Aby Rosen, Norman Foster Try Again at 980 Madison

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By Eliot Brown

May 13, 2008 | 9:36 p.m

Norman Foster's proposed addition to 980 Madison Avenue

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Foster + Partners via NYTimes.com

Aby Rosen and Norman Foster are back at 980 Madison Avenue, and Times architecture critic Nicolai Ouroussoff has the reveal.

The two were beaten back with their 2006 plan to build a much taller 30-story apartment tower atop the 1949 Parke-Bernet Galleries building, also revealed by Mr. Ouroussoff, as it met strong opposition on the Upper East Side.

From Mr. Ouroussoff’s review, dated for Wednesday’s paper:

[Mr. Foster] has returned with a plan, one that both hope will be more palatable to neighborhood preservationists. Clad in elegant bronze bands, its low blocky form would rest directly on the existing structure, echoing its exact proportions. More important, perhaps, it would be far less visible from the multimillion-dollar penthouse apartments just across the street.

From the tiny picture on the Times site that doesn’t (yet) enlarge, it seems the more modest version pops up five stories above the limestone-clad building.

The plan of Mr. Rosen, who is a principal at RFR Holding, must gain the approval of the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission as the Parke-Bernet Galleries building is within the Upper East Side historic district.