KATE SPADE LOOKS TO DISMANTLE EMERALD INN’S HISTORIC FACADE

They’re still serving beer at the Emerald Inn on Columbus between 69th and 70th street, but women’s accessories store Kate Spade is already measuring the drapes — or rather, they’re getting ready to rip down the drapes and much of the rest of the bar. (fact-check: given that it’s a bar, there probably aren’t drapes there at all, but they were necessary for the figure of speech.)

Kate Spade is applying to the Landmarks Preservation Commission to modify the landmarked building at 205 Columbus Avenue that houses Emerald Inn, which is 70 years old and in its third generation of family ownership. That building dates from 1887, when architects Philip Hubert and James Pirrson built a series of buildings on Columbus between 69th and 70th street, according to a city landmarking study (see page A70). Hubert, in fact, invented the co-op apartment. (But did he invent the co-op board?)

To be fair to Kate Spade, is anyone going to buy a $400 handbag in a store that looks like a bar?

The Emerald Inn plans to close in late April when its lease runs out. Kate Spade will present plans to a community board committee in a meeting on on March 14 starting at 6:30 p.m. on the second floor of 250 West 87th street.

We broke the news about Kate Spade moving into the space here.