Chang W. Lee/The New York Times Former Mayor Edward I. Koch inside his apartment on Fifth Avenue last year. Edward I. Koch, some might argue, was a living landmark. Thursday, on what would have been his 89th birthday, his last residence, at 2 Fifth Avenue, was declared a New York cultural landmark.
“A giant,†is how he was described by former Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani, who was represented at a ceremony outside the building by his former deputy, Peter Powers.
David N. Dinkins, the only other surviving former mayor, described Mr. Koch as a man of “lasting influence†who “embodied the spirit†of the city. He recalled former Gov. Mario M. Cuomo’s observation that politicians campaign in poetry and govern in prose. “Ed Koch governed in theater,†Mr. Dinkins said.
They were joined in dedicating a ceramic cultural medallion on the front of the building by Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel, chairwoman of the Historic Landmarks Preservation Center and NYC Landmarks50 Alliance; Diane Coffey, Mr. Koch’s former chief of staff; and Philip Koltoff, a New York University professor and president of the building’s co-op board.
Mr. Koch lived in Greenwich Village since 1956. The plot he bought at Trinity Cemetery in northern Manhattan before he died last February was the first time he owned his own property. He preferred to spend his entire adult life as a renter, including the 16th-floor apartment at 2 Fifth, where he last lived.
