Jeremiah Budin reports for Curbed.
Only one building (technically, that building is three buildings) in the Two Trees Domino Sugar Factory development is under the purview of the Landmarks Preservation Commission—the individually landmarked Domino Sugar Refinery (third from the left). At a public hearing yesterday, the Commission took a look at architectural firm Beyer Blinder Belle’s designs for that structure, and the reviews were mixed.
In a previous Domino development plan, back when the site was owned by the Community Preservation Corp. and the Katan Group, the Refinery was supposed to go residential. Now it will be turned into office space for tech companies, a switch that is being lauded by politicians. The previous design, also by Beyer Blinder Belle, was approved by the LPC three years ago, but did not include the four-story glass addition (two stories on the Kent Avenue side) that proved to be a point of contention at yesterday’s hearing. “The proposal before the Commission today contains more square footage than the prior approval due to the retention of the building’s core and a second rooftop addition,” said the Historic Districts Council’s Nadezhda Williams. “Keeping the bulk of the additions to the back portion of the building where it interferes with only the least distinguished piece of the building would much more preferable than disturbing the main view of the individual landmark and its iconic chimney.”
