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Roof Damage at Landmarked Jay St. Firehouse
A reader sent in this picture of major damage to the southern roof of 29 Jay Street, the landmarked Brooklyn Firequarters. Pratt Area Community Council received a grant to restore this building back in 2010, but for now it is still under city ownership. Here’s Damon Strub, the architect for the project, with an update on its pending renovation:
“The sloped roof is damaged and has been for several months now. The firehouse is still owned by HPD and they are doing their usual level of maintenance. The project is currently scheduled to move forward into construction this June – however, it has been scheduled to move forward quite a few times in the past – only to be cancelled and backed up at the last minute – so we are not holding our breath. It’s a shame that HPD cant get their act together on this building. It and its tenants deserve better.”
Fix-Up for Jay Street Firehouse [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/22/2012 9:00 AM
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Open House at Brown Memorial This Weekend
This weekend the Brown Memorial Church will take place in the Sacred Sites Open House weekend, sponsored by the New York Landmarks Conservancy. It will be at the church, 484 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill, this Saturday from 11a.m. until 2:30pm. The church is also a nominee for the Partners in Preservation grants and the voting days are running low! They are seeking a grant for the complete restoration of the at-risk Tiffany stained glass. Voting ends this Monday. Below are some historical details on the church itself:
Brown Memorial was originally built as the Washington Baptist Church by architect Ebenezer L. Roberts in 1860, as commissioned by oil magnate Charles Pratt. The Brown Memorial Baptist congregation was founded in 1916 and purchased the building in 1958. This landmark church is one of New York City’s finest examples of Early Romanesque-Revival style. The church’s exterior is an imposing and majestic structure, dominating the landscape and skyline while the interior sanctuary has curving wooden pews, a three-sided balcony, ornate plaster work, a large beautiful mosaic just behind the pulpit, a pipe organ in the balcony and twelve museum-quality Tiffany stained glass windows – including two extraordinary representations: “The Pilgrims” and “The Resurrection.”
05/17/2012 2:40 PM
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Tomorrow: Calendaring the Bedford Historic District
Tomorrow the Landmarks Preservation Commission will vote to calendar the Bedford Historic District, which has been in the works for a few years now. According to the Bedford Stuyvesant Society for Historic Preservation:
Over the past two years, community groups, Council Member Albert Vann and other elected officials, Community Board 3 and local preservation groups have lobbied the LPC to revisit the designation of the Stuyvesant Heights Expansion as well as the designation of the proposed four other proposed districts in Bedford-Stuyvesant. As a result of these actions, LPC staff held a designation hearing for the Stuyvesant Heights Historic District Expansion on August 2, 2011 and will vote to calendar the Bedford Historic District on May 15, 2012.
The residents of Bedford-Stuyvesant are overwhelmingly in favor of the designation of the of the Bedford Historic District and look forward to the swift consideration and designation of additional districts within greater Bedford-Stuyvesant, including, Stuyvesant East, Stuyvesant North, and Stuyvesant West.
The LPC spoke to the neighborhood about this particular HD in March of this year.
LPC Looks to Landmark Bed Stuy Bedford District [Brownstoner]
05/14/2012 12:15 PM
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Bistricer to Buy Bossert Hotel, Kaufman to Renovate
Well, that didn’t take long! As we reported last week, Brooklyn Heights’ Bossert Hotel, one of the most landmark-y landmarks in all of the borough, is likely to be returned to its original use as a hotel, and now there are city filings to prove that: According to Department of Buildings records, developer and high-profile landlord David Bistricer has plans to turn the structure into a 302-unit “HOTELS, DORMITORIES,” in DOB-speak. Meanwhile, according to the filings, the architect of record on the job is Gene Kaufman, who has been in the news lately for his plans to renovate the Hotel Chelsea in Manhattan, a landmark in its own right. Bistricer had this to say to us about the plans for the Bossert: “The facade is not going to be touched because it’s in impeccable condition. The present owners kept it in very good shape. The plans have not been finalized for the interior of the building but we are going to upgrade the plumbing and electrical.” Well, now we know who some of the players are for a building that qualifies as a national treasure, since it is public record. What is not yet public record is how much the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ are in contract to sell the structure for, though some real estate insiders we have spoken to opine that it could be close to the $90 million price that the property almost sold for back in 2008.
Brooklyn Heights’ The Bossert Will Be a Hotel Again [Brownstoner]
The Bossert Hotel’s Past, Present and Possible Future [Brownstoner]
The Bossert Finds a Buyer [Brownstoner]
Watchtower Divestment Continues: The Bossert on the Block [Brownstoner] GMAP
05/14/2012 11:16 AM
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Dumbo’s 185 Plymouth Heading to the LPC
Later this month, the owners of 185 Plymouth Street will propose a slew of building upgrades to the Landmarks Preservation Commission later in anticipation of a residential conversion. The most recent DOB permits lead us to believe it will remain a mixed-use building. According to the LPC Agenda [PDF] for May 22nd, 185 Plymouth/60 John Street, a stable and storage building built circa 1900, submitted an “application to construct additions, modify window and ground floor openings, alter sidewalk, install storefront infill, a canopy, and signage.” So it sounds like some ground-floor commercial space may be in the works, as well. This is only a few doors away from the residential conversion happening at 195 Plymouth. GMAP DOB
05/04/2012 9:00 AM
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Opening Shots Fired With Bills Involving Landmarks Law
Today the City Council’s land-use committee held a meeting to discuss a number of bills involving Landmarks Preservation Commission operations, including some that preservationists believe could severely damage the very essence of the city’s Landmarks Law. The meeting involved a great deal of political theater, as at least 20 Councilmembers made appearances, and several spoke on the bills that they had sponsored. Near the beginning of the meeting, which lasted more than two-and-a-half hours, the Landmarks Preservation Commission released an official statement on a number of the bills, which read, in part: “[T]hese bills, taken together, would significantly alter the discretionary, flexible and nuanced process that the Charter and the Landmarks Law left in the hands of a capable and expert agency. Establishing rigid timelines and processes with respect to RFEs [Requests for Evaluations] would make it extremely difficult for the Commission to address changing conditions, set and adjust priorities and respond to true emergency situations.” And after that, the fun began! On the jump, commentary given by several of the Councilmembers introducing the bills, including a snipe from Councilmember Jessica Lappin asking the LPC, “how is that going to overwhelm you?” (more…)
05/02/2012 3:03 PM
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Bills That Could Severely Damage Landmarks Law to be Introduced in Council Tomorrow
At a 10 a.m. meeting tomorrow, the City Council’s committee on land use will be considering several bills related to landmarking, including some that have been gathering dust for years and a couple new ones. The Historic Districts Council, which has sent out several emails about the bills, notes two of them as being of particular interest:
1. “creates a 21/33 month maximum timeline for landmark and historic district designations. These bills would seem to answer the longtime community complaints about lack of attention to community requests. In truth, if these bills are adopted in tandem as written, they would risk overwhelming the LPC scant resources and could result in thousands of potential buildings in dozens of historic districts being rejected out of hand.”
2. “mandates City Planning Commission to analyze economic impact of designation on the development potential of proposed landmark and instructs City Council to strongly regard this analysis in their deliberations. The bill also requires the LPC to issue very detailed draft designation reports early in the public hearing process and promulgate rules for historic districts immediately after designation. This is a deliberate attack on the Landmarks Law , which was intended by its drafters to “stabilize and improve property value; protect and enhance the city’s attractions to tourists and visitors and the support and stimulus to business and industry thereby provided; and strengthen the economy of the city”. This is how Landmark designation worked in 1965, and it’s how Landmark designation works today.”
We’ve spoken to a number of preservationists about these bills, and it’s worth noting that concentrated attempts to weaken the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s power come into play every four or five years. Often they go nowhere. It’s also worth noting that about 3 percent of the city is landmarked, and none of these bills offers quid pro quo: If the LPC is going to do more work, it’s not going to be getting any more money to do that work. Landmarking helps keep New York unique, and it brings in tourist revenue by preserving our city’s past. The Landmarks Preservation Commission is not commenting on the matter at present.
What the City Council Proposals Really Mean [HDC]
05/01/2012 11:14 AM
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Renovations Begin at The Julius Liebman Mansion
The Julius Liebman Mansion at 380 Clinton Avenue, which sold last year for $3,800,000, is under renovation. The LPC approved renovations to the basement, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd floors and the installation of new windows and window wells. The DOB also approved plans for “non structural demolition and minor general construction work.” The building will remain a single family. The exterior work seems pretty minor, which makes you wonder about the purpose of the large construction fence now around the house. It is a 9,200-square-foot home on a 13,500-square-foot lot (with a carriage house fronting Vanderbilt Avenue, to boot) so there is a lot to work with here.
The Julius Liebman Mansion Sells [Brownstoner]
380 Clinton Avenue Now $1 Million Cheaper [Brownstoner]
Liebman Mansion Interior Revealed [Brownstoner] GMAP
Julius Liebman Mansion Hits the Market [Brownstoner]
04/19/2012 11:00 AM
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Closing Bell: Expanded Slope Historic District is Official!
Park Slope’s Historic District became bigger and badder this afternoon after its expansion was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The extension of the district, which has been in the making for decades, includes 580 buildings, stretching from approximately 7th Street to 14th Street, 7th Avenue to 8th Avenue, and along 15th Street from 8th Avenue to Prospect Park West. It is now the third largest historic district in New York, behind the Greenwich Village and Upper West Side HDs. Councilmember Brad Lander, members of the Park Slope Civic Council and other neighborhood residents celebrated outside Manhattan’s muni building a couple hours ago.
Vote to Expand Park Slope HD Happening Tuesday [Brownstoner]
Pictured, from left to right: Peter Bray, Park Slope Civic Council Trustee; LPC Chair Robert Tierney; Councilmember Brad Lander and David Alquist, Park Slope Civic Council Trustee
04/17/2012 4:00 PM
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Vote to Expand Park Slope HD Happening Tuesday
This Tuesday, April 17th the Landmarks Preservation Committee will vote to expand the Park Slope Historic District. The district is bounded by 7th Street and 14th Street from the north and south, mostly between 7th and 8th avenues (in red). There’s still talk of yet further expansion into the neighborhood. The vote has been long in the making; residents and the Park Slope Civic Council first pushed for a more ambitious district years ago. This vote was calendared in October 2010.
Vote Coming Up on Historic District Expansion in the Slope [Brownstoner]
04/12/2012 11:00 AM
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St. Ann’s Warehouse is Heading to the LPC
Later this month Dumbo’s St. Ann’s Warehouse heads to the Landmarks Preservation Commission for permission to renovate its new home at 29 Jay Street. The application is to “alter the facade, and install signage and lighting.” According to a Wall Street Journal article on the matter, the theater company hopes to open at 29 Jay this November. The organization’s space is 19,000 square feet, which is 5,000 square feet larger than the current location. St. Ann’s is leaving its current home after the landlord took back the space and a court ruling prevented the theater from relocating to the Tobacco Warehouse.
St. Ann’s Finds a New House in Dumbo [Brownstoner] GMAP
04/09/2012 10:30 AM
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New Visitors Center Coming to Flatbush’s Wyckoff House
Next Tuesday, April 10th, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will hear a request to add a new visitor’s center at Flatbush’s Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, the city’s oldest structure, which is now used as a museum. We spoke with a representative at the Wyckoff House who said the new building will obviously look more modern than the 17th Century structure, but the design will be very sympathetic to the original in terms of color and aesthetic. The slope of the roof on the vistors center is also similar to that of the Wyckoff House. The plan hasn’t been finalized yet with the architects and the construction timeline remains unclear. Check back here for updates on the project as it moves through Landmarks. GMAP
Photo by wati dewidisoni
04/03/2012 9:00 AM
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Lot Reduction of Whole Foods Landmark Still Needs OK
Well, we really thought we’d settled the drawn-out business of Whole Foods getting approval to build a store at 3rd Street and 3rd Avenue inn Gowanus after the Board of Standards and Appeals approved a variance request last month, but, according to a story in the Journal, the City Council still needs to vote to approve the reduction of the lot size of the landmark building sitting on the grocer’s site. The LPC already approved the lot reduction of the Coignet Stone Company Building in January, so the Council vote is probably 100% pro forma, but the article gives a nice primer on the history of the landmark as well as why some preservationists aren’t pleased about the Whole Foods store wrapping around the building very tightly. The article talks about how the building was constructed in 1872, landmarked in 2006, and how the “elegant Italianite mansion provided office space for Coignet and subsequent companies, including its longest-running tenant, the Brooklyn Improvement Co., from which Coignet leased the land for its stone works.” We’re going to block quote more about the building’s history, since it’s so interesting:
Designed by William Field & Son, the curious building was a showcase for Beton Coignet, a new concrete developed in France by François Coignet in the 1850s. The Brooklyn mansion was built of the very material it championed and displayed various architectural features and ornament cast from molds, showing that concrete could replicate the stone-and-chisel method of old. ‘It was definitely an advertisement [for the company]. They put it on the most visible position on the lot,’ said Matthew Postal, a landmarks commission researcher who studied the Coignet building, ‘This is a building that was testing a new technology; it would be an engineering landmark.’ Noteworthy commissions using the new building material included portions of St. Patrick’s Cathedral, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Cleft Ridge Span in Prospect Park, the oldest such arch in the country. Coignet also supplied concrete for new residential developments, simultaneously rising to prominence with the Brooklyn Improvement Co., founded by Edwin Clark Litchfield.
While Whole Foods has pledged to give the building a facelift, some preservationists fear that by reducing the lot size, the building’s distinctiveness will get lost in the sauce compared to the big store next to it.
Market Nears A Landmark [WSJ]
After 8 Years, Brooklyn’s First Whole Foods is Finally a Go! [Brownstoner]
LPC Approves Reduction of Coignet Stone Lot [Brownstoner]
Preservationists: Don’t Shrink Gowanus Landmark’s Lot [Brownstoner]
LPC Hearing on Reduction of Gowanus Building’s Lot [Brownstoner] GMAP
03/29/2012 9:30 AM
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Catholic Church Sells Landmark Fort Greene Building
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn has sold off another one its holdings, 382 Clermont Avenue, which is on the corner of Clermont and Greene. The purchaser, a Manhattan-based firm that wasn’t named in the deed document, paid $5.84 million for the structure in a deal that was recorded in city records on Friday. Property Shark pegs the building as 28,350 square feet. The same buyer also purchased an empty, adjacent lot for $1.99 million. We can only assume that a residential conversion’s in the cards here. Here is the description of 382 Clermont from the LPC Fort Greene Historic District designation report: “The seven-story comer building is the Chancery of the Roman Catholic Dipcese of Brooklyn and was erected in 1930. The building is divided into three sections and is ornamented with decorative forms that are.basically Colonial Revival in feeling. The first two floors on both the Greene and Clermont Avenue facades are articulated by brick pilasters with stylized stone capitals that support a molded stone beltcourse. The rectangular first floor windows are recessed within shallow blind brick arches and are ornamented with bricks splayed lintels, splayed stone keystones and rectangular stone and blocks. On Greene Avenue the entrance way is enframed by a pair of fluted half columns with stylized Corinthian capitals supporting a broken segmental-arched pediment. The narrow Clermont Avenue entrance is ornamented with attenuated stone pilasters supporting a window enframement flanked by volute panels. A stone beltcourse separates the fifth and sixth floors, and a balustrade tops the building. The fifth and seventh floor windows are ornamented by splayed keystones. Brick quoins ornament the corners of the building.” GMAP
03/26/2012 10:00 AM
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Flatbush Sears Store May Yet be Named a Landmark
This Tuesday, March 28th, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will host another public hearing on landmarking the Sears, Roebuck, and Co. Building at 2307 Beverly Road in Flatbush. The first hearing for the building was in March of last year. No vote will be taken Tuesday on its designation. Here is the full historic write-up from the LPC:
The Flatbush branch of Sears Roebuck & Company is an impressive late example of the Art Deco style. Located close to Flatbush Avenue at the southeast corner of Bedford Avenue and Beverly Road, this prominent three-story retail structure was designed by the Chicago architects Nimmons, Carr & Wright, in association with Alton L. Craft of New York City. Sears announced plans to erect a large department store in Brooklyn in March 1932 as part of a larger program to enter the New York area market. Founded as a catalogue company in the early 1890s, it did not enter the retail market until 1925. Neither the Sears Company nor Nimmons had much, if any, experience with chain store design. In the late 1920s, they gradually moved away from classicism and settled on a restrained yet stylish corporate image enlivened by Art Deco details.
03/23/2012 11:30 AM
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Still Hope for Bed-Stuy’s 329 MacDonough Street?
Old House Web wrote a comprehensive piece on the many troubles of 329 and 331 MacDonough Street, the landmarked Bed Stuy brownstones that almost collapsed after a contractor knocked out a load-bearing wall of the basement at #329. We reported on the accident and subsequent efforts to save the buildings. Last summer the DOB approved building permits for renovation, with a vacate order still in place. According to Old House Web, the vacate order at #329 is still in place, although a C-of-O was granted to 331 MacDonough in late April 2010. The owner of #329, heavily credited for saving the home, still owes $12,500 in penalties to the DOB and is already several hundred thousand dollars in debt after the rescue. Occasional construction work is heard by neighbors, with one speculating that someone is living on-site. But Old House Web couldn’t get in touch with either homeowner for a confirmation. We are still hoping for a happy ending here.
Brooklyn Brownstone Preservation Victory: One Year Later [Old House Web]
03/22/2012 12:00 PM
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LPC Looks to Landmark Bed Stuy Bedford District
“This is a historic night,” Evelyn Collier, the Landmarks Committee Chair of CB3, told the packed house at Restoration Plaza last night. The crowd was there to attend a Community Board 3 forum with the Landmarks Preservation Commission and Historic Districts Council on the planned Bedford Historic District, which extends south from Monroe Street to Verona Place (at Fulton) and east from Bedford to Tompkins Avenue. (Check out a rough draft of the map after the jump.) LPC has met with the community about a half-dozen times in the past year and is still in the informal stage of the landmarking process. Kate Daly, LPC’s executive director, said this landmarking process would be staggered after the Stuyvesant Heights expansion. “I know LPC will work swiftly and diligently to get the job done,” Council Member Al Vann told the crowd. The audience seemed supportive and mostly curious about landmarking questions like LPC’s role in emergency repairs, the historic preservation grant program, permit fees, and so forth. Overall it looks likely that the historic district will eventually happen. LPC’s building researcher noted that the 800 proposed buildings in the district (the majority of which are residential) are in “very good condition” and there are “no interruptions on the blocks.” It was noted that some of Montrose Morris’ best buildings are in this proposed district, not to mention this show-stopping block. Wrapping up the meeting, Daly said she saw “a very strong base of support for a historic district here.”
Click through for the map and another video from the meeting… (more…)
03/22/2012 9:30 AM
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293 Pacific: An Argument for Landmarking
We received this photo of the recently completed renovation at 293 Pacific Street from a reader along with the comment, “Hard to argue against landmarking when this is the outcome.” Took the words right out of our mouth. GMAP
03/21/2012 12:00 PM
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Vote Coming Up on Historic District Expansion in the Slope
Next month the Landmarks Preservation Commission will vote on the proposed expansion of the Park Slope Historic District, according to the Brooklyn Paper. The proposed extension, shown in green on the map above, will be bounded by Flatbush Avenue and Prospect Park West to the north and east; 14th Street to the south; 5th Avenue down to President Street and then 7th Avenue from President to 14th on the west. According to the article, residents within the catchment have been receiving letters informing them of the proposal (or, as the story puts it: “The letters have become the most discussed correspondence in the neighborhood — displacing even Yale acceptance letters”). There is also talk of extending the district even further, to the yellow and red sections shown on the map, at some point in the future. If that happens, just about the entire neighborhood will be landmarked, with the exception of the blocks between 4th and 5th avenues.
South Slopers Learn if Their Homes Deserve to be Preserved [BK Paper]
03/06/2012 9:00 AM
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Permits Finally Approved for Carlton Mews
Apparently the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved plans for the new Carlton Mews project—which will involve the construction of five townhouses on Carlton between Willoughby and Dekalb—at a hearing two weeks ago, because the site has been prepped for construction. The DOB reissued new building permits the day after the LPC hearing. A sign on the construction fence estimates a completion date of December 2012. The developer previously told us the plans were “more traditional” than these renderings we picked up in 2010, but new renderings haven’t surfaced yet.
Carlton Avenue Mews Back in Focus [Brownstoner]
LPC Recap: Nay on 27 Cranberry; Carlton Mews on Track [Brownstoner]
The NEW Carlton Mews Revealed [Brownstoner]
Carlton Mews Sells Again [Brownstoner] GMAP DOB
02/29/2012 10:30 AM
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adam_dahill
May 21, 2012 | 02:16 PM