mapen's Profile
- Allison Pennell
- 1998
- 2007
- Brooklyn
- Park Slope
- Co-op
- writer
- Female
- 41
Author's Posts
September 21, 2007
Historic Coop Exterior Window Color
Our coop in PS is replacing the cornice and repainting the exterior windows. Currently, everything is black. The building is red brick and limestone. Landmarks is saying we have to go off-white with the cornice and LIGHT GREY for the windows. I can live with the cornice color marginally but am horrified at the thought of such a radical change to the windows, which are quite lovely in black. Virtually every damn window in the entire neighborhood is black. What recourse do we have. I feel railroaded by the architectural engineering firm we'd retained to oversee the project. Thanks in advance for your advice!!
Author's Comments
Responses to Author's Forum Comments
Best way is to see if anyone in your neighborhood has any, or knows where the former owners or their descendants are, as people often take pictures of, or pictures of people standing in front of, their houses.
Posted by: guest at September 21, 2007 4:14 PM in response to Historic Coop Exterior Window Color
You should hire a Landmark/Preservation consultant. LPC sometimes acts like they are doing things for no reason, but there usually is a reason. They have a huge list of things they look for. If they want your windows to be gray, you'll be hard pressed to change their mind without using the proper consultants on your side.
Posted by: guest at September 22, 2007 8:36 AM in response to Historic Coop Exterior Window Color
i sincerely doubt your architect is "railroading" you, you probably just don't like what they have to say. what lpc says goes, unless you have historic photos or someone to check out what the paint was originally...usually lpc has done that already.
Posted by: guest at September 24, 2007 10:28 PM in response to Historic Coop Exterior Window Color
Apparently, the grandfathering of paint color only applies if you are just repainting and not if you are scraping the windows. Why, I don't know. It makes very little sense to me to discourage coops from taking care of their buildings just to achieve the very first color of paint on windows that were repainted 15 colors after and which have been black for over 60 years. So, we're apparently stuck just painting over cracked lead paint, or doing nothing or going light gray on a building that has a prominent black fire escape, red brick and limestone. Yuck!
Posted by: guest at September 25, 2007 7:31 PM in response to Historic Coop Exterior Window Color
How would I go about finding a photograph of the building circa 1970? The tax photo is much earlier and takes 6 weeks to order.
Posted by: mapen at September 21, 2007 2:43 PM in response to Historic Coop Exterior Window Color