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June 9, 2006

One Last Look Inside the Strong Place Church

church
churchThe Strong Place Church, shown at right in a photo from 1930, has been gradually damaged by water and time over recent years, despite being of great concern to Cobble Hill preservationists. Now the structure is slated for an extensive residential conversion by developers James Plotkin and David Yerushalmi along with Manhattan-based Baxt Ingui Architects. "We could not be more pleased" said C. Murray Adams, President of the Cobble Hill Association. "One of most important churches in the Cobble Hill Historic District has been saved from almost certain destruction by thoughtful, careful adaptive re-use." We're all for adaptive re-use but are a little worried by the photos on the architects' website. There's nothing to suggest they have any experience actually salvaging and re-using building parts (to the contrary, the apartment shown on their site is downright cheesy), but an email we received said that there will be an attempt to re-use salvageable details. Regardless, the owners are being good sports and holding an open house on Sunday from 1 to 4 for architectural history buffs to get one last look at the interior. Admission is free.
Strong Place Church [NYPL]
Home Page [Baxt Ingui Architects]




Posted by Brownstoner at 8:54 AM | Comments (17)
Categories: Architecture

Comments

Ben Baxt probably has more experience with Brownstone Brooklyn than any other architect in NYC. I met with him before we renovated our home and was very impressed with his work and his recommendations. Unfortunately, the scope of his proposal was more than I was looking for.

Posted by: anon at June 9, 2006 9:30 AM

Glad to hear it. Great news if that's the case. The website gives the impression that they do more of a contemporary traditional style that's not really our bag.

Posted by: Brownstoner at June 9, 2006 9:36 AM

This is great news. We live around the corner, and pass it every day. Has so much potential, and this way at least it won't be torn down. I'd also imagine, from the look of the arichitects photos, that these will be nicely done apartments!

Posted by: Anonymous at June 9, 2006 10:46 AM

May not be your bag, but the pictures show that they are sensitive to maintaining the integrity of these beautiful old buildings while bringing them up-to-date in reasonable ways. I think the pictures are gorgeous.

Posted by: Park Sloper at June 9, 2006 11:35 AM

I'm optimistic. And I hope they finally clean up all the garbage that has accumulated on the property! It is getting quite gross.

Posted by: Carol Gardens at June 9, 2006 11:54 AM

I agree Carol, the property definitely needs a face lift. Glad to see they won't be knocking it down.

Posted by: cobblestoner at June 9, 2006 12:17 PM

I too live just around the corner, and can see the church from our deck. It's a beautiful church, but I was becoming worried that it was past the point of no return. Great news that it will be saved.

Posted by: grendel at June 9, 2006 12:27 PM

I ask from Astoria, Queens: do you cobble hillers believe the church is being "renovated" and not torn down because of market forces based on the tastes of your community or because of developers' fears about a possible outcry if they tear it down and put in boxes?? Are the 2
separable? Are they generalizable to other areas
of NYC?

pls respond....it's important for antoher community's preservation efforts! We're looking at you! thanks.

Posted by: john at June 9, 2006 12:59 PM

I think that one factor is that Cobble Hill is a landmarked district. Also, there are three other very successful conversions of former churches into residential in the area that got high prices for their apartments (one on Court, one on Clinton, one on Hicks). People will definitely pay a premium to live in a unique historic building around here.

Posted by: Carol Gardens at June 9, 2006 4:06 PM

I am familiar with both Michael Ingui's work and Ben Baxt's work and can tell you that the neighborhood should feel lucky to have them as the architects. They have completed some of the best restorative projects in Brooklyn Heights and Cobble Hill and the fact that you do not know who they are is concerning. Please take the time to call the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission yourself before publishing the word Cheesy. Call the Cobble Hill Association. Call the Brooklyn Hieghts Association. Theyare well known to those in the preservation community and to those who enjoy modern insertions.

OK - I am a contractor who works with them so I know them well and am biased.

Trust me when I say that we are in good hands!

Posted by: bill at June 9, 2006 5:09 PM

I am confused...does the architect website discuss the plans for the church renovation? Also, is the Strong Place Daycare still using the building?

Posted by: Alexuma at June 9, 2006 5:13 PM

There doesn't appear to be any plans on the architect's website for this particular project. I would have to agree with Brownstoner, though, the pics they have up don't instill confidence. I would love to see some pictures of historic conversions that didn't look like they were in boca raton, but am prepared to be presently surprised.

The Strong Place Daycare is no longer using the building. I don't know the specifics, but I imagine it wasn't safe anymore, given the state of the building presently.

Posted by: grendel at June 9, 2006 5:54 PM

some of the townhouses shown on their site are gorgeous though...

Posted by: lc at June 11, 2006 7:40 AM

Let me just add my two cents to the above comments. We were lucky enough to hire Baxt/Ingui as the architects for the renovation of our brownstone. What drew us to them were Ben's and Mike's incredible experience and sensitivity to preservation issues.

For example, we installed CAC, and many AC contractors insisted that we needed to install soffets to accommodate the ductwork. Ingui knew that was not the case and forced the contractors to design a soffet-less system, thus preserving the integrity of the interior.

As long as the developers dont cheap out, Strong Place will be a great addition to the community.

Posted by: bored at work at June 12, 2006 1:11 PM

anyone heard of the arches at cobble hill. seems like a similar job. who did that?

Posted by: Anonymous at June 15, 2006 1:55 AM

scarano did the arches.. with the signature mezzanines all over the place. although from what i've seen they came out pretty sweet.

Posted by: archie at June 27, 2006 9:29 AM

I walked by there a few weeks ago and was in total shock. The roof was gone and the interior was completely gutted. Where is everything? I don't anticipate anything being integrated back into the final design. On the plus side, I appreciate the shape being kept. Rather that than some pre-fab brick thing with rows of FEDDERS AC units embedded in the façade.

Posted by: mrp at January 19, 2007 8:38 PM

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