LOWER MANHATTAN — The site of one of the city's first power plants and a 19th-century mercantile building in TriBeCa are pushing ahead toward landmarks designations.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to prioritize landmarking the Excelsior Power Company at 33-43 Gold Street and the 5-story Italianate loft building 315 Broadway, at a meeting Tuesday. An official vote on each building's landmark status will occur before the end of 2016.
The buildings were among 95 sites that had been back-logged for decades, waiting for some kind of decision on their city landmark status. On Tuesday, the LPC voted to prioritize a total of 30 sites, including Long Island City's Pepsi-Cola sign and parts of Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery, for a landmarking vote in 2016.
Five sites were taken off the path toward city landmarking completely, and an additional 45 were taken off the calendar for an LPC vote. But they could be added back at a future date, "should new information or historical interest in them arise," the LPC said in a statement.
One of those 45 sites tabled included another TriBeCa building, 143 Chambers St., an 1861 loft building.
The Excelsior Power Company was initially cut from the priority list, in part because of alterations to the building. But after a discussion among the LPC commissioners Tuesday, it was decided that its historical merit as one of city's first power plants should mean it move forward in the landmarking process.
