A Cautionary Tale for the Chelsea

The history of The Windermere, that graffiti covered eyesore at 9^th Ave. and 57^th Street, parallels that of the Chelsea Hotel in many respects.  Both were built in the 1880s as a part of the wave of large, ornate luxury apartment houses that were built around the city after the invention of the elevator. Like the Chelsea, it fell on hard times in the early decades of the 20^th Century and was carved up into smaller apartments.   The Windermere too, while not enjoying quite our illustrious reputation in the arts, was home to numerous creative people by the 60s.

As reported in The New York Times (from which I drew most of this info) what happened to the Windermere was that in 1982 the landlord decided to empty the building of rent-stabilized tenants.  The present landlord continued the trend, letting the building run down to the point where pigeons were nesting in rooms open to the elements, finally forcing the city to close the place down and relocate the residents to an SRO.  The landlord used illegal tactics, but as of this point, he got what he wanted anyway!

I doubt that anything this bad will happen to the Chelsea, but it just goes to show that where money is to be made, landlords will frequently resort to any means necessary to get rid of rent-stabilized tenants. – Ed Hamilton