The Belnord Landmark Conservancy was formed in the early 1990s by a group of tenants living in the Belnord, the Italian Renaissance courtyard building that occupies the entire city block between 86th and 87th Streets and Broadway and Amsterdam on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Designed as a luxurious apartment building to attract New Yorkers living in brownstones and townhouses, the Belnord opened in difficult financial times in 1909, when both New York and the country still suffered from the Panic of 1907.
The BLC’s original leaders included co-chairs Tom Vitullo-Martin and Sumner Rosen, treasurer Vuka Roussakis, and active citizens Jeffrey Rubin, Herb Mayer, and Stanley Ackerman.
From its formation the BLC has worked with ownership and the Belnord community to conserve a well-run building for residents and the neighborhood. A 1994 amended agreement between the BLC and ownership attaches to the building. Detailed plans for the Belnord’s rehabilitation have been posted by Landmark West. Much of the architectural restoration has been handled by Page Ayres Cowley Associates.