Mendez, Merchant’s House Museum Oppose NoHo Hotel

IMG_8367G.V.S.H.P. A rendering presented at a
previous C.B. 2 meeting.

Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and the Merchant’s House Museum are opposing plans to demolish a garage next to the historic structure and replace it with a nine-story hotel.

A statement released by the museum on East Fourth Street near Bowery indicates that at a meeting tonight, staffers along with Councilwoman Mendez will ask Community Board 2’s Landmarks and Public Aesthetics committee to recommend that the city deny a construction permit for the proposed hotel, on the grounds that it would “pose a beyond-serious threat to the structural stability of the house.”

“The potential damage to our very fragile 1832 building during demolition of the existing garage and construction of the new hotel is huge,” says the statement. “The risk to the house may simply be too great.” The release goes on to call for an independent engineer to assess the potential impact of the project before plans are considered, citing the risk of collapse as well as potential harm to delicate plasterwork.

According to the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, the application has been laid over by the Landmarks Preservation Commission, which will consider the matter sometime after tonight’s 6:30 meeting at the Church of Our Lady of Pompeii at 25 Carmine Street.