Cypress Hills Church and Blocks in PLG Could Become National Historic Places

A proposed historic district and a church, both in Brooklyn, are among a list of 13 new nominations to the State and National Registers of Historic Places announced last week by Governor Hochul. Designation will make them eligible for preservation help, including grants.

Nominated in Cypress Hills is the former English Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Reformation at 105 Barbey Street. Now the Citadel Cathedral of Praise and Worship, the brick and terra-cotta Gothic Revival church was designed by William P. Bannister and Richard M. Schell and completed in 1908. The draft nomination cites the “architectural distinction” of the building and its significance in the ethnic history of Brooklyn, particularly as a German congregation that chose to break with tradition to offer English-language services.

In Prospect Lefferts Gardens, a newly proposed historic district focuses on areas outside of the original Lefferts Manor development and not already included within the existing National Register historic district. The newly nominated district includes almost 800 properties built largely between the 1890s and 1930, including row houses, apartment buildings, and mixed-use properties. Some, but not all, of those properties also fall within the locally designated historic district.

All of the new nominations must first be approved for listing in the State Register of Historic Places, and once they have passed through that process will move on to review for listing in the National Register. The National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 authorized the creation of the National Register as a program to identify, support, and protect historic and archeological resources.

Unlike local landmarking by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, listing in the State and National Register doesn’t result in regulatory oversight over private owners, but can make properties eligible for some preservation programs, grants, and historic rehabilitation tax credits.

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