NYT December 8th 1992

Behind the Facade, a Building Divided

For 108 years, the four-story Montgomery Block has been an ample presence on East 86th Street, as well as an architectural symbol of an almost vanished Yorkville, with the Kleine Konditorei restaurant on the ground floor, delicate ornamentation and a powerful cornice above.

Until now. Tenants figured out something was about to happen last Monday when they were surrounded by scaffolding. "You couldn't see down to the street anymore," said Kathleen Murtha, whose mother, Mary, has lived in the Montgomery for 40 years.

"They didn't tell us anything," Ms. Murtha said. "It just went up." Falling Debris

Then came Saturday morning. Fredy K. Seidel, a systems analyst who has lived downstairs from Mrs. Murtha since 1976, said: "They started tearing down at 7:30. The building was shaking like an earthquake. They were banging on the roof like crazy. Bits and pieces of debris were falling."

It turns out that the Montgomery -- which appears to be a single apartment house, with a common facade, a common history and a common owner -- is technically six separate structures. And the owners have received permission to raze three unoccupied structures from the second floors up, leaving something that may look like a gap-toothed smile, with empty holes between three occupied portions.

Edward Teplitz of Manhattan, one of the owners, declined to describe his plans for the site. "Our plans are to do the work we have permits for," he said.

Preservationists are already mourning the loss of "one of the few intact sections of what was old Yorkville," said Britt Densmore, executive director of the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts.

The undertaking has been judged a "feasible" engineering project by the New York City Buildings Department, which has issued demolition permits for the second through fourth floors of Nos. 232, 236 and 238 East 86th Street, which are vacant. A Home Taken Apart

Meanwhile, seven tenants remain in the Montgomery, at Nos. 230, 234 and 240, according to Mrs. Murtha. They will be watching their home taken apart.

No matter what the records say, occupants regard the Montgomery as a whole. "They're listed separately, but they're really one unit," Mr. Seidel said. They even share a boiler, water system and electric meters, he said.

"It's a single building from 230 to 240," said Hans Hoeft, owner of Kleine Konditorei. "I think so."

But the buildings agency agrees with the owner, and regards the structures separately. "There doesn't seem to be a problem, as far as we can see," said Vahe Tiryakian, the department spokesman. "We asked our engineers if this is feasible, because the buildings have common party walls. 'Yes,' they said, 'it can be done.' " He said that was because the walls of the occupied buildings would be braced from the outside during the work.

Mr. Tiryakian said the owners' engineer, identified in city records as Robert Rosenwasser of Manhattan, filed a form in which he "accepts responsibility for the structural stability of the buildings as the work progresses." This was countersigned by Mr. Teplitz.

The job was halted briefly on Saturday, Mr. Tiryakian said, but only because the wrecking crew did not have a permit for weekend work.

For his part, Mr. Teplitz said, "We went through the process, we got the permits and we're doing it according to the rules and regulations of the city."

He added, "We're certainly aware that there are tenants in some of the buildings" and said there were no plans to move the tenants out.

And though he was startled by this turn in the Montgomery's history, Mr. Seidel said he did not blame the owners.

"For the most part, they've been all right as landlords," Mr. Seidel said. "They haven't harassed anyone. It's obvious that they're trying to vacate the building and that's their right. If I get the right offer, who knows? They haven't been your typical slumlords, in all fairness.

"It's just that this is coming very suddenly and very surprisingly."