Scarano Design for Stable Site Under Fire
August 24, 2005, NY Daily News — It’s out with the old and in with the new. A beloved, century-old Carroll Gardens carriage house that once housed horses used to haul cargo from the Gowanus Canal was torn down this year. Developers are putting up a four-story brick condo in its place, and neighbors are…
August 24, 2005, NY Daily News — It’s out with the old and in with the new. A beloved, century-old Carroll Gardens carriage house that once housed horses used to haul cargo from the Gowanus Canal was torn down this year. Developers are putting up a four-story brick condo in its place, and neighbors are not happy. “It looks like a prison,” said Cynthia Simmons, who lives next door in an old converted rope factory and also viewed a rendering of the building on the architect’s Web site. “It doesn’t fit in with the rest of the neighborhood,” she said.
Back in May, neighbors said goodbye to the red brick carriage house at 350 Bond St., which dated to the late 1800s. Some neighbors lobbied to save the old structure – most recently used as a motorcycle repair shop – but the developers said the building was beyond repair. “There was no real way to save this thing in a practical way,” said Erik Fortmeyer, a local history buff and real estate agent who lives nearby. During its heyday, there were upward of two dozen stables in the area – the Bond St. location was the last to go. “I would like to say, ‘save it,’ because it’s the only one of its kind left, but because there was no human inhabitation, ever, there was no maintenance, ever. … There was nothing they can do,” Fortmeyer said.
According to plans filed with the Buildings Dept., the developers plan to put up a 55-foot-tall building with eight apartments. A rendering posted on Scarano & Associates Web site – the project architects – shows a modern brick and glass building with irregularly placed windows. Some neighbors believe the new building is a sign of what’s to come. “I think we’ll start to look like Williamsburg,” Simmons said. “We’ll get aesthetically bad buildings with really nice finishes that cost a lot of money.” Fortmeyer just hopes the history will not be totally lost. “It [was] a neat little building,” Fortmeyer said. “I hope they put up a few photos and preserve it for posterity.”
‘Prison’ Condo at Site of Old Stable [NY Times]
Preservationists Say No to Stable [Brownstoner]
Stable Update [Brownstoner]
More De-Stablization [Brownstoner]
Not my favorite building but at least not Forth Ave style development (with Friedrich plastic plates all over the fecade). If this is how this Gowanus area will develop I would be quite happy.
These complainers make it sound as though this modern bldg is going up in middle of some brownstoner block. Its fringe block by the canal that very few people even venture past – and hardly very uniform or pleasant architecture to begin with. Car lots, aluminum sided houses, some brick stuctures -often pretty dumpy and a couple of carriage houses that are fixed up very nicely. And the one of the bigger apt bldgs is senior citizen apts. that hardly is inspirational.
Quit whining. Bond Street will look better after this is up.
“I think we’ll start to look like Williamsburg,” Simmons said. “We’ll get aesthetically bad buildings with really nice finishes that cost a lot of money.”
Oh snap!