The Cold Shoulder of the Greene House Facade
While the height and materials of the Greene House condos are what attracted the most grumbling when the development opened in late 2004, it struck us the other day that the way in which the base of the building fails to engage with the streetscape is arguably a greater shortcoming. Was this a result of…
While the height and materials of the Greene House condos are what attracted the most grumbling when the development opened in late 2004, it struck us the other day that the way in which the base of the building fails to engage with the streetscape is arguably a greater shortcoming. Was this a result of zoning that prevented storefronts on this block or just plain-old bad design? Update: We should also mention that the streetscape on this block has greatly benefited from the garden on the corner that the Greene House Condo owners built with their own two hands. There’s a photo of it with no furniture in January in this thread and a fresh one with furniture on the jump.
I live three blocks away, and swear I thought that building was a walk-in health center for the longest time. something about the glass bricks i guess … i also have to agree that the garden looks a little sad, especially with the lack of greenery and people. i’ve never seen anyone use that space, and can’t blame them: it looks like the panda enclosure at the zoo.
An ugly building has very little to do with a not ugly building architecturally.
the “old” neighborhood is not just brownstones. what about the former brooklyn eye & ear hospital (now the mugavero senior home)–whose lower exterior is not terribly dissimilar to the greene house condos–the 1920s-30s high rise buildings (griffin, etc.) which don’t have stoops, etc.? there’s been diversity wihin the nabe for a long time.
Anon 12:26AM you obviously did not work hard enough:)
The old-timers (of which I am one) fought hard to make sure that new development didn’t impact the neighborhood’s intrinsic charms. Perhaps you are too young to have know about it 4:23pm, but the old-timers are the ones who made sure that the new housing that was built in the 90’s and this decade on and around Fulton and continuing up to Atlantic between S. Portland and Vanderbilt is due in large part to the activist community that thrives in Fort Greene. These are the people who were here before trendy restaurants. Many of them worked hard in the decades previous to get Fort Greene landmarked. And we shouldn’t forget about them either when we pass by the new streetscapes and admire all the gardens in the front of them. Fulton Street between Carlton and S. Oxford actually won the best block contest for those gardens. So if you particularly do not care about the architecture or the gardens of the area, that doesn’t mean that everybody who came to Fort Greene when you did shares your sentiments.
It hilarious that so many Fort Greene people are complaining about this building when to those of us who have been living here before the bars, museums and such, you are the newbies. Noone’s leaving so everyone really need to get over themselves.
The old garden had wild honeysuckle that would waft through the whole neighborhood. I’ll always miss that. The new garden is admirable, but looks empty and loney. It takes years for a good garden to take root and this new space is not trying to step into the old shoes. The brown garage wall is unfortunate. It might as well be a cinderblock wall. There is no life to the street there. No human need be there except to pass by. It is not a place designed to be in a city community, more like a suburban office block entrance. This neighborhood has stoops and front gardens that allow for humans to pause and sometimes sit and chat, say “hello” over the fence. This space could have been designed to allow for something like that, even in a more contemporary form. A commercial storefront would have been much welcomed here as well. Another lost opportunity.
The old garden had wild honeysuckle that would waft through the whole neighborhood. I’ll always miss that. The new garden is admirable, but looks empty and loney. It takes years for a good garden to take root and this new space is not trying to step into the old shoes. The brown garage wall is unfortunate. It might as well be a cinderblock wall. There is no life to the street there. No human need be there except to pass by. It is not a place designed to be in a city community, more like a suburban office block entrance. This neighborhood has stoops and front gardens that allow for humans to pause and sometimes sit and chat, say “hello” over the fence. This space could have been designed to allow for something like that, even in a more contemporary form. A commercial storefront would have been much welcomed here as well. Another lost opportunity.
I live on the next block over and I always say this to remind the residents of this bldg when people start whining on here about your bldg — that we as neighbors are happy you settled down here and we WELCOME YOU TO BEING A PART OF FORT GREENE. That said we probably won’t really ever like the exterior look of your bldg. And most of us are guessing that’s not what got you excited about living there either. So don’t stress about it if we are still annoyed at having to look at it every day. When the larger, uglier buildings go up on the outskirts of our neighborhood we will probably forget all about your bldg anyway. And also we are thankful that your bldg helped galvanize support to start the downzoning of FG/Clinton Hill. Even if it came at a cost to our blocks. But you are all right. It is a free country. And capitalism rules. Don’t think that the developer wasn’t looking to max out ever bit of sq feet for his own bottom line though. He didn’t build the bldg out of any actual kindheartedness for those who couldn’t afford a brownstone or anything like that. That is just plain funny. And anyway people who can afford GH don’t really need support in that way really do they?