Exhibit: LPC Sometimes Digs Newfangled Buildings

lpc%20exhibit.jpg
An exhibit called Context/Contrast that opened yesterday at The Center for Architecture focuses on contemporary buildings in historic districts that the LPC has approved since 1967. A few of the examples the show is going to spotlight are in Brooklyn Heights, like 322 Hicks (above left) and 125 Joralemon (right). Of course, not all of these approvals have been welcomed with open arms. Per Brooklyn Heights Blog, the early '90s renovation of 125 Joralemon was criticized by a Heights preservationist as a "Disney-like mockery of historic preservation."
Context/Contrast Exhibit [Center for Architecture]

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You have to look at the 125 Joralemon link to see what the current house grew from. Like a carbuncle a podiatrist would operate on.

Posted by: dittoburg at October 7, 2009 11:18 AM

1967? They're reaching pretty far back. Anything approved recently in a landmarked block?

***Bill Thompson for Mayor***

Posted by: Brownstones Half Off at October 7, 2009 11:22 AM

Hmm....322 Hicks looks like (an ugly) cousin of that South Slope Condo featured here only a few days ago - you know the one that was near-universally panned here - and the one that I predicted would get LPC protection in a few decades.

I'll double down on that bet please....

Posted by: fsrg at October 7, 2009 11:22 AM

For reference:
http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/09/price_chops_at.php

Posted by: fsrg at October 7, 2009 11:31 AM

The landmarks commission has actually approved hundreds of new buildings in historic districts all over town. Most people don't know just how much new construction goes on in historic districts. The most controversial recent approvals were for a building on Dock Street in DUMBO and for a new high-rise hospital in Greenwich Village. The new building behind Trader Joe's in Cobble Hill is another recent example as is the so-called "Sterling" condo on Sterling Place in Park Slope. Also in the Slope is a big new addition to Poly-Prep that is basically a new building. There are lots and lots of examples. This was a good idea for an exhibit.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at October 7, 2009 11:32 AM

FSRG;

Damn, you beat me to it. In fact, when I first saw the picture, I thought that it WAS the South Slope condo.

Posted by: benson at October 7, 2009 11:33 AM

The South Slope condo is not in a historic distrcit and is not nearly as nice as the building pictured on Hicks Street IMHO.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at October 7, 2009 11:37 AM

Dock Street isn't in the DUMBO Historic District.
www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/maps/DUMBO_map.pdf

Posted by: g man at October 7, 2009 12:08 PM

I saw 125 Joralemon during the BH house tour in 2007 and I loved everything about it. Outside it fits in with the neighborhood and inside it is a modern beauty.

Posted by: mrkknox at October 7, 2009 12:19 PM

Right, the Hicks Street building is much nicer when seen in person. I recall that building, thought it was pretty cool of the BHA and LPC to go with something like that instead of a 'contextual' joke of a faux brownstone.

Posted by: denton at October 7, 2009 12:26 PM

125 Joralemon was a teardown, then new construction - why are they calling it a renovation? The windows on the building always struck me as being too small, but it's much better than the suburban bungalow that was previously there.

Posted by: buttermilk channel at October 7, 2009 1:28 PM

Where do you see that it was a teardown? I was under the impression that they worked around the old structure. I think it's a really attractive building. I also saw it on the house tour and it's totally teaked-out MCM inside. Quite a contrast!

Posted by: Carol Gardens at October 7, 2009 2:28 PM

The house that used to be on the site of 125 Joralemon was a one-story shoebox. They probably kept the foundations and the curbcut but that is about all. What is there today is a new building approved by the Landmarks Commission over the protests of the BHA who thought it was too "Disney" -code I think for "non-modernist" although it is also code for a lot of other things the upper classes look their noses down on.
I really liked the interior when it was on the house tour. It was roomy and funky and it has a 2-car garage!

Posted by: Minard Lafever at October 7, 2009 3:40 PM

CG - I actually saw it being torn down. They may have saved a tiny scrap of the original, but this was built as new. And nicely done, overall.

Posted by: buttermilk channel at October 8, 2009 8:02 AM

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October 7, 2009

Exhibit: LPC Sometimes Digs Newfangled Buildings

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