Strand Bookstore
We Love Books & Preservation - Designating 826 Broadway
The Conservancy showed its love of books and preservation again, testifying at a second, heated Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) hearing on designating 826 Broadway, home of the
Strand Bookstore
. The owner of the building and the bookstore has been staunchly against the designation, and has made many unfounded statements in the press and on the store’s website.
Our testimony at the February 19 hearing
responded to some of those statements.
Strand: We are in a threatening retail and book environment, and we are fighting to compete with Amazon.
Bookstores and many retail outlets in New York have been under siege by changes in consumer habits and rising rents. Not by landmark designation.
Strand: This designation would greatly limit our opportunities to survive as a tourist destination, host of author discussions, put books in the hands of readers…
Designation saved SoHo and the Ladies Mile Historic District. Some of the most-visited attractions in New York are landmarks.
Strand: Wouldn’t it be ironic if by landmarking The Strand, … you put it in peril?
Yes, it would, but there is absolutely no evidence that will happen.
826 Broadway clearly merits designation for its architecture. The distinguished building is one of a group of seven along Broadway that the LPC heard for designation last year, which well represents the history and architecture of Manhattan just south of Union Square.
The Commission has not set a date for its vote on this designation.