Checking In On The 196 Lefferts Place Demo
While the potential demolition over on MacDonough Street stealing the headlines in recent days, we thought it was worth checking back in on the situation at 196 Lefferts Place in Bed Stuy. As you may recall, the facade of the long-neglected brownstone began to collapse last week, necessitating the commencement of a manual demolition process….
While the potential demolition over on MacDonough Street stealing the headlines in recent days, we thought it was worth checking back in on the situation at 196 Lefferts Place in Bed Stuy. As you may recall, the facade of the long-neglected brownstone began to collapse last week, necessitating the commencement of a manual demolition process. While we were snapping this photo, we learned from one of the contractors that (a) the buildings on either side were unaffected by the problems at 196 and (b) that the owner of this building lives on the block. There should be a law against this kind of neglect. If you can’t afford to keep up a building, sell it to someone who can.
196 Lefferts Place Gets Demo’d [Brownstoner] GMAP
Building Collapse on Lefferts Place [Brownstoner]
The LPC recently took the owner(s) of the Windemere, on 57th St and 9th, in Manhattan, to court for demolition by neglect. The huge residential hotel had been left empty for years, and it’s a landmark. They won a judgement in the millions, which is to go to rehabbing the building. It can be done, but actually rarely goes to court, as the owners usually sell or start fixing to avoid even costlier fees and judgements.
word on MacDonough is that the parties have agreed to explore pouring concrete. details still emerging. so much for imminent collapse.
In the UK, buildings that have been grossly neglected by their owners are subject to “compulsory purchase” by local government. It’s somewhat similar to eminent domain but at least it results in the saving of historic structures. Back in the 1970s, many deteriorated 19th (and even 18th) century terraced houses in London were converted to public housing after their landlords refused to maintain them or abnadoned them. In other cases, squatters took over the buildings and then — often after years of negotiations — made their status permanent and legal. Kinda like homesteaders did here in Alphabet City at about the same time.
I believe there is a law, called “demolition by neglect,” but someone has to charge the building owner with it and go to court. I believe the Brooklyn Heights Association has done his, or threanened to do this, with a few buildings in their neighborhood. If it th threat of legal action doesn’t send the negligent owner to court, I think it can force him or her to sell the building to someone else, who presumably will repair and maintain it. I am fuzzy on this, so if anyone else knows more… comment away!
In a situation like this one, they will probably leave a few joists in place to prevent “creep” of the party walls.
This is a very, very different situation than MacDonough Street where it is the load-bearing party wall that is wobbly.
That is a much trickier demo as the floor joists in both houses could pull down the party walls on the other side in an uncontrolled demolition. Demolishing a front or rear wall is simple compared to a party wall.
Thank you for reporting on this demolition. If someone would just ask a few neighbors, s/he would quickly find out that the owner died in December.
looks like the building on the left is also uninhabited judging from the boarded up front door, or is that just the temporary door installed by the DOB to prevent anyone from accessing the building?
It will be interesting to see what they do to the remaining sides of the adjacent building. I assume the City will resurface them and then go after the homeowner of the demolished building.
Anybody know what usually happens?