Ocean's 13: Landmarking Against a Ticking Time Bomb
Last night, the board members of Community Board 9 unanimously approved an effort to convince the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate a row of 13 rowhouses on Ocean Avenue. The “Ocean on the Park” houses, as they are being called, consist of ten limestones designed by the well-known architect Axel Hedman (who designed the Courtroom…
Last night, the board members of Community Board 9 unanimously approved an effort to convince the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate a row of 13 rowhouses on Ocean Avenue. The “Ocean on the Park” houses, as they are being called, consist of ten limestones designed by the well-known architect Axel Hedman (who designed the Courtroom at Brooklyn Borough Hall as well as numerous houses in the Park Slope, Crown Heights and Lefferts Manor historic districts) around 1910 and three brick houses from about 1920. As readers may remember, one of the brick houses, 185 Ocean Avenue, was sold for $1.2 million (33% above asking price) to a developer named Meir Zarchi last spring. The developer had his plans for an eight-story, 23,000-square-foot building disapproved by DOB in September (one person who’s seen the plan called it “an awful looking mess”), but he did get approval yesterday to put up a construction fence, an almost certain precursor to demolition. The other 12 homeowners report being approached by numerous developers looking to follow suit. With the official community board backing, as well as support from several local politicians, the preservation-minded residents are looking for LPC to step up to the plate before it’s too late.
Calender: 10/23/2007 Meeting [CB9] GMAP P*Shark
“I want to be a fly on the wall when the Crapmeister who has already put up a “Dead House Walking” fence discovers he is “stuck” with an exquisite limestone townhouse in perpetuity.”
The crapmeister actually owns the more modest brick house at the end – the last one visible in the image.
Brenda, you should get a Pulitzer for that piece of prose. Well said, indeed.
10:07 – you have no idea what you are talking about.
I know some of the people in this organization, and was able to give them some advice, ala our experiences in CHN. Glad to see they have gone the extra distance so fast. These houses are very worthy for landmarking, given their architect, location and history. The interiors are beautiful, as well, and the owners are a great group of very dedicated preservationists who know very well what their properties are worth. They would rather have their homes, just the way they have always been.
Good luck to you, and way to go!
Perfectly stated Brenda from Flatbush! 🙂
There’s one thing you can say about a raging California wildfire: It gets people’s attention. But the inexorable march of the smoldering Brooklyn crapfire will consume our irreplaceable streetscapes one lot at a time, until we have nothing left but a few ultra-pristine historic enclaves surrounded by phalanxes of looming millenial crap, block after block of it, bloated condo cubes squatting into infinity. It is PRECISELY these “B-list” intact stretches of lovely and historical buildings that need to be preserved; they are the muscle and sinew of our streetscape and our way of life. GO GUYS GO…I want to be a fly on the wall when the Crapmeister who has already put up a “Dead House Walking” fence discovers he is “stuck” with an exquisite limestone townhouse in perpetuity. Zarchi-licious! If I were the next-door neighbors, I’d be wary that he doesn’t try to blow it up in the night and blame it on a smoking vagrant. Greed…as powerful as the Santa Ana winds and a wall of flame.
Landmarking is fine for people who do not own the property. But, if the buildings are landmarked, the owners will lose thousands of dollars. You are taking away some of the value of their property and giving them nothing.
They are special, but they’re not “manisons.”
Well, thank goodness you don’t occupy a seat on the LPC!
There must be thousands of houses in Brooklyn similar to these. I don’t believe these houses are anything special and don’t merit historical protection.
Posted by: Polemicist at October 24, 2007 9:09 AM
There must be thousands of house in Brooklyn similar to these. I don’t believe these houses are anything special and don’t merit historical protection.