May 12, 2015 By Jackie Strawbridge
The iconic LIC Clock Tower is now safe.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to landmark the 11-story building, known for its neo-Gothic detailing, gargoyles and its glass clock face.
The Clock Tower – located at 29-27 Queens Plaza North– was the tallest building in Queens prior to the construction of the Citigroup Building in 1990.
“For nearly a century, the Queens Clock Tower building has been one of Long Island City’s most recognizable structures, greeting hundreds of thousands of commuters as they enter the borough,” Landmarks Preservation Commission Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan said in a statement.
“The Commission is proud to recognize this iconic building, which represents a significant period of development in Long Island City.”
The designation marks a victory for a months-long community campaign to landmark the tower, which was once the Bank of Manhattan Building. A petition to landmark the Clock Tower garnered more than 1,600 signatures.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer also wrote a letter to the LPC last year calling on the agency to landmark the structure.
Queens Plaza Park Development, a partnership between Property Markets Group and the Hakim Organization, purchased the tower last November.
The owners could not immediately be reached for comment.
8 Comments
Rather than knee jerk preservationism, would be interesting to see a compromise were by developers can demolish buildings of historic but questionable aesthetic importance if the design of the replacement building is sufficiently distinctive. The 70 story tower proposed is bland and depressing which is why people cling to this decrepit clock tower. What if they built something aesthetically pleasing, which would raise property values and please the eye of all. Instead we have this old clock tower and a nothing building standing over it.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission should have to foot the bill for improvements to the elevators, electrical and HVAC systems that will be needed to make this dump viable.
If PMG is building 70 stories of lux property I’m sure they can swing it.
Why should they? Landmarks Preservation Commission wants to save this turd then they should be the ones to polish it.
It’s ugly. Should have been demolished and new building should have been required to have some type of clock or something. I think the claim as the clock tower being the tallest building in Queens until the Citigroup building being constructed is erroneous, Silver Tower on Queens Blvd. in Kew Gardens and the Kennedy coop on Queens Blvd. in Forest Hills are both taller than the clock tower.
Time for some “deferred maintenance” until it becomes a hazard not to take it down.
Are you kidding?, they saved that piece of sh..? is absolutely without a doubt the most horrible construction ever.
5Pointz is gone and we stay with that cr ap… un-be-lie-va-ble.!
Let’s be happy they saved SOMETHING, despite the fact they’re building a monstrosity next to it.