Unprotected Sunset Park Being Destroyed Bit by Bit
The website Cititour has an advocacy post about the destruction of brownstones in Sunset Park. The item focuses on the house above, on 54th Street and 6th Avenue, part of “a row of turn-of-the-century brownstones with stained glass windows and fireplaces [that] are being destroyed bit by bit.” The blog writer argues: Witnessing this destruction…
The website Cititour has an advocacy post about the destruction of brownstones in Sunset Park. The item focuses on the house above, on 54th Street and 6th Avenue, part of “a row of turn-of-the-century brownstones with stained glass windows and fireplaces [that] are being destroyed bit by bit.” The blog writer argues:
Witnessing this destruction should make the case for giving the area landmark status before it’s too late. The neighborhood has been seeing an all-out assault on row houses in recent months as real estate prices remain fairly high. Some are being torn down to make room for condos, others are having additional floors added, and still other two-family homes are being converted into 4-families, again with the city’s blessing, and a total disregard to the neighborhood. It’s a crying shame.
While we don’t doubt that new construction in Sunset Park is felling older buildings, we’re unaware of whether there is an organized movement afoot to landmark the area. Can Sunset Park readers fill us in?
A Brownstone Dies In Brooklyn [Cititour]
Photos from Cititour.
The people complaining about wanting to do whatever they want to thier property don’t own these brownstones. If they did, they would have a better understanding of other people’s concerns and appreciation for the buidlings.
11:17: I doubt you have the cash to buy a house and put up a fugly feddders piece of crap.
You nasty skanks need to crawl back into the double-wides you came from.
11.58 – Immigrants from non-third world countries.
Really, go and live in your barbed wire compound.
Wow! World class vitriol from a bunch of blog suckers who have never seen that block, and chances are have never spent more time in Sunset Park than the subway takes to get through it.
I have lived there for many years, and it is absolutely true that there are many fine brownstones being defaced by commercial additions on the front, or garages dug into the ground floor or just demolished.
It is also true that so many buildings suffered from false stone and aluminum siding “improvements” in previous decades.
That all said, it is a beautiful neighborhood, quite diverse and easy living. There is room in it for new buildings and plenty of them going up, there is also a need to preserve the fine blocks that make it a pleasure to take a walk.
“If people didn’t have third world esthetics and a congential absence of taste we wouldn’t need landmarking.”
Oh horror of horrors, not the esthetics of immigrants. Who the heck do you think built and lived in these brownstones to begin with?
“does anybody know what this place looked like before it was gutted? maybe it was beyond repair? i need context!”
Agreed, bloggers and Brownstoner provide context please!!! Nice how the photo is framed to only show brownstones, cropped so it doesn’t show the nearby total crap buildings typically found on every block in Sunset Park. South Slope and Sunset Park do not merit landmarking, get over it. It is way too uneven. A rare block with all houses, then one block warehouses, then one block tenement apartment buildings, or a mix of all 3 on a block. How on earth does that merit landmarking?
“Reading this blog, sometimes I wonder. It seems to me that Brownstoner and his ilk would like us to to follow the Soviet model, with every homeowner requiring permission from the collective to change so much as a porch light on his own property.”
Or worse, it’s like the suburbs that all brownstoners claim to hate where the neighborhood association makes sure every house looks so much like those around it. How is having every house the same sh*t brown better than having them all the same color beige and heaven forbid you hang your laundry anywhere visible.
If people didn’t have third world esthetics and a congential absence of taste we wouldn’t need landmarking.
Yo, The What:
I am writing an article for New York magazine about real-estate blogs and their commenters. I’d love to talk to you for the piece — please email me at:
adam (dot) sternbergh (at) nymag (dot) com
We can talk on/off the record, as you like.
Thanks,
Adam Sternbergh
NY mag
Yo, The What:
I am writing an article for New York magazine about real-estate blogs and their commenters. I’d love to talk to you for the piece — please email me at:
adam (dot) sternbergh (at) nymag (dot) com
We can talk on/off the record, as you like.
Thanks,
Adam Sternbergh
NY mag