On a recent morning, five days after Amazon backed out of its plan to build a corporate campus in Queens, Nancy Bass Wyden, the third-generation owner of the Strand bookstore, on Broadway, herded two of her children, ages six and eleven, and their au pair, onto the subway at West Fourth Street. The kids plopped down on a seat and began discussing video games. Wyden stood, wearing a blue motorcycle jacket, jeans, and metal-studded boots. She said she’d been fielding “a flood of text messages” about Amazon’sretreat, but she didn’t have time to gloat. “I’m focussed on the Strand.”

Since last summer, Wyden has been locked in a battle with local officials who want to name the Strand’s eleven-story building, which Wyden’s family owns, a city landmark. They argue that, in addition to its literary significance, the 1902 building—designed by William H. Birkmire, a pioneer of early steel-frame high-rises—represents “a particularly robust expression of the Renaissance Revival style.”

Wyden disagrees. “It’s not the Taj Mahal,” she said. “It’s a warehouse.” Owners of landmarked buildings pay more in liability insurance and must seek cumbersome approvals for repairs—all of which Wyden says will be devastating to the Strand’s finances. She called the landmarking system “a blunt instrument, which is preserving some bricks and mortar” but which neglects the businesses inside. “The old Scribner Building on Fifth Avenue? It’s now a Lululemon.”

At City Hall, Wyden, her children, and her au pair left the subway and walked toward the David N. Dinkins Manhattan Municipal Building, where the Landmarks Preservation Commission would be holding a hearing on the matter. “It’s a beautiful building,” Wyden said. “I wonder if it’s a landmark.” Her attorney, Alex Urbelis, stood near the entrance. They grumbled about the process. “The L.P.C. will have to sit there and listen to us for a few minutes,” Urbelis said, “and then they’ll make an arbitrary and capricious decision.” He took a drag from an e-cigarette.

Over the past few months, Wyden has carried out an anti-landmarking campaign: she made a Web page; circulated a petition that garnered more than six thousand signatures; contacted architects, professors, contractors, and notable Strand lovers such asGary Shteyngart and Fran Lebowitz; and even stopped by the Greenwich House Senior Center—“where I qualify, by the way,” she said—to drum up support. The hearing room was packed with well-wishers, many in red T-shirts that said “PROTECT THE STRAND.” One woman wore a placard bearing the same message. Wyden and her family took seats near a lectern. Eleven L.P.C. commissioners sat behind a long table, waiting to hear testimony.

Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, whose district includes the Strand, spoke at the lectern first, arguing in favor of the landmark designation. “The Strand bookstore is the last vestige of the former Book Row,” she said, referring to the corridor of booksellers that once lined Fourth Avenue from Fourteenth Street to Astor Place. “There is no question it represents an integral part of our local history.”

Wyden went next. “I’m Nancy Bass Wyden,” she said. “Although today I just feel like a docket number. In fact, I am—Case Number LP-2615.” She ran through the Strand’s history: her grandfather opened the store just before the Great Depression, weathering hard times by sleeping on a cot in its basement. Her father presided over the store’s move from Fourth Avenue to Broadway. “My family has proven its love and loyalty to this city,” she said. “We’ve proven our commitment to this building. All I want to do is to go back to work.” She added, “Please,please make a decision that lets me do that.”

Next, Andrew Berman, the executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation, upbraided the commission for not landmarkingmore buildings in the area. Wyden stared ahead stoically. “If he sees a fire hydrant in the West Village, he wants to landmark it,” she’d whispered earlier.

The author and activist Naomi Wolf asked the commissioners whether they’d be taking anti-landmarking tweets into consideration. “We have a portal on our Web site specifically for testimony,” one of the commissioners said.

“I appreciate that,” Wolf said. “So . . . you are not counting tweets?”

Members of the public weighed in. Daniel Karpen, an engineer who lives on Long Island, argued that Wyden had an opportunity on her hands: if the Strand advertised its landmarked status, “sales will go up!” An artist named Ameena Beyah read a poem she’d written, “Historical Minds,” which she described as “a tribute to historical landmarks.” Kilian Ganly, a former landscape designer, said, “As I walk around New York these days—I’m retired—I can’t help but notice all these boarded-up places.” He praised the Strand for “standing up against a behemoth like Amazon. I mean, the fact that they still exist is impressive.”

Sanam Skelly, who works near the Time Warner Center, agreed, but she admitted, in her testimony, “I have an Amazon Prime membership, and I work in a building in which an Amazon bookstore is only an elevator ride away. Thank you, capitalism.” ♦