In Sunday's Times 'Metro Section,' Charles V. Bagli reports on the battle between residents of 1 Sutton Place and the city over the building's private garden that happens to be located atop the FDR Drive.

The building's bold-faced swells (Cox Communications' Ann Cox Chambers, Sigourney Weaver, etc.) want to keep their garden a secret; the city wants to open it to the public. It's the same old story you've read before.

Literally. It's the same old story you've read before. That is, if you read Charles V. Bagli's In Sutton Place's Backyard, Private Oasis on Public Land, back in December 2003. After the jump, check out the two articles side-by-side and get ready to experience déjà vu all over again. And then, experience it again.

A Park? Not With My BackyardIn Sutton Place's Backyard, Private Oasis on Public Land
The unusual civic tussle over the garden at 1 Sutton Place, an emerald oasis atop a deck over Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive that forms the lush backyard of one of the city's most exclusive co-ops, first surfaced a little more than a year ago.This is the story of the garden at 1 Sutton Place South, a verdant jewel atop Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive that serves as the lush backyard for one of the city's most exclusive addresses.
But that lease expired 15 years ago. The co-op initially tried to extend the lease in 1989 and 1990, but subsequently decided to keep mum. For unknown reasons, neither the Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani nor Bloomberg administrations negotiated a new lease, or repossessed the land. The co-op's plan of strategic silence appeared to have succeeded.That lease, as it turns out, expired in 1990, but the board members at 1 Sutton Place admit that they, with great care, remained strategically mum about the lapse. They even swore prospective apartment buyers to absolute secrecy about the matter... Neither the Dinkins, Giuliani or Bloomberg administrations made a move to repossess the property for 13 years.
When the 13-story Italian Renaissance building at 1 Sutton Place South was built in 1927, the land in back sloped down to the East River. The Vanderbilts, Morgans, Delanos and other members of the city's aristocracy were in the midst of migrating farther east from Fifth and Park Avenues.The 13-story Italian Renaissance building at 1 Sutton Place South was built in 1927 at a time when the city's social topography was undergoing an upheaval. The Vanderbilts, Morgans, Delanos, Havermeyers and other members of the city's elite were migrating from Fifth and Park Avenues farther east...
The Phipps family, a major landowner along the East River whose fortune was based in the steel mills of Pittsburgh, erected 1 Sutton Place as an elegant home for itself and its friends. The triple-arched porte-cochere still opens to a glass-walled lobby with views of the garden and the East River.The Phipps family, whose fortune was based in Pittsburgh's steel mills, and the architectural firm Cross & Cross erected 1 Sutton Place on the site of a coal yard and brewery. Designed by Rosario Candela, the most sought-after architect for luxury buildings, the apartment house offered large three- and four-bedroom apartments, a triple-arched porte-cochere and a lobby with views of a private garden facing the East River.
Amy Phipps originally occupied the 6,400-square-foot penthouse, which featured a large ballroom at one end of the apartment and a library with a marble fireplace at the other. She passed it on to her son, Winston Churchill Guest, and his wife C. Z. Guest, a socialite who adorned the cover of Time magazine in 1962.The co-op was topped by a 17-room, 5,000-square-foot apartment and 6,000 square feet of terraces. It was originally created for Amy Phipps, who later turned it over to her son, Winston Guest, a well-known polo player, and his wife, C. Z. Guest.


A Park? Not With My Backyard [NYT, Jan. 9, 2005]
In Sutton Place's Backyard, Private Oasis on Public Land [NYT, Dec. 31, 2003]