Historic Prospect Heights Church Could Become Condos

A late 19th century Romanesque Revival church in Prospect Heights not far from Barclays Center could soon become residential apartments if a planned conversion is greenlit by the city. How much of the original church structure — which is not landmarked — would stay in place if the project moves ahead is unclear.

Spanish public company Urban View has filed an alteration permit to convert the 1890s church building at 515 Dean Street into eight apartments, adding an extra floor and 15 feet of height to the existing building, bringing it to a total of four stories. To completely tear down the church building and replace it, the company would need to apply for a demolition permit. Instead, it is going the alteration route, which means it plans to keep some of the existing structure intact — although it is not clear how much.

Already, a two-story extension at the rear of the church has been approved for demolition, city records show. Jaeyoung Jang of Clip Architects is listed as the architect on both permits. No renderings of the project are available online.

A recent visit to the site showed no obvious signs of work being done to the church building. A notice attached to the green construction fence surrounding the site said demolition (presumably for the rear extension) is under way.

Urban View purchased the property under the LLC 420 East 75 Street in early 2024 for $5.6 million, city records show. The lot has changed hands a few times over the past 50 years but always to religious institutions.

Plans were first filed for the church building in 1892 by the First Swedish Baptist Church, which had been worshipping in other locations, including Brooklyn Heights and Boerum Hill. Designed by J. W. Bailey, the brick church incorporates elements of both the Romanesque Revival, with a large central arch, and the Gothic Revival, with Gothic arched windows. Articles covering the 1893 dedication noted the interior was Gothic in style, with a groin vault ceiling.

In 1941, the First Swedish Baptist Church congregation voted to drop Swedish from the name and to become the Dean Street Baptist Church. In 1975, the General Baptist Conference bought the building, then sold it in 1997 to the First Evangelical Haitian Baptist Church. After less than a decade in the building, in 2005 the First Evangelical Haitian Baptist Church sold the building to The Temple of Restoration.

The Temple of Restoration got permission from the State Attorney General’s Office in July 2024 to sell the property to the private developer. Urban View co-founder and Chief Operating Officer Robert Robert Michaeli did not respond to requests for comment on the project.

While the records don’t indicate whether or not this project will be rentals or condos, the neighborhood and small number of units make condos likely. A set-back addition would preserve the facade and historic appearance of the building while also adding the extra square footage needed for the conversion.

Amid soaring property values, churches across the borough have been offloading real estate for years, driven by dwindling congregations and aging buildings in need of costly repairs. While many have been torn down to make way for new housing, some structures are repurposed, expanded, or—on rare occasions—preserved and adapted. Examples of non-landmarked structures whose tops are lopped off for vertical structures abound in Greenpoint and Bushwick, while in northwest Brooklyn more converted churches have survived with intact exteriors even when they are not in an historic district.

[Photos by Susan De Vries unless noted otherwise]

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