MacDonough Street Update
Following the party wall collapse and subsequent evacuation of 329 and 331 MacDonough Street in Bed Stuy early Wednesday morning, a hearing was held on Friday afternoon to decide whether both brownstones needed to be demolished as the Department of Buildings had initially indicated. The judge ended up ruling that the DOB review the situation…
Following the party wall collapse and subsequent evacuation of 329 and 331 MacDonough Street in Bed Stuy early Wednesday morning, a hearing was held on Friday afternoon to decide whether both brownstones needed to be demolished as the Department of Buildings had initially indicated. The judge ended up ruling that the DOB review the situation over the weekend with outside engineers to determine whether destroying the historic structures was in fact the only course of action. A source on the block we heard from told us that four out of the five engineers on site Saturday came out in favor of preserving the buildings, a view which will surely be presented to the judge at today’s follow-up hearing but will likely be resisted by DOB. “It’s seriously @$%^ed up!” wrote one reader who lives down the street. “This will be like the block losing its two front teeth.” The hearing will be held at 360 Adams Street, Room 438 at 2:30 pm; tenants (two of whom are shown above with some of the belongings DOB employees retrieved for them on Saturday) and block members are encouraging as many people to turn out as possible. If you would like more information about the situation, please contact Suzette Hunte at 917.721.7258 or Krystal Codett at 347.489.6551.
Wall Collapse, Vacate Order, Maybe Demo on MacDonough [Brownstoner]
Brooklyn Renovation Leaves 8 Residents Homeless [NY Daily News]
City Rushing Surprise Demolition [Brooklyn Eagle]
Thanks, bsetc. Did them all.
I think their insurance companies will have a say as well no?. Did they have replacement coverage? What about the house undergoing renovations? DiDS You are right about the ability to pay, because you are looking at at least $200,000 worth of emergency work asap.
I’m not familiar with the block and specifically these two buildings, but row houses in Brooklyn lean on each other. The missing teeth comparison is correct. If you remove these buildings you will need to cross brace the exposed party walls or bridge the gap until something can be built to replace them, otherwise they tend to move and pull on each other.
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IMBY
Of course the City is going to scramble for the water main issue. it’s their fault.
And yes, the foundation failures on brownstones ARE totally preventable, but like CGar said, the technology is out there to resolve the issues in most cases.
What this will come down to is “who has the ability to pay.” And that’s where this situation becomes much more difficult.
For a historical perspective. Back in 2002 after a massive water main break, just about all the brownstone homes along a section of St. Felix Street opposite BAM in Ft. Greene were in danger of collapsing. The city hired a private contractor to stabilize the soil and underpin the foundations. Most of the front stoops had pulled completely away from the homes and had to be rebuilt from scratch. If I remember even the front facades had to be redone. Here is a link to the contractors site that shows the devastation. http://www.tullyconstruction.com/projects/details/?c=37
There certainly is hope.
Met several times with Mr. Lynch after the foundation disaster of 406 15th Street caused the vacate order of 1504 8th Avenue. ( Also 8 families by the way.)
He is very much a DOB team player. He believes these types of old foundation failures are for the most part totally preventable. Contractors SHOULD know how fragile these row houses are. That’s maybe why he likes to drop the hammer.
this is a very interesting story. i hope that all people doing or contemplating renovations reads this NOW. this could happen anywhere. poor construction or shoddy standards and this could be in brooklyn heights, park slope, fort greene or sunset park. let’s hope that these buildings will remain standing and further damage is not done!
I’m sorry, but I find it very hard to believe that in this day and age these buildings can’t be shored up temporarily and then repaired permanently. According to the Daily News article in Monday links, there is also concern about the two adjacent buildings, and DOB is concerned about a secondary collapse in these buildings.
arkady — Lander is chair of Landmarks comittee on C. Council, not LPC itself, and I imagine he’d be sympathetic to the cause here. But a bunch of emails wouldn’t hurt; even if he’s on preservationist side, the email flood would give him leverage.
Maly, when three other engineers say the buildings can be saved, and the only dissenting voice is from the DOB, an agency not riding on a stellar reputation here, I have to think what I said above. True, an independent engineer may be looking for a contract, but who in their right mind would ok something that is in the public eye and then not be able to deliver? No one needs that kind of attention, or the inevitable lawsuits.
Anyway, MacD is right, best to see what happens later today.