East Side Extra: In Town/Out of Town

Who is the Bridge and Tunnel crowd? In more quotidian times, that moniker might call to mind tourists from New Jersey. Currently, the crowd in question might be New Yorkers themselves: Over the past several months, many New Yorkers have sped across these spans on their way out of the

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Annual Awards 2020: Bringing the Outside In

Perhaps more than any time in recent memory, the profound disruption of urban life caused by the pandemic has reinforced the value of open space in our dense communities. With nowhere else to go, open spaces of all kinds have been a salve for the mind and for the soul,

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bricks and brownstone

The Brownstone Bible is Back!

Preservationist and co-author Patrick Ciccone joined FRIENDS virtually on September 24th to discuss the process and development of the newest edition of Bricks and Brownstone.

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East Side Extra: The UES on Film

Film is known for its transportive powers, which might be why so many of us have turned to movies during our time at home. For most of the pandemic, the city itself felt as silent as a film set, but on screen you can see New York as you know

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163 East 67th Street

A Moorish Revival style synagogue designed by Schneider and Herter and built in1889-1890. Application is to install LED signage.

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1022 Lexington Avenue

A neo-Grec style rowhouse built in 1880-1881 and designed by Thom and Wilson. Application is to replace storefront and entrance infill and modify openings.

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147 East 69th Street

A garage/residence, originally built as a carriage house in 1880, and altered in the neo-Georgian style by Barney & Colt in 1913. Application is to construct a rooftop addition and install a privacy wall at the rear terrace.

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IN THE NEWS: Developer Zoning Fraud

The issue of zoning fraud, heightened by the Buildings Department’s broken self-certification program, was highlighted today in an opinion piece published today in Gotham Gazette, by Diana Florence, the former head of the Manhattan District Attorney’s Construction Fraud Task Force.

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Decorated Tenement: An Illustrated History

Architectural historian Zachary Violette joined FRIENDS virtually in July 2020 to discuss his book, The Decorated Tenement: How Immigrant Builders And Architects Transformed The Slum In The Gilded Age.

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East Side Extra: Introducing the Rhinelanders

As the Third and Second Avenue elevated trains rumbled their way uptown to Yorkville in the early 1880s, passengers would have seen streets around them that were unevenly lined with new tenement construction, in addition to a lot of empty lots. The Panic of 1879 had interrupted new development in

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