Retail May Trump Admiral's Row Preservation
Back in July, a plan by the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to accelerate the demolition of the houses on Admiral’s Row gained momentum, with backing coming from Community Board 2 and the Brooklyn borough president. But a group of local preservationists has has continued to press the case for saving and restoring the houses….
Back in July, a plan by the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation to accelerate the demolition of the houses on Admiral’s Row gained momentum, with backing coming from Community Board 2 and the Brooklyn borough president. But a group of local preservationists has has continued to press the case for saving and restoring the houses. Eric J. Deutsch, president and chief executive of the development corporation, says that the Admiral’s Row houses “are neither financially nor physically preservable.” Instead, the corporation would rather see a supermarket that would serve the three public housing projects nearby. People like Cathy Wassylenko, a Clinton Hill resident who is quickly gathering information from the National Trust for Historic Preservation about emergency measures that can be taken to prevent the demolition of historic buildings, gaven’t given up yet. “At this point,” she said, “we’ll do anything. Because once they’re gone, they’re gone. You can’t bring them back.”
Hopes Fade for Admiral’s Row [NY Times]
Admiral’s Row: Retail over Preservation? [Brooklyn Eagle]
i just visited admiral’s row today. i attempted to explore one of the houses. it was too dilapidated. the floors are not even in place. these houses are not even that beautiful. how about ripping them down and checking out the admiral’s house itself up on evans and little streets on the hill?
i just visited admiral’s row today. i attempted to explore one of the houses. it was too dilapidated. the floors are not even in place. they are not even that beautiful. how about ripping these down and checking out the admiral’s house itself up on evans and little streets on the hill?
I recently went on a tour of the Brooklyn Navy Yard sponsored by the Municipal Art Society. I’m a big fan of historic preservation, but these houses seem pretty far gone. The shame, as another person commented, is the neglect stemmed from the federal government. Such a waste.
sorry for the multiple posts.
i had trouble posting but here goes:
i think they should keep the buildings and restore them to their former glory. they look marvelous in the photo. they could rent them to movie studios for their period pieces, old new york architecture definitely could pass for holland, london or other old world cities.
they could also do like they did the show house here in bed stuy. get different architects and designers to propose different reno’s with a focus on historic preservation, and then auction them to the highest bidder. i’m sure people would be willing to snap them up in this market.
i’m also sure they could fit a grocery store in somewhere. i’m imagining an general store them like the one in willy b with the clam bar in the back, the name evades me. but bigger and two stories.
i hope this is not a duplicate post, but i think they should keep them. with steiner studios on one side of them, they could restore them to their former glory and rent them out to movie studios for any period pieces they may do.
or they could do like they did here in bed stuy with the show house. they should get different architects and interior designers to refurbish the buildings and then auction them to the highest bidder. so many people would be interested i’m sure.
i’m also sure they could save one building for a badly needed supermarket. imagine a green grocer or supermarket in a historic property with some attention to detail. would be so cool, could do an old world general store feel.
I definitely think they should keep it. with steiner studios nearby, they should refurbish all the homes complete with historic detail, and rent it out to movie studios. on other days, they could make it into museums.
or they could do like the did the show house here in bed stuy and have different architects and designers bid to redo them (with some detail left intact), and then auction them to the highest bidder.
i’m sure people would line up to get them.
It really suck. This buildings are great.
I could see nice little restourant and few small stores in this buildings. They could just give it away (for small money) to people under condition of renowation.
but no we will have new wall mart.
It realy suck .
What’s always so telling about these situations is that the neglect can often be laid at the feet of government and quasi-governmental organizations — in this case, the Army Corps of Engineers. It’s also ironic that the Corps, of all people, surely had the technical expertise to prevent these buildings reaching such an advanced state of decay. Another parallel is the Atlantic Yards site where Ratner proposes to build his 17-high rise megalopolis. The surrounding area has been steadily improving on a building-by-building, block-by-block basis for several years now. Infact, the only aspects of the proposed development site that could be called “blighted” (a strategy Ratner and the state will use to make the grabbing of private property possible through eminent domain) are the MTA-owned plot of land at the SE corner of Atlantic and Flatbush — surrounded by ugly razor wire — and the railyards themselves.