The Historical and Landmark Review Board (HLRB) met on April 15, 2026, to consider two items: a certificate of appropriateness application for substantial alterations to a historic home at 10 Manhattan Avenue, and a referral from the Planning Board regarding a proposal to convert an existing office building into a place of worship at 3 of the Boulevard. The board heard public testimony and deliberated on materials, design compatibility, and parking impacts.
The applicant, represented by Benito Seha (Senior Project Manager), presented a comprehensive plan to: square off shallow-arched first-floor windows, add a third window on the second floor, remove a door and several windows, enlarge the existing carport by 3 feet in width and 9 feet in depth, replace the roof, gutters, deck, railings, front door (re-painted dark blue), and install composite columns and railings. All six existing trees were proposed for removal due to disease or root damage, with ten new coniferous trees to be planted. The board raised several concerns:
The board reviewed a referral from the Planning Board for a proposal to convert an existing non-conforming office building into a place of worship with a 191-person sanctuary. The primary change from a prior application was the addition of a valet parking plan. Board members expressed strong concerns:
Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the City of New York Shell Department of Development, Historical and Landmark Review Board. We have a couple of things on the agenda, but first, uh if we have any minutes already, that's item one point one. I don't think we have any for approval tonight. Okay. And then from there, we we do attendance, of course, yes. Yeah, sure. I'm being here. Rosal Famante here. Will Chia Elliott is out. Jim Fleming here. Keith Gordon is out. Leanne Merchant here. Belk is Ray's CUNY. Here. Don Richards. Here. And staff members with us today, Saraya Ben Habib, uh Deputy Building Official, Kevin Kane, Director of Planning and Sustainability, and myself, Benito Seha, Senior Project Manager. Okay, we can start right in. Uh item number two, public hearings, 2.1 application HLRB 52-2025 by Walter Nestler for certificate of appropriateness to construct a below ground pool and install a four-inch black aluminum picket pool, picket pool enclosure fence along with four foot high air green hedging planted outside the fence at 10 Manhattan Avenue, block 825 lot 51. And in our R1 historic zone district, adjourned until further notice, so we're not going to hear that tonight. And finally, there's a little bit also of Spanish revival, so it's a little bit of a blend of all of these. We have the bright wide stucco with the dark trims, which is also similar to the tutor revival, and um the rafter tails, which even though around the time that this house was built, it could also be referenced as like a craftsman, American craftsman architecture. Um you could also uh interpret it as being kind of like the scroll brackets from a Spanish architecture along with the stocco. So these are the proposed elevations. In terms of um the architectural style of the home, we are not proposing to change any of it. Um what we're proposing to change is starting with the windows. The um of the first floor windows have these very shallow elliptical arch. Hello? Okay, so we're planning on squaring those out, and because we don't think it's a feature that it's relevant to the main identity of like the historical identity of this house, and we just want to have a more consistent look throughout the home. So starting with the front elevation, which is the top left in the screen. We are adding a um a center window, and on the second floor, that center, three side-by-side windows. Currently, there's only two, and there's a space in the middle, which seems a little empty, just waiting for something. So we're completing that third window. Then if we move over to the next elevation over, we are removing one window in the master bedroom where we're proposing full height cabinets on the other side, and the same elevation further to the right. We are removing a door that currently leads to nowhere, which is the one in the middle of that wall to the right. And so I think previously there might have been a deck there that was removed. So I don't think that was an original deck from the property. There's no signs to the architecture of the home that it was, so we would like to remove that opening altogether. If we move over to the lower left elevation, which is the back elevation, we are adding a window. Let's see if I can point this. Yeah, so we're adding this window right here, which um it just to center the proposed location of the kitchen sink. Um let me see. So over here on the next over, we are removing very small window on the kitchen and just redoing the opening for the patio door that goes to the side yard, which is actually their main recreational yard since they don't have much space towards the back. Um, and then I think that's about it in terms of window modifications. Make sure. Yeah. So in terms of structural changes, uh the main structural change that we're doing to the exterior is proposing the enlargement of the carport. So, as the Mr. and Mrs.