The old Public National Bank at 1770 Madison Avenue and 116th Street has been waiting for divine intervention for the past two decades and the building appears that it might get just that. Some activity on the site tipped us off to checking on its status and a couple of interesting facts came up.
This colonnade building in East Harlem formerly housed a church but is in such poor condition that the congregation has not been able to meet there in decades. A report from a couple of years ago explains that the owner of the property had been waiting for divine help to come up with money to restore it one day:
LINK. Now it looks like some intervention has arrived since scaffolding has appeared on the site in the past week for some remedial repairs and the 2-story corner retail property is actually now on the market for $2 Million:
LINK
I hope it is saved but it is in pretty funky shape and at one story probably wouldn't make fiscal sense. But it’s such a great little building.
ReplyDeleteThis building has a huge footprint and a greatly underused FAR, so I think it unlikely it would be preserved. Architecturally, I don't think it is that significant other than having a strangely proportioned row of short squat Greek columns. Just hope something other than a glass and steel box replaces it.
ReplyDeleteI know Westsider. But it’s those stubby little columns I find so appealing.
ReplyDeleteGlass and steel please :) I think a nice lowrise would be great there and if they can incorporate the silly columns then that would be awesome too. That space is a waste so it will be good to see something done with it. Hopefully someone will buy the other wasted space on the southeast corner of 116th and 5th as well.
ReplyDelete"some remedial repairs" is an understatement. The roof caved in over the winter.
ReplyDeleteJoe -- perhaps the roof caving in did in fact constitute the much-awaited 'divine intervention'?
ReplyDelete