Call Glenn Miller To The Stand! History Buffs Request Hearings About Hotel Pennsylvania

At least one preservation group is speaking up on behalf of the endangered Hotel Pennsylvania.

The Historic Districts Council (HDC) has formally asked the Landmarks Preservation Commission to hold a hearing on proposals to protect the old McKim, Mead & White-designed hotel, which owner Vornado Realty Trust has threatened to demolish.

"Much discussion, planning and money have gone into the planning of the revival of the Pennsylvania Station area. It is ironic that the Hotel Pennsylvania, designed by the same architectural firm as the station, should not be part of these plans," wrote HDC Executive Director Simeon Bankoff in a Dec. 4 letter to Commission Chairman Robert Tierney.

The old hotel, Mr. Bankoff added, "should not be consigned to the dustbin of history."

Commission staffers previously argued the dowdy yet imposing hotel didn't merit a landmark designation.