70 Lefferts' Reprieve Only 40 Days
When 70 Lefferts Place was “calendared” by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on October 31, the property received only a 40-day stay on its execution rather than an indefinite one, according to the Park Slope Courier (which apparently doesn’t like citing online publications as news-breaking sources). “At the end of the 40-day period,” said DOB spokesperson…
When 70 Lefferts Place was “calendared” by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on October 31, the property received only a 40-day stay on its execution rather than an indefinite one, according to the Park Slope Courier (which apparently doesn’t like citing online publications as news-breaking sources). “At the end of the 40-day period,” said DOB spokesperson Tori Edmiston, “if no response is received from the LPC, the application review and approval process will continue. Nor does it assure that the house will ultimately receive landmark certification, as was the case recently with two wood-frame houses in Staten Island that LPC decided were too far gone to merit landmarking. I’m very hopeful that we can preserve this house, said Letitia James who is increasingly building her stature within the preservationist community for championing this house and others. Simeon Bankoff, the executive director of the Historic Districts Council, put the urgency of the situation in context by saying that, “In my mind, this is a house with a death sentence on it. Interestingly, the Lefferts Place Civic Association says it is exploring ways to help the developer get out of the situation without losing his shirt if the landmarking effort is successful. It would be interesting to hear some of those ideas.
This Old House – Safe For Now [PS Courier]
Progress for 70 Lefferts Place Preservationists [Brownstoner]
A long dwendling spiral staircase would stand out in any house, however, for Lefferts Place that is not cause to call for preserving this property, simply foolish! If the community is so interested in this property by all means extend some funds to the developer to preserve this place and perhaps create it into something which would be beneficial to the community, how about a home/social service agency to serve and administer treatment and services to mothers and children with HIV, or a home for troubled teens,or better yet a shelter for families trying to get on their feet,let’s keep the philantropic efforts going here at 70 Lefferts Place as did James Elwell and followers of Father Divine did.If landmark, these would all be options as funding is always readily available for programs as such and the community who fought so hard to preserve this place will finally get what they’ve been asking for the remaining and forever standing Land Mark Italiante Villa 70 Leffets Place with a host of interchanging neighbors.
That’s ridiculous. We’ve been inside. There’s lots to preserve, starting with the beautiful staircase.
The community seems to be nothing more than fascinated by the outer appearance of 70 Lefferts PLace when many have not seen the existing disaster that many of the previous tenants of 70 Lefferts Place were living in.70 Lefferts is no longer a one family or a three family dwelling this outside beauty is nothing more than poorly constructed apartments in which the previous owner/or owners created for profit. There is nothing here to preserve!!!To preserve this property would cost several millions…70 Lefferts interior is far from the original design. I wish the community good luck in the hearing process to keep 70 Lefferts Place.The Beautiful Condos will soon be standing tall casting a dark shade on a “cold block” which welcomed its neighbor poorly. What happened to baking pies and cakes or sipping a cup of coffee with your new neighbor ??Come on Lefferts Place you gotta do better than this.
Anon. 12:50 AM: Do you think the “super-rich” are the only ones who want to live in human-scale neighborhoods? Many of the homes around #70 Lefferts are owned by working-class people who bought back in the day when the “super-rich” wanted nothing to do with places like Clinton Hill, and for whom the quality of the neighborhood they’ve raised their families in is more important than the biggest and fastest possible dollar. Anyway, the condos slated to replace #70, if it’s demolished, will not be in the category of “affordable housing.” The developer has never even suggested they would be.
I think that the community needs more housing, and this certainly isn’t providing it.
Personally,I’d like to restrict landmarks, because it is secretly a zoning restriction for the super-rich. Why is brooklyn heights so low-density, when it has much better subways than the LES?
Yes, it all is a matter of taste, but if you think this is an “ugly” house, I can only imagine your dream is to live in a Fedders monstrosity.
This should be interesting. There is a similar case taking place in the soon to be landmarked part of Crown Heights North. The oldest freestanding farmhouse in the area was bought for its FAR and teardown appeal, just as the landmarking was in its final stages, and LPC is also calendaring that for individual landmark status, so that the house can be saved.
In the CHN case, even more than in the Lefferts case, the developer must have known that he was buying a building that would soon be protected by landmark status. The process has been going on for over 4 years, and the seller and buyer had to know.
greedy developer thought that he was getting over and look who got got!!! ha ha ha. i do not in the least feel sorry for the buyer, he should have done his research first, instead he saw dollar signs which is never a good thing.
if he loses his money, why should anyone care? except of course his bank!
“calendared,” put on the agenda:
http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/working_with/calendar.shtml