In July of 2015, Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich closed on the purchase of the five-story townhouse at 13 East 75th Street, on the Upper East Side, for $30 million, completing an assemblage which includes the multi-family building at 11 East 75th Street and the townhouse at 15 East 75th Street. So far, Abramovich has spent a total $78 million acquiring the three properties, and within the last few months, filed applications to combine them into an 18,225-square-foot mansion. The New York Post now reports the applications were, unsurprisingly, disapproved. Combining the buildings would be complex since the structures have uneven floor plates and the Landmarks Preservation Commission would have to approve the project, as it’s located within the Upper East Side Historic District. Stephen Wang + Associates was serving as the architect of record.
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I don’t really have an opinion on whether this Russian oligarch should be allowed to combine the three buildings or not. I do have an opinion on the “uneven floor plate” issue, in that I’ve never understood why this is treated as such a roadblock. It seems to me that if a client is accepting of short stairs between structure floor plates, what does a landmarks oversight committee care? Also, in terms of complications it would seem joining adjoining structures with floor plates that range 1-3 difference would be less an aesthetic and engineering challenge than those structures whose floor plates are close but misaligned by 2-6 inches, forcing complicated subfloor and ceiling joist alterations to achieve an even floor plane. My .02
“floor plates that range 1-3 difference would be”
should read
“floor plates that range 1-3 foot difference would be”