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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Return of Decorative Urns Delights UWS Residents

By Leslie Albrecht | November 16, 2011 6:24pm
Some residents at 333 W. 86th Street were dismayed to see workers remove neo-classical urns on the building's facade recently.
Some residents at 333 W. 86th Street were dismayed to see workers remove neo-classical urns on the building's facade recently.
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DNAinfo/Leslie Albrecht

UPPER WEST SIDE — Massive ornamental urns that were sawed off an Upper West Side building have been replaced with lighter weight fiberglass replicas, delighting residents who decried the urns' removal, the New York Times reported.

Residents at 333 W. 86th Street were crushed in May when workers removed several decorative urns that graced the facade of the 22-story building. Writer Kennedy Fraser, who lives on the building's 17th floor, told DNAinfo then that lopping off the urns was "an act of cultural vandalism."

Building management said the urns' removal, first reported by DNAinfo, was necessary because the heavy masonry objects were a safety hazard that could topple to the ground and harm a passer-by.

News of the urns' removal prompted an outcry from the preservation group West End Preservation Society and action from State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal. She investigated whether building management had the proper permits to remove the urns and found that the urns were removed legally.

Rosenthal helped broker a deal to replace the lopped off urns with exact copies made of lighter weight fiberglass, the Times reported. The replicas were made using molds of the original urns, a neoclassical architectural detail that harkens back to the early days of the 1926 building.

Making the copies was costly, but worth it, said Amy Schuster, a spokeswoman for Atria Senior Living, which runs an assisted living facility inside 333 W. 86th St. "This more expensive solution was important in honoring the architectural beauty of the building," Schuster told the Times.

The new urns were installed last week to positive reviews from both the Landmarks Preservation Commission and residents.

"I don't know who made these replicas, but they were incredible craftsmen," Fraser told DNAinfo in an email. "They are gorgeous."