After months of negotiations, Columbia Grammar and Preparatory School seems to have reached a compromise with its neighbors over its renovation plans.
The school, which houses its lower grades in a set of brownstones on 93rd and 94th streets, announced plans last fall to build an enclosed glass structure along the back of their buildings in the “donut” backyard space. Residents of 333 and 336 Central Park West, apartment buildings that also face the donut space, cried foul over the expansion’s size, modern design, and alleged energy inefficiency.
Columbia Grammar eventually seemed to agree with the neighbors, many of whom had organized into a group called the 93rd/94th St. Preservation Alliance. The school sat down with the organization in mid-December and by early January had agreed to drastically alter the plans.
Ellen Leventhal, co-chair of the Preservation Alliance, said that residents who look out onto the space were concerned by the original plans.
“One of the problems was that it was inappropriate to the neighborhood. These are historic brownstones that were suddenly going to have this large, looming glass structure that would reflect heat and noise into the neighboring apartments. The community board listened to us, and suggested that they rethink some things, and they came back with a plan,” she said.
The new designs show a series of open glass walkways across the back of the building, as opposed to the original enclosed, rectangular space.
The easternmost part of the contested block is part of the Upper West Side/Central Park West Historic District, according to the website of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission. The Alliance’s lawyer, Albert Butzel, said that neighbors had legal rights to protest the construction even though Columbia Grammar owned the property.
“In certain instances in the city, areas have been designated historic districts because of that particular kind of layout, brownstones plus backyards, so when Columbia Grammar proposes to fill up their yard, as they initially proposed to do, it runs into problems,” Butzel said.
But the new design seems to be minimal enough to calm those concerns, he said.
“The sign of a good compromise is everyone goes away happy. The neighbors I think thought Columbia Grammar met them halfway or more. ... The major groups I represented were satisfied with the outcome without taking Columbia Grammar to court,” he said.
Columbia Grammar Headmaster Richard Soghoian said the whole project was born of necessity and an attractive architectural idea.
“We needed to replace the fire escapes in the rear. The escapes are not only old, they’re not adequate by not going to every room. We have our youngest students in the brownstones, and I worry the most about the safety of the smallest children, and we wanted to redo the fire escapes and make them so that any room led to the fire escapes that connected all six brownstones in the rear,” he said.
The current architecture of the brownstones has not allowed the school to take in any handicapped children into the lower grades, Soghoian added.
He acknowledged that some neighbors thought the original solution, a glass structure six brownstones wide, was too glaring a change.
Of the revised plans, Soghoian said, “We eliminated all the glass and the [heating] units and it’s now open-air, still with an elevator but more attractive. … I know there are three or four ladies still opposed, but that’s a far cry from the 150 people we had.”
Leventhal emphasized that the negotiations should not be taken as “the neighborhood taking on the school.”
“We will be vigilant as an alliance … but we tried to plead a rational course with them. They’ve been very accommodating,” she said.
Most parents outside the school last Friday said they hadn’t heard much about the plans beyond a few e-mails, but Jody Lawrence, a mother of two Columbia Grammar students, said she trusts the school to play nice.
“They try to teach the kids about being good neighbors, and I’m sure they’re going to follow that themselves,” she said.
The plan must still be approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission for construction to begin. Soghoian said he expects the Commission to review it in late February.
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