LPC

The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates and regulates New York City's individual landmarks, interior landmarks, scenic landmarks, and historic districts. Designation is a separate legal layer from zoning: a designated building or a lot inside a historic district needs LPC approval — from staff-level permits to full commission hearings — before exterior alterations, demolition, or new construction, regardless of what zoning would otherwise allow as-of-right.

For development analysis, LPC status changes everything about feasibility and timeline. It also creates one of zoning's distinctive instruments: a designated landmark that can never use its own unused floor area may transfer development rights to qualifying adjacent lots by special permit under § 74-79 of the Zoning Resolution.