We are losing the Demerast Building!
339 Fifth Avenue at 33rd Street 1890 Gem by Renowned Architect James Renwick Faces Demolition to make way for another hotel tower.
The 29th Street Neighborhood Association has formed a coalition of preservation organizations, including Village Preservation and the Historic Districts Council, to lead an effort to save this remarkable historic building across from the Empire State building. Built to showcase horse carriages by a firm which eventually became one of the first American car manufacturers, this beautiful building by one of the 19th century's most prominent architects was the home to the world's first operating electric elevator, but now faces the imminent threat of demolition to make way for another 20+ story hotel.
Other buildings designed by Renwick (clockwise from top l.): Grace Chruch, Broadway and 11th Street; Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.; St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue; ‘Renwick Triangle’ on Stuyvesant Street.
The Demarest Building was designed in 1889 by the firm of Renwick, Aspinwall & Russell, led by James Renwick Jr., one of the foremost 19th century American architects. Renwick is revered for having helped bring the Gothic Revival to America with his National Historic Landmark Grace Church at 11th Street and Broadway in Greenwich Village, and is responsible for landmarks such as St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the Smithsonian Institute and Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. He was particularly prolific in Greenwich Village where he lived and was the scion of two prominent early building families who profoundly shaped the development of New York, the Renwicks and the Brevoorts. And though many of his great works survive, including the Renwick Triangle and Renwick Row houses in the East and West Villages, many more of his works have sadly been demolished and lost over the years.
Please sign a letter here to the Landmarks Commission and Mayor de Blasio.
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