CHELSEA — The city has approved a developer’s plans to expand a house in the Chelsea Historic District — despite neighbors’ fears that the alterations would create a “mini-mansion” and destroy the courtyard behind their homes.
At a Landmarks Preservation Commission hearing Tuesday, developer Sterling Equities presented plans that included building a rear extension on the townhouse at 334 W. 20th St., between Eighth and Ninth avenues, restoring its facade and installing an elevator.
The LPC asked the developer to remove a proposed rear-yard addition on the third floor, citing concerns that it would have exceeded the height of additions at nearby rowhouses and been visible from the street, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. But the commission did approve the nearly 14-foot extensions proposed for the first and second floors.
Neighbors left the hearing “very angry,” said Carol Ott, co-president of the 300 West 20th Street Block Association.
“Clearly, Landmarks doesn’t rule on anything that is not on the streetscape,” she said. “They just didn’t care… that the courtyard was being encroached upon, and pretty significantly enclosed.”
She and other residents who share a back courtyard with 334 W. 20th St. believe the extension will reduce the area's light and views, while setting a precedent for other homeowners on the the block to build into the yard.
A Sterling Equities spokesman said the developer would move forward with its plans, adding that the group was “satisfied with the outcome” of the hearing.
Ott, however, lamented the LPC's decision.
“The community feels that these courtyards are historic,” she said. “[But] I guess Landmarks, that’s not their mission.”
