Overview

About 47 East 91st Street

This handsome but modest apartment building was the subject of one of the most contentious "landmark" fights in the city's history.

Located in the Carnegie Hill Historic District, the property was long occupied by a one-story red-brick bank building of no particular distinction. The bank, Citibank, sold the property to Cary Tamarkin, a developer who wanted to erect an "as-of-right" luxury apartment building of 17 stories, about the same height as an apartment building directly across 91st Street and another directly across Madison Avenue.

Local community activists, however, protested and eventually enlisted Woody Allen, the movie director, comedian and actor who had recently bought a large mansion around the corner on 92nd Street, in their campaign.

The site's location is in the heart of Carnegie Hill, a half block from the National Museum of Design that is housed in Andrew Carnegie's former fenced mansion on Fifth Avenue, and very close to several private schools, several churches, and several museums as well as numerous boutiques and restaurants on Madison Avenue.

Because the site was in an historic district, the activists appealed to the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission to reject the project's design. The commission did so and the developer revised his plans and resubmitted them. The new plans called for a smaller building.    

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