Park Slope Historic District Likely to Expand
The hard work of the Park Slope Civic Council and others is paying off: On Friday, reports The Observer, the Landmarks Preservation Commission began the process of expanding the Park Slope Historic District by officially “calendaring” the revised boundaries; the move would expand the currently western boundary to the far side of 7th Avenue; currently…
The hard work of the Park Slope Civic Council and others is paying off: On Friday, reports The Observer, the Landmarks Preservation Commission began the process of expanding the Park Slope Historic District by officially “calendaring” the revised boundaries; the move would expand the currently western boundary to the far side of 7th Avenue; currently it stops at 8th Avenue between 5th and 15th Streets and the eastern side of 7th Avenue between 5th and Union Streets. The expanded district would also include a couple of cut-outs that remain unprotected on Prospect Park West. If ultimately approved (which is highly likely) the number of protected buildings would grow from 2,000 to over 2,500. You can read the precise boundary definitions on the LPC website.
Park Slope Historic District To Grow [NYO]
Expanding the Historic District [PSCC]
Oh was just talking with owner of apt in a LM building with a very complex roof. Cost the 18-unit building 400k to redo bricks, roof slates, and rebuild some features to ‘original’ specs. I don’t know about most people, but if I were living there I would not be happy at what was probably a 4x increase in cost.
If a landlord raises the rent, its not because a building becomes landmarked. That’s one of the Big Lies of the anti-landmarking bunch. It’s the same building, the same neighborhood it was the day before. Rents did not go up in Crown Heights North, or anywhere else, because we got landmarked. That claim cannot be backed up with actual figures, because it’s just not true.
Also, regarding Park Slope, specifically, when the current district was planned out, back in the 70’s, times were different in Park Slope. The PS designation report is very different from the reports of every other landmarked neighborhood in Bklyn. (I’ve read them all, believe me) Never before, and probably since, was a district mapped out or information gathered by as tight a collaboration between a community group and the LPC. The community group, led by the “pioneers”, the people who re-settled into the Slope in the late 60’s, early 70’s, was most concerned with protecting the prime housing stock in the blocks closet to the park. This is perfectly understandable, considering the quality of the architecture on those blocks, and the fact that so much had already been lost to a couple of great, some good, and some very bland huge apartment buildings. The fear, rather prescient actually, was that most of Prospect Park West, 8th Ave, and the side blocks would eventually be replaced by apartment buildings, and not Rafael Candela ones, either. If you read the reports, they leave out a lot of the apt buildings in that area. Snobbish, maybe, but certainly in the long run, an overall wise move.
Perhaps they knew they would be overreaching at that time to extend the district below 7th Ave, perhaps the overriding need to make sure the best was saved prevailed, I don’t know. But there is a lot of worthy architecture in the expansion. Most of it may not be as overwhelmingly awesome as in the original district, but it is equally worthy. A good historic district is not just made up of the mansions and buildings of the rich, but shows an overview of many different income levels and architectural styles and budgets. A good historic district protects the streetscape, and keeps Park Slope, and other landmarked neighborhoods, beautiful, and makes these streets the reason people want to live there.
“Obviously not, dh, or the lines wouldn’t be so “squiggly.”
the old lines are squiggly – the new ones aren’t
if i recall correctly that block of 15th st is rather eh.
Obviously not, dh, or the lines wouldn’t be so “squiggly.”
The blob on 6th is the hospital. Having run over neighborhood opposition to destroying a quantity of brownstones to build teir buildings & parking lot (don’t remember when) they are opposed to being landmarked themselves.
In an ironic way, this shows the need for landmarking…if you believe the hospital could’ve been designed to fit the neighborhood better and maybe hide the ugly lots.
so every building in this district is worthy of landmarking?
I agree with including the PPW cutouts in the landmarked area. Some very distinguished pre-war apartment buildings in those.
Also agree with DIBS that landmarking per se is a good thing, but it needs to be defined and executed correctly.
I just don’t think the new south and west boundaries in this case make much sense.
I live on a corner where our brownstone and our 3 side neighbors are in the landmark district but the three identical houses behind us are not. I really don’t get the rationale.
Rob – landmarking is not “antiquated”, its a modern-era concept. Thats why there is so little of old NYC left, there were no protections.