39 Fifth Avenue: enlarging window openings

Isn't it just for the penthouse apartment(s) on the top floors, not the entire building?

http://www.gvshp.org/_gvshp/preservation/committee/5_ave/39/boards.pdf

wow... I saw some notice of public hearing in the street at a few different places in the neighborhood.. I would never have thought it would be for one single unit.. I knew they were pretty restrictive when it comes to changing building facades, but not that far

thanks anyway, very helpful

The "mess it would create" is the least of it. Find an apartment that already has windows where you want them. This came up with an apartment we once looked at in 33 Fifth Avenue--the livingroom had a window that was sort of high up and just a slit of about 2 feet. Broker said we could explore tearing open the building's exterior wall to make a real window out of it. I estimated that the approval process would take 6-12 months at best if the building didn't nix the idea immediately, and that the cost would be prohibitive relative to the cost of the apartment itself. And after the approval (which I doubted would ever come), renovation would only then begin. We figured a gut reno of any apartment would take about 8 months if we were ultra efficient from the moment we closed on the unit. But if this window-enlargement thing were added in, everything would probably be further delayed meaning we'd have to continue living in a rental and carrying the cost of the new unit at the same time. Adding that to the potential cost of the window enlargement really made it that much more crazy. I never looked into the carrying costs of the insurance the building would certainly demand we carry (possibly forever), but I suspected that was a permanent expense I would not enjoy, either.

Unless you have lots of time, and lots and lots of money and don't mind a long-shot gamble, and if you are the kind of person who won't actually calculate and care about the obscene cost of punching through the building's exterior for this project, I say forget it.

P.S. Those are some beautiful graphic drawings on the link!

If you check out who bought that apartment, and then the one adjacent on one level,(and the prices they paid, I think that they "are kind of person who won't actually calculate and care about the obscene cost of punching through the building's exterior for this project."

the link also shows some surprising delimitations on the east side of greenwich village (1st page).. not including univ. place and 11th, 12th, etc... not including 5th and 13th... though that was Greenwich Village as well... i guess the "historical" greenwich village is different from the current commonly known one.

Right, the map outlines just the designated GV Historic District.