Building of the Day: 36 Troy Avenue

The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 36 Troy Avenue, between Atlantic and Herkimer
Name: Private House
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 2005
Architectural Style: Neo- Fedders
Architects: JAJ Corporation
Landmarked: No

Why chosen: Sometimes accused of never presenting anything built later than 1935, here’s one for you: an early 21st Century row house for the middle class. I rather like this 3 family infill house. It’s the jewel in a very altered and remuddled short block of houses which are isolated from the much finer stock of nearby Stuyvesant Heights. Instead of the usual style-less infill houses, this one has some nice features. The eye is immediately drawn to the best feature of the house, the third floor, which has nicely proportioned balcony doors, with the fanlight above it, crowned with the arch and the little peaked dormer. It looks as if there may be a partial fourth floor in the rear of the house, as well. The bricks are a pleasing color and were used well, with some subtle detailing on the facade. Unfortunately, some things did not work so well. The second floor balcony and window lines are askew. I would have lined the window lines and lintels up evenly. The air conditioner near the balcony is less than attractive, as are the utility meters. Is it so hard to box meters and incorporate that into the design? But all in all, this isn’t bad, and is much better than most infill, and certainly the best looking house on the block. Too bad this company didn’t replicate this basic design more often in other parts of Bed Stuy and Bushwick, where good infill housing is needed. I’ve seen some other good modern moderate income housing in the community, and will feature them from time to time.

Photo: Googlemaps