Historic District For Downtown Brooklyn
The city has proposed a Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District, covering 20 buildings in Downtown Brooklyn and in Brooklyn Heights reports the NY Post. The proposed district includes Borough Hall, the Municipal Building, and a group of early-1900s Romanesque Revival and Beaux-Arts buildings along Court Street. The city’s proposal pointed out that “The district contains…

The city has proposed a Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District, covering 20 buildings in Downtown Brooklyn and in Brooklyn Heights reports the NY Post. The proposed district includes Borough Hall, the Municipal Building, and a group of early-1900s Romanesque Revival and Beaux-Arts buildings along Court Street. The city’s proposal pointed out that “The district contains many of the borough’s most architecturally distinguished business buildings. Designed in a range of styles, the structures in the study area represent the work of an impressive group of architects. This LPC agenda [PDF] from the October 26th hearing has the nitty gritty on boundaries and specific buildings. The time line for landmarking is unclear as of yet.
City Plans Skyscraper District in Downtown Brooklyn [NY Post]
Photo by AllWaysNY
benson, Grand pa and fsrq can you contact me. I am writing a story on LPC historic districts and your comments, although to some controversial, would be incredibly interesting to develop in my article.
please email me at jenniferhamblett@gmail.com
You are so narrow-minded Benson. Sometimes I feel those condos in Gravesend have sent you into a derelict world of awful architecture.
Read his biographies. Read Hillary Ballon’s essays on Moses. Read Wrestling with Moses by Anthony Flint. Everyone agrees, he was a planner. Not an engineer or architect but an urban planner, not just in parks but the whole spectrum. Builder is a weird term, not even sure that classifies as a job label. And his influence stemmed further than New York. Far into South America, and well into other American cities who viewed Moses as a godsend until they realized he was corrupt advocate for the upper class housing with nothing but cars and highways on the brain.
Blayze;
Oh please, is that the best you can do: read Robert Caro’s book? That is total dodge from my point. The “towers in the park” concept was developed in academic circles (architects AND social planners) and applied widely. If you look at housing projects nationwide, and in Europe, you will see the same types of projects. Robert Moses had NO influence beyond NY. I repeat: when it comes to housing, Robert Moses was a builder, not a planner. In the area of parks, he was indeed a planner.
As for Gravesend, 2 points: a) Marine Park is nowhere near Gravesend and b) on any given Sunday, please take the “F” or “N” train to the Kings Highway station and walk the stretch of Kings Highway between McDonald Ave and West 9th. There are about 4 condos under construction there right now, and every Sunday they have an open house. If you do so, you will find the price points I discussed.
Read the Power Broker Benson, which I assume you have. He is consistently called an urban planner/reformer by Caro and fellow associates. He wasn’t an architect, he was only influenced by them. Moses did style many ‘project’ buildings after LeCorbusier’s tower in the park designs. Modern office towers followed suit.
Funny thing is, Moses originally preferred neo-classical as well as art deco architecture, and a few of those public buildings still remain and still function great.
And please, show me where these cheap Gravesend apartments are, or some kind of listing for them. I’d love to see them. Probably on the outskirts of Marine Park.
“it’s rare to see new buildings that are affordable and pedestrian friendly, whereas the majority of older prewar buildings are.”
Blayze;
What in the world are you talking about with this statement? Pre-war is affordable but new construction is not? So all the pre-war apartments on the UES, UWS, Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope are affordable? If you go to my home nabe of Gravesend, you will see slews of condos being built, primarily for second-generation Russians and Chinese, going for about $300/psf.
Perhaps they didn’t teach you this in undergrad, but allow me to let you in on a big secret of real estate: price is determined by location.
Also, please avoid cliches like “Robert Moses planning”. Robert Moses was a builder, not a planner. The concept of “tower in the park” housing came from academia, not Robert Moses – in particular the architect LeCorbusier.
Blayze, welcome to the good fight. You debate sensibly and well. The Brownstoner Preservation League will be in touch with the secret password and handshake. Best of luck at Pratt.
Probably. I don’t have time for parties. I have to go fight Frank Gehry.
Pratt – those kids throw good parties.
I will be attending Pratt’s graduate historic preservation program in the spring. So yes. Obviously you can all see where my evil aspirations are.