CHELSEA HISTORIC DISTRICT EXTENSION DESIGNATION REPORT FEBRUARY 3, 1981 City of New York Edward I. Koch, MAYOR LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION Kent L. Barwick, CHAIRMAN William J. Conklin, VICE CHAIRMAN COMMISSIONERS Mary Childs Black Charles A. Platt R. Michael Brown Beverly Moss Spatt Barbaralee Diamonstein Anthony M. Tung Thomas J. Evans Elliot Willensky Ararnina Ferrer

. ( . CHELSEA HISTORIC DISTRICT EXTENSION J; I ~1 ... J: J: W.23 St . z- < C-J 470 426 z w > ~ :x: E u.ENSION ~QC I- W. 22 St. ~10 . W.21 St. W. 19 St. PUBLIC HEARING JULY 12, 1979 LA~DMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION DESIGNATED FEBRUARY 3,1981

Landmarks Preservation Commission February 3, 1981, Designation List 139 LP-1088 CHELSEA HISTORIC DISTRICT EXTENSION, Borough of Manhattan BOUNDARIES The Property bounded by Ninth Avenue, West 22nd Street, the east~rn curb line of Tenth Avenue, the southern curb line of West 23rd Street, the eastern property line of 426 West 23rd Street, the northern property lines of 401-433 West 22nd Street, Ninth Avenue, the northern property line of 204 Ninth Avenue, the northern property lines of 315-361 West 22nd Street, the northern and the eastern property lines of 305-311 West 22nd Street, the nothern curb line of West 22nd Street, West 22nd Street, the eastern and the, southern property lines of 310 West 22nd Street, the southern property lines of 312-350 West 22nd Street, part of the southern property line of 352-364 West 22nd Street, the eastern and part of the southern property lines of 186 Ninth Avenue, the eastern property line of 184 Ninth Avenue, and the eastern and the southern property lines of 182 Ninth Avenue; Manhattan. TESTIMONY AT PUBLIC HEARING On July 12, 1979, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of this Extension to the Chelsea Historic District (Item No. 17). The hearing had been duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of law. Twenty-nine persons spoke in favor of the proposed designation, and no one spoke against it. The witnesses favoring designation clearly indicated that there is great support for this Extension of the Chelsea Historic District from the property owners and the residents of Chelsea. -i-

INTRODUCTION The blocks which are being added to the existing Chelsea Historic District are an integral part of the community planned and developed by Clement Clarke Moore on his riverside estate, "Chelsea." These blocks have similar historical associations and a similar architectural character, to those within the ex isting district. Many of the residential buildings were built according to similar structural plans and aesthetic standards for the same builder-developers who developed other blocks in the Chelsea area. These houses were constructed under the control of the same type of covenants and agreements through which Moore sought and achieved a pleasing variety of stylistic detail within a harmonious uniformity of building dimensions, materials, quality of construction, and relations of buildings to each other and to the streetscape. All but a few of the original residential build ings in the Extension area were constructed between 1835 and 185~ (the exceptions were built in the 1870's). In 1835 Moore published a map with the title, Map of Property Belonging to C.C. Moore at Chelsea, which showed the boundaries and dimensions of the lots into which his estate had been divided, and the names of the people who had already purchased lots. The map was evidently intended to serve as a prospectus for possible buyers. It carried an abbreviated statement of the restrictions to be imposed on future development: "Purchasers of Lots on this Map will be required to build fire-proof houses of good quality: Those on the Avenue Lots to be Three Stories, and those on the Cross Streets, Two stories in height. All kinds of nuisances will be prohibited." Deeds written at this time spelled out these requirements. A deed of 1835 for the conveyance of six lo

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