB8 tonight to ask questions of Gary Barnett of Extell about two pending development sites on the UES at 79th and First, and 86th and First. Swipe for contact info for further questions. @ Chapin School

The Department of City Planning announced this morning it will fast-track the issue of gerrymandered and sculpted zoning...
05/14/2019
Ben Kallos

The Department of City Planning announced this morning it will fast-track the issue of gerrymandered and sculpted zoning lots with a report due by August 2019!

“The point of city planning is to have predictability and we have a zoning text that has been under attack by people looking for loopholes, and the newest is these gerrymandered lots,” says Upper East Side City Council member Ben Kallos, who requested the study and has staunchly advocated for the city to crack down on the practice. “The point is to restore the predictability.”

Today the Council voted to reduce heights on super tall buildings with empty spaces and the city agreed that gerrymandered zoning lots are worth studying. Full coverage in Curbed NY.

Join Historic Districts Council tomorrow at the beautiful Bohemian National Hall, in the heart of Yorkville, for this ti...
05/10/2019

Join Historic Districts Council tomorrow at the beautiful Bohemian National Hall, in the heart of Yorkville, for this timely event!

Register here: https://act.myngp.com/Forms/-316311695757407232

TOMORROW! Shop Around the Corner: Celebrating New York's Immigrant Businesses - Come enjoy great food and great conversation about protecting NYC's legacy businesses.
#smallbusinessweek
@schallerstube @patsysitalianrestaurant @lamoradanyc
@benkallos @jamesandkarla @dokham @madoniabrothers @small_business_service @galeabrewer

FRIENDS Challenges Illegal Building at Third Avenue and 63rd Street
05/04/2019
FRIENDS Challenges Illegal Building at Third Avenue and 63rd Street

FRIENDS Challenges Illegal Building at Third Avenue and 63rd Street

Designed by Manuel Glas Architects, 1059 Third Avenue first received its zoning approval from DOB in 2015. Despite its plans having been amended and approved by the DOB multiple times, including zoning diagrams most recently filed in March 2019, they still have serious and pervasive errors. 

On Sunday, May 19th, join FRIENDS of the Upper East Side and co-sponsor The New York Landmarks Conservancy for "Divine D...
05/01/2019
Divine Design: Religious Architecture and Community in Yorkville

On Sunday, May 19th, join FRIENDS of the Upper East Side and co-sponsor The New York Landmarks Conservancy for "Divine Design: Religious Architecture and Community in Yorkville" as a part of the 9th Annual Sacred Sites Open House!

On this free walking tour, led by Architectural Historian Gregory Dietrich, we will explore Yorkville's most eclectic ecclesiastical architecture that once catered to immigrant groups that settled the area.

Registration is now live, and spaces are going quickly, so click the link below to book your spot today!

Divine Design: Religious Architecture and Community in Yorkville Meeting point: S/E Corner of First Avenue and East 87th Street. Join Sacred Sites Open House cosponsor FRIENDS of the Upper East Side Historic Districts for a tour of Yorkville’s Divine Designs! In conjunction with the New York Landm...

A few of our local UES favorites made it into this round-up of small businesses in neighborhoods across NYC, including L...
04/24/2019
Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President

A few of our local UES favorites made it into this round-up of small businesses in neighborhoods across NYC, including Lexington Candy Shop, Mansion Restaurant, and Two Little Red Hens Bakery. What else would you include??

"Real New Yorkers know that the businesses that give New York its personality and character are its quintessential mom-and-pop shops—from homey NYC restaurants to quirky boutiques and supply shops."

©Eileen Meny Photography
04/23/2019

©Eileen Meny Photography

We had a great time celebrating our terrific awardees at the Cosmopolitan Club on March 26, 2019 when we also welcomed two new members of our Board of Directors, Arete Warren and Marjorie MacLachlan and one new member of our Board of Advisors, Christopher Collins. Welcome!
Photography by Eileen Meny.

Did you catch the mechanical void loophole article in the Times this weekend?“It’s pretty outrageous, but it’s also pret...
04/22/2019
How Luxury Developers Use a Loophole to Build Soaring Towers for the Ultrarich in N.Y.

Did you catch the mechanical void loophole article in the Times this weekend?

“It’s pretty outrageous, but it’s also pretty clever,” said George M. Janes, a planning consultant who has tracked and filed challenges against buildings in New York with vast unoccupied spaces. “What is the primary purpose of these spaces? The primary purpose is to build very tall buildings.”

The spread of these buildings overlooking Central Park is provoking a backlash amid a broader debate about affordable housing, extravagant projects and the city’s identity.

Have you seen our Letter to the Editor in Crain's New York Business? "No one is denying the need for more housing, parti...
04/08/2019
No a-voiding this loophole

Have you seen our Letter to the Editor in Crain's New York Business?

"No one is denying the need for more housing, particularly units that are affordable for all, but the voids we are fighting are unusable spaces serving no civic purpose. Soaring buildings composed of a few residential units and one-third empty space do nothing to address the housing crunch or the administration’s affordable-housing goals.

It doesn’t take a zoning expert to see that huge empty spaces are inconsistent with objectives of balanced, livable urban growth."

Breadcrumb Home Letters to the Editor April 08, 2019 12:15 PM No a-voiding this loophole How to stop unexpected towers Rachel Levy Tweet Share Share Email More Print CityRealty To the editor: You are right to support the closure of the mechanical-void loophole, but it is a mischaracterization to say...

Great crowd for our talk tonight with John Loughery, Pulitzer-prize nominated author of “Dagger John: Archbishop John Hu...
03/20/2019

Great crowd for our talk tonight with John Loughery, Pulitzer-prize nominated author of “Dagger John: Archbishop John Hughes and the Making of Irish America” to shed light on the lives of Irish Americans on the UES and other parts of Manhattan in the 19th century #nychistory #ues #uppereastside @ The American Irish Historical Society

Looking to connect with local advocates and share news and strategy on community campaigns??? Check out Historic Distric...
03/12/2019

Looking to connect with local advocates and share news and strategy on community campaigns??? Check out Historic Districts Council Borough Commitee meetings happening all around town throughout this month.

Upper Manhattan meeting is March 25th!

Join our Borough Committees!

Lower Manhattan meeting - Tomorrow, March 12

Queens meeting - Wednesday, March 13

Staten Island meeting - March 14

Upper Manhattan meeting - March 25

Village Preservation - Greenwich Village Society For Historic Preservation Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden The Noble Maritime Collection @tompkins_square_library

“There’s definitely an issue there when that’s the building we know has gotten the attention of the mayor and city plann...
03/08/2019
Plans for ‘condo on stilts’ halted over fire safety concerns, says DOB

“There’s definitely an issue there when that’s the building we know has gotten the attention of the mayor and city planning,” said Rachel Levy, the executive director with Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts, which pushed for the FDNY to review the 62nd Street tower’s plans. “The idea that that very building won’t actually be effected by this action is concerning.”

The controversial building galvanized the de Blasio administration’s efforts to crack down on excessive voids

FRIENDS’ President Franny Eberhart speaking on a panel of preservation greats at the @hdcnyc conference on the topic, Pl...
03/02/2019

FRIENDS’ President Franny Eberhart speaking on a panel of preservation greats at the @hdcnyc conference on the topic, Plan B (and C, D, and E): What to do when the LPC says no to designation?

Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President
02/22/2019
Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President

Gale A. Brewer, Manhattan Borough President

Developers use "mechanical voids" to drive up the height of buildings so they can get a better price for the condos at the top. It's long past time to close this zoning loophole.

I spy with my little eye... a familiar title on the shelves at Shakespeare & Co. Lexington Avenue. Get your copy of FRIE...
02/13/2019

I spy with my little eye... a familiar title on the shelves at Shakespeare & Co. Lexington Avenue. Get your copy of FRIENDS’ original publication Shaped by Immigrants: A History of Yorkville today! #smallbusinesslove #ues #nychistory #yorkville #abookaday

Dig into your family archives and help to tell the story New York City. For the entire month of February, Urban Archive ...
02/01/2019

Dig into your family archives and help to tell the story New York City. For the entire month of February, Urban Archive will be collecting personal histories and photographs of New Yorkers captured on city streets across the five boroughs. FRIENDS is so excited to partner for this project, let's show them some of the beauty and magic of the Upper East Side!

The call is open to anyone with a story to share, but they are most interested in photographs that were taken in NYC before the year 2005. All photographs submitted must have been taken on a city street and/or in front of a building that can potentially be identified within the five boroughs. Each photo must also include at least one human subject.

Submissions will be accepted between February 1 and February 28. At the end of the month, Urban Archive will select 20 photographs to add to their permanent, citywide archival collection. Selected photographs will be announced on March 6, 2019 and featured in the Urban Archive app.

Submit your photos here: https://airtable.com/shr3zXcyYTfpLn0Mh

For any questions or concerns, Urban Archive can be reached at [email protected]

Address

966 Lexington Ave
New York, NY
10021

Opening Hours

Monday 10:00 - 18:00
Tuesday 10:00 - 18:00
Wednesday 10:00 - 18:00
Thursday 10:00 - 18:00
Friday 10:00 - 18:00

Telephone

(212) 535-2526

Website

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