The Park Slope Civic Council is accepting nominations for new construction projects that make a “positive contribution to maintaining or enhancing” the neighborhood’s historic identity, as part of its newly created Evelyn and Everett Ortner Park Slope Preservation Awards. The Ortners led a huge effort to preserve historic homes in Park Slope and other Brooklyn neighborhoods and played an important part in the creation of the Park Slope Historic District.
Brooklyn Bridge Park is now offering free tours of a 50-year-old naval ship docked at Pier 5, the Baylander IX-514. The tours aim to highlight the ship’s history, in addition to promoting the park’s under-construction marina. The 131-foot vessel first saw service in Vietnam in 1968. Since 1986, helicopter pilots in training have used the ship as a landing pad, and it’s seen 120,000 successful landings in the last 16 years. You can tour the ship Saturdays between 10 am and 4 pm and Sundays from 10 to 2 pm through Labor Day.
Photo via Brooklyn Bridge Park
The Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously voted to landmark the former Ridgewood Masonic Temple in Bushwick yesterday, according to Curbed. The Neo-Classical, Beaux-Arts structure at 1054 Bushwick Avenue, a former Building of the Day, was built in 1920 and designed by Koch & Wagner. (more…)
Learn about Coney Island’s honky-tonk past and its present-day struggles to balance historic preservation and development on a walking tour organized by the Municipal Arts Society. Local historian and preservationist Joe Svehlak will lead the tour, which will happen this Saturday at 10:30 am. It will touch on the new Thunderbolt coaster, older amusement rides, and the memorials at MCU Park commemorating Jackie Robinson and 9/11. Tickets cost $20 or $15 for MAS members, and can be purchased here.
Photo by Michael Tapp
Dumbo’s Random Access Theatre is performing Shakespeare’s classic Taming of the Shrew every night this weekend in Brooklyn Bridge Park. The free performances will take place tonight, tomorrow and Sunday at 7 pm at Granite Prospect (the stone steps) on Pier 1. You can get more details on BBP’s website and over at Random Access Theatre.
Photo via Random Access Theatre
Dumbo developer Two Trees has just released a new map of all 19 public art installations and murals in the waterfront neighborhood, making it easier for tourists and locals to discover the area’s hidden charms. The Google Map includes a photo of each piece, a brief description and a link to the artist’s or project’s website. Highlights include murals along the BQE by MOMO, Craig Anthony Miller and DALeast; Tom Fruin’s iconic water tower on Jay Street; and a Superhero-themed photo installation printed along the fence on Anchorage Place. Head over here to check out the map.
Theater owner William Niblo was known for throwing parties at his Green-Wood mausoleum, and this Saturday, the cemetery is re-creating one with outdoor performances and a picnic. Guests can bring blankets and snacks and enjoy watching fire jugglers, singers and a knife thrower. “A Night at Niblo’s Garden” will take place this Saturday from 7 to 10 pm, and tickets are $30 for members of Green-Wood or Brooklyn Historical Society and $35 for the general public.
Photo via Green-Wood Cemetery
Starting this Friday, Medgar Evers College will kick off its 16th annual Jazzy Jazz Festival, which will bring weekly jazz concerts to southern Crown Heights. Performers in this year’s lineup include MEC Jazz Ensemble & The Strobert Trio, Dr. Mambo & The Experience Ensemble featuring Neil Clarke and Alex Blake, Stanley Banks & Friends featuring Monte Croft, Jeff King Band, and a Caribbean cultural celebration for the school’s poet-in-residence for the jazz series, Nikki Williams. Performances will take place every Friday this summer from 6 to 9 pm along Crown Street next to the college’s new science center, at 1638 Bedford Avenue (pictured).
Photo by Tchassis via Wikimedia Commons
Several community groups dissatisfied with Brad Lander’s “Bridging Gowanus” planning meetings are organizing their own forum, called “Take Back Gowanus,” Wednesday night. Katia Kelly of Pardon Me for Asking writes that the purpose of the meeting is to “bring local residents, business owners, and manufacturers together for a true democratic discussion on the future of Gowanus. The goal of ‘Take Back Gowanus’ is to create a manifesto of what the community wants to see in the neighborhood they live and work in.” Neighbors and community groups felt that Lander’s meetings were “highly curated affairs” where facilitators stuck to scripts and didn’t engage in a real discussion, according to Kelly.
The Swiss chalet house at 100 Rugby Road in Prospect Park South sold earlier this month for $2,100,000, making it the second most expensive sale in the neighborhood as far as we know. The current record holder is the Carol H. Pratt-designed home at 147 Rugby Road, which went for $2,200,000 last September.
Blog 6sqft first broke the news that the seven bedroom, 3.5-bath house had sold. It first came on the market for $2,275,000 in January. Developer Dean Alvord, who purchased 60 acres to construct Prospect Park South, built the house in 1900, and architect John J. Petit designed it.
$2.1 Million Sale at 100 Rugby Road Is Record-Breaker for Prospect Park South [6sqft]
Prospect Park South’s Swiss Chalet on Market for $2.275 Million [Brownstoner]
Photo by Corcoran
Getting to Red Hook this summer will be a little easier with the relaunch of the water taxi, which will make its first trip tomorrow between the Financial District and Van Brunt Street. The free ferry runs from Pier 11, which is at Gouverneur Lane and South Street, to the Fairway Market Ferry Dock at 480 Van Brunt Street in Red Hook. The first ferry leaves tomorrow at 9:30 am from Pier 11. It will run in a continuous loop every weekend through Labor Day.
Photo by Jason Kuffer
Brooklyn author and journalist Neil deMause has launched a survey asking Brooklynites what drew them to the borough and why they’ve stayed despite rapidly rising housing costs. The questionnaire is part of deMause’s research for an upcoming crowdfunded book, “Brooklyn Wars,” about Brooklyn’s gentrification and redevelopment boom.
The idea came to him while he was wondering why rents have increased even as local poverty rates have risen. ”I was discussing this with a housing economist friend, and while we both had theories, none of them were convincing,” he said in a press release. ”While web surveys are inherently anecdotal and unscientific, even a self-selected sample should give some hints as to how Brooklynites view their reasons for remaining in a borough that charges $3,000 a month to live in a closet an hour’s subway ride from their job.”
So far, leading early responses include ”it’s cheaper than Manhattan,” “diversity” and “boyfriend.”
Photo by Juni Safont
