Another Landmark Lost, This Time on Astor Row in Harlem

No. 28 West 130th Street, one of 28 designated landmarks on Astor Row, being demolished on Sept. 22 by city contractors after the Department of Buildings determined that the house was not structurally stable and presented a danger to public safety. Photo by Katherine Marks for The New York Times

Publisher: The New York Times | Author: John Freeman Gill

Many New Yorkers assume that a historic building, once the city designates it a landmark or includes it in a historic district, is protected from demolition. But that idealized notion of preservation has been smashed in recent weeks, as if by a wrecking ball, from Harlem to the meatpacking district.

On Astor Row in Harlem — a celebrated strip comprising 28 brick homes that were individually declared landmarks — an 1883 house at 28 West 130th Street was unceremoniously razed last month. The landmark’s demise was the culmination of decades of neglect and months of missed opportunities involving an acrimonious tangle of players.