Teardown Application In Front of LPC
One of the cases before the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday night was 173 St. James Place in Clinton Hill. Since being damaged by a fire (anyone know when?), it’s been sitting vacant. The owner has applied to demolish the existing 2-story 1850 house (not sure if that includes the garage) and replace it with…
One of the cases before the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday night was 173 St. James Place in Clinton Hill. Since being damaged by a fire (anyone know when?), it’s been sitting vacant. The owner has applied to demolish the existing 2-story 1850 house (not sure if that includes the garage) and replace it with a large 4-story building. It would be interesting to see the plans for the new structure. Does anyone know how the LPC ruled on this? Is this really not salvageable or is this just about the money to be made off a larger building? GMAP
I happen to think wood frames ought to be given more thoughtful consideration by the LPC than their contemporaries in brick or stone. There are innumerable examples of the latter, when in fact Brooklyn once had far more of the former. Outside of the Heights, Vinegar Hill, and a few other pockets, antebellum wood frames are terribly scarce.
I can’t believe that people commenting on this board are so crazy that they are actually suggesting that LPC should treat all homeowners whose house burned down in the same manner as those who deliberately set fire to the house only because there is no way to tell whose fire was intentional. I think that letting a few arsonists rebuild, is a much better result than requiring an innocent person to lose their house because it makes no financial sense to restore it to its state circa 1850.
I think the fire was in late 2004, and yes, I remember people escaping, fire trucks etc. Never heard anything about it being started by a crack head on the front porch!
anon 11:35 AM again, not to say that this was a deliberate fire. But if the LPC granted this family an exception, who is to say that every 2-story frame house owner elsewhere won’t decide to torch their house so that they can sell the land for double what the house is worth.
The green aluminum sided house is an original structure too under its ugly skin. You can see the original iron work near the front door and leaded glass around the entrance. It would be interesting to see an old photo of the place.
I agree 100% with the LPC. Too many homeowners see ‘accidental fires’ as a way out and as a way to get rich quickly.
If this is the house I’m thinking of, there was a fire there a year and a half or two years ago. It was the unfortunate victim of a crackhead trying to light up on the wooden porch while the family was asleep inside. The woodframe house went up in flames but everyone inside managed to escape safely. Unfortunatly there was significant damage to what had been a well maintained original structure.
My recollection of the news articles at the time was that the owner was a school teacher and didn’t have the resources to do a restoration. Perhaps the new building is a combination of the desire for more space and the limitations of the insurance replacement value? At any rate, I never got the impression that this family wanted to do anything other than rebuild their home.
I really felt for these folks because they had their home snatched from them by some unthinking person chasing a high. Its one of those sad NY stories that will hopefully have a happy ending.
It’s actually a great block. The fire damaged house and the house next door with the siding are the only houses on the block that at not intact or have serious alterations. It is an eclectic mix of brick townhouses, brownstones, limestones and limestone apartment buildings. I’ve always been curious what the aluminum sided place looked like under its funny skin since there are so many different style buildings ont the block. The burnt place is the only wood frame (unless the place next door is a wood frame too under the siding.) I really love the variety of buildings on the block.
does landmarks care about the piece of crap house next to it w/ aluminum siding…gimme a break.