Busted Down on 14th Street...
Despite having had a house in a landmark district for five years, the owner of 470 14th Street in Park Slope couldn’t be bothered to play by the rules when she decided to spruce up the exterior of her 1892 William Hawkins-designed townhouse earlier this year. Now, after the fact, she’s having to go back…
Despite having had a house in a landmark district for five years, the owner of 470 14th Street in Park Slope couldn’t be bothered to play by the rules when she decided to spruce up the exterior of her 1892 William Hawkins-designed townhouse earlier this year. Now, after the fact, she’s having to go back to LPC to try to get approval for the unauthorized windows and paint job. While they’re at it, they should take a look at that door. It doesn’t exactly scream “original!”
December 18, 2007 Agenda [LPC] GMAP
I don’t think LPC will have a problem with the white windows as long as they aren’t vinyl. What they will have a problem with is the style of window. In particular the parlor window with its tilt out style.
What’s wrong with the door? Do you really expect double doors on a 15 footer?
I gotta say, i find it amusing that brownstone brooklyn thinks that white colored window frames are for the impoverished and tasteless cretins of the globe. Do you know that there are other historical districts in America, where only white windows are allowed, and I am talking about townhouses. I think white framed windows can look pretty great on some properties, particularly a beige house like this one. It really makes the frame pop, which is not necessarily an undesirable quality. On of the problems is that most people associate white windows with cheap vinyl windows. But even vinyl windows are not necessarily bad, they are, in fact one of the most energy efficient material in terms of heat loss.
This is the kind of story that makes some of our area’s homeowners oppose landmark designation. It’s just not that bad…and having put in both expensive “correct” windows and cheap-o vinyl tilt-ins depending on our resources at the time, I can sympathise. (Ironically, the vinyls have also lasted way better than the “correct” wood-sash insulated units bought for $$$$$.) This leaves unanswered where you do draw the line, of course. Oh, and every case like this I’ve heard of involves being ratted out by a spiteful “neighbor”…
I forgot to mention (I am the post at 10:38) that I even had a letter from Georgia Pacific, by then bankrupt over asbestos in sheathing material and reformed as Louisiana Pacific, saying the windows weren’t being manufactured any more by the time Clinton Hill was landmarked and the company was under investigation and in chapter 11 by that date.
DOH!
ah, that’s too bad.
it looks better than most of the “landmarked” pieces of cr*p on that block…
The house may look nice, but the Landmarks Commission, contrary to popular belief, is not about aesthetics, it is about historical appropriateness. A light color scheme is inappropriate for this row of houses. The 1870’s through 1890’s were called the “Brown Decades” for a reason.
The house may look very cute, but it is not going to fly with the commission, I don’t think.
The white windows would be a terrible fit on almost any historic house.
I live in Clinton Hill and the crappy metal windows in my house were installed in 1971, before landmarking. We were applying for a landmarks grant to do facade work in 1993, when my daughter was tiny and I hadn’t gone back to work yet. Since the grants were income based, I thought it would be a good time because we were broke as hell. At the same time a neighbor decided to replace HIS windows with something as crappy as mine. Some overzealous so and so in the neighborhood – who is well known for this kind of thing but Shall Remain Nameless – reported my neighbor to landmarks, who proceeded to slap violations on every house on the block with crappy windows. It took me 4 years and countless letters from elderly block residents who remembered when Mike L. installed the crappy metal windows back in the seventies to clear the violation. Of course, you couldn’t GET a landmark grant if you had a violation.
By the time it was cleared, on paper we had enough income that a grant was pointless. It took us another ten years to scrape up the dough to keep rocks from falling on our friends heads when they came to visit.
So moral of your story? Keep out of your neighbor’s business.
“I think it looks fine and it has been a historic district for a pretty short time. Is it listed on LPC agenda? I don’t see it.”
Um, pretty clearly the time is listed for around 3 pm. And this house has been in a historic district since 1973 — nearly 35 years.
I think the house looks very nice. I don’t think dark windows would go well with the light colored brick and the door isn’t too bad even has some stain glass in it. Ridiculous if this owner gets a violation.