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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


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  1. The only way that the LPC (with its tiny staff) would know about this is by a neighbor (or tenant) ratting on the owner.
    The owners will never be able to get any of these changes approved, so they will probbaly just live with the violation until they sell the house perhaps by then the changes will have become historic.

  2. I used to rent an apartment on this block {before buying my house in PLG]. I remember a number of white windows which pre-date the Historic District and be grandfathered in, but there’s no excuse for doing this now. Ironically, this homeowner MIGHT have escaped LPC notice if he/she had been more discrete and used the dark colors 10:11 had suggested.

  3. I understand the purpose served by the LPC and generally support it, but its tendency to tie homeowners up in months of positively Byzantine process and paperwork is really unconscionable. I fear for the consequences to this particular homeowner (the LPC doesn’t like cheeky property owners intruding on its little fiefdom), but who, when contemplating a minor window or door replacement, hasn’t secretly thought “F the LPC, this is my property and I’ll do what I want to it!”

  4. The house to the left of this one has white replacement windows that don’t look very landmarkish either…hmmm.

    actually, i don’t mind the colors of the paint job or even the green door; but I am always amazed that homeowners choose white windows when brown or black ones look infinitely better – almost without exception.

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