It can’t be a good year when one of your “wins” involved half of the building getting demolished.
And while it’s always nice to see row houses that are not in Greenwich Village get recognition and protection (nice work, Kelly!), Walt Whitman, abolitionist history and a host of other good priorities (Bushwick, Southside) still languish.
Fascinating look at the history of the former St. Denis Hotel on East 11th Street. Jeremiah Moss’ attention to the detail of the history of the building (his office, for a short time longer) is exquisite, as is the history that lies behind the banal pink walls. And speaking of exquisite – that staircase!
Keramos Hall has been getting a lot of accolades and awards for its recent restoration, and rightfully so. Untapped New York has a great collection of photos – it is almost possible to ignore the CVS.
Preservation Greenpoint and GWAPP are taking names.
Nice to see that someone is thinking about historic buildings in Ridgewood and Bushwick.
There is a lot there, and although some of it is designated (mainly in Ridgewood) there is a lot that isn’t. As Wyckoff Heights notes, a lot of the neighborhood on the Brooklyn side is zoned R6, and lacks the contextual height limits of the R6B zone on the Queens side. The density differences between R6 and R6B are usually marginal, but the potential impact on a neighborhood of relatively uniform lower-height buildings can be huge. This issue was called out in a 2011 preservation plan that my students did for Bushwick Avenue. The studio focused on the westernmost end of Bushwick (primarily the avenue itself), but identified the disparity of existing building heights vs. allowed zoning as a looming problem [pdf]. To the west, Bed-Stuy has largely been “contextually” rezoned, as has Ridgewood. But the heart of Bushwick is ripe for pop-ups and finger buildings galore.
Despite being a character-defining feature of north Brooklyn, aluminum awnings on row houses are not well loved. At least in this case, the Times was not able to find journalistic balance.
The Wooden House Project is a new blog by Elizabeth Finkelstein that deals with Brooklyn’s wood-frame row houses. The site is well-designed and content-rich, and it’s a subject that is very near to my heart, so I am looking forward to some good things. If this post is any indication, this site has a lot of promise.
[via @Brooklynology]
The Architects Newspaper has some stunning photos of the interior and exterior of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank at Broadway and Driggs (George B. Post, 1875 and 1905).
They also have news on the plan for the building, which is for a catering hall and gallery/museum. But no word on what is to happen on the former parking lot to the west. Though, as A|N notes, it is as-of-right for residential with ground floor retail (also no word on the floor area – the bank may well have excess air rights that can transferred over to the development site portion of the project).
