« Inside Third & Bond: Week 39 Co-op of the Day: 651 Vanderbilt Street »
May 29, 2008
Marcy Townhouses: Better Than Most Newbies
Biking past this batch of new townhouses on Marcy Avenue between Hart and Willoughby last week we were struck by how different these were than the average pieces o' crap that have gotten slapped up in this neighborhood in recent years. Are they great? Of course not. But there are no "What were they thinking!" elements, the proportions generally work and, perhaps most importantly, it looks like the person who made them actually cared. Even more surprising, it looks like this in an HPD project! GMAP
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Comments
This design would have been a great advance in, say, 1975. Now, it's just an embarrassment that so much of the building in this supposedly great city is such garbage that this looks good by comparison.
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 12:10 PM
I actually think these are really nice looking. Reminds me of some similar places on Pacific between Albany and Kingston. This shows that you can build affordable places that look good too.
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 12:11 PM
Those ARE great. Much better than the POS condos on atlantic & state. Developers who build like these should be commended. Developers who build the condos in below link should be tarred & feathered.
http://www.atlanticstatecondos.com/home.html
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 12:12 PM
I agree -- while some of the design affects seem a little contrived, the facade has a pleasant massing and lots of shadow lines. I also like the depressed ground floor, which makes the parlor or first floor more accessible from the street. A nice effort, including thinking about the street by planting that tree.
Posted by: an architect in Brooklyn at May 29, 2008 12:18 PM
Totally agree. Much better than a lot of the crap they put up in the Slope, Cobble Hill, and Carrol Gardens.
Posted by: Brooklynnative at May 29, 2008 12:29 PM
Where is Daveinbedstuy to tell us that buyers should be willing to pay $2m each to live in these because they are works of art?
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 12:34 PM
Totally agree. Much better than a lot of the crap they put up in the Slope, Cobble Hill, and Carrol Gardens.
Posted by: Brooklynnative at May 29, 2008 12:40 PM
12:34 you are welcome to put $2m into any one of them....just bringing all of our property values up as well. Thanks
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 29, 2008 12:48 PM
Completely Beautiful. And after years of wear - they will look even more distintive - Bravo to the City and The Architect that designed these totally contextual new townhomes.
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 12:52 PM
They are not all that dissimilar from the Habitat For Humanities townhouses that were just finished on Halsey & Throop (maybe?) I'll try to take a pic and send it in. the HFH homes got some real nice landscaping too. They would put most Brooklyn front yards to shame.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at May 29, 2008 12:52 PM
A lot of this HPD and HUD housing looks much better than the expensive developments. Some of the housing that go put on Eastern Parkway recently is similarly pleasant.
I saw the third street developer starting to post her- he should pay attention to these- they are nicer townhouses than the ones he's planning.
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 12:53 PM
sure, with all that city money it`s no problem to make a place look half decent,
developers however have a budget.
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 1:03 PM
Brownstoner wrote "we were struck by how different these were than the average pieces o' crap that have gotten slapped up in this neighborhood in recent years"
Maybe you should bike more in this neighborhood, cause it looks like you didn't see THE MYNT on Myrtle-Nostrand, Also there is a nice building right next to it, also on Marcy itself between Myrtle and Vernon there is a very nice new building.... come on. cut the crap! There are some folks who cant do nothing besides complaining on EVERYTHING, if you think you're a good designer, go ahead then, why not become one??? For some reason these Architects you complain about, are still in business, and these complaining folks do nothing besides hanging around and complain......
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 1:04 PM
1:03- that's extreme sarcasm, right? One never knows on this site.
It's soo hard to be a capitalist? Those municipals have it so easy, spending city money and not worrying. No wonder they build such nice houses.
Developer Dudes, most of your new developer houses look like the projects that the city used to build. How come they build better than you? My brownstone was a spec built developer house, as were most in this part of brooklyn. They had budgets too. Why do your new houses make my neighborhood look like a low income district? Why are you turning my fringes into hot sheet hotel districts? Why am I supposed to feel bad for you?
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 1:17 PM
1:04: If you don't like Brownstoner's comments, why don't you leave and start your own site. Unless you enjoy hanging around and complaining.....
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 1:27 PM
I think they are nice - but why do you (brownstoner) and many of your (stonerites) constantly confusing asthetics with quality.
Sure these look good and X project looks like crap - but either, both or neither may have been "slapped up" "pieces o' crap".
The most magnificent structure may be built like crap and have tons of defects and the crappiest Fedders might be built well - the facade has nothing to do with the 'quality' of construction
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 2:00 PM
Not bad... not bad at all.
Posted by: GHB at May 29, 2008 2:02 PM
12:10 - fair enough - please post a picture of a similar structure (urban townhouse type) - built in any city anywhere in the world that you would actually judge as 'non-garbage'
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 2:03 PM
I live in the south slope and I would prefer they build these types of townhouses in my nabe than the giant buildings currently under development.
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 2:37 PM
Well done!
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 3:29 PM
"the facade has a pleasant massing and lots of shadow lines."
Huh? You wanna run that by me again? I'm not an architect.
Also what you feel is "contrived" about the design? I'm genuinely curious. Thanks.
Posted by: guest at May 29, 2008 3:38 PM
Pleasant massing -- the large shape of the attached townhouses is broken up by smaller bays in pleasant proportions
Shadow lines -- unlike other planar efforts (sometimes called "Fedders buildings" around here), there are moldings, a cornice; the windows are recessed and the bay extends over the ground floor windows. All of these contribute to interesting shadow lines, which is to say they make the facade less planar and more plastic.
Planar facades have their place (say in minimalist skyscraper design), but for houses a more plastic facade is both more visually interesting and practical (these lines allow for different material expansions and better water shedding).
As for contrived, well, I'm not a fan of the throw-back details -- the balustrade on the roof, or the quoins framing the bays. Better than a Fedders effort, to be sure, but too oldy-timey for my taste. Instead, I wish they would have made the windows more properly proportioned (this almost always means larger) and found some other solution for the through-wall a/c grilles.
But again, a much better effort than a lot of developer housing -- the scale, massing and entrance are good. It's nice to see.
Posted by: an architect in Brooklyn at May 30, 2008 3:31 PM
Found some information on these townhomes, or what I think are the same homes. They are an HPD/Housing Partnership project built by TNS Development Group/Great American Construction Corp.
http://www.gaccorp.net/projectphotos.php?project=13&featuredphoto=138
http://home2.nyc.gov/html/hpd/html/pr2007/pr-08-27-07.shtml
Posted by: guest at June 3, 2008 4:47 PM
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