Facade Torn Off Washington Ave. House
Another strong argument for more aggressively expanding historic districts…Yesterday, the entire roof and facade was ripped off the former fishscale-shingled house at 221 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill. This was originally part of a trio of similar houses, though only one (the one with the blue trim) is still in its original form. As you…
Another strong argument for more aggressively expanding historic districts…Yesterday, the entire roof and facade was ripped off the former fishscale-shingled house at 221 Washington Avenue in Clinton Hill. This was originally part of a trio of similar houses, though only one (the one with the blue trim) is still in its original form. As you can see from this map, the house in question lies falls three lots outside of the border of the Clinton Hill Historic District. According to DOB filings, the owner, who paid $530,000 for the house last year, is converting this into a three-family dwelling. It’s scary to imagine how the new version will probably look compared to what was there before. GMAP
I mean if all old buildings were torn down. Every one.
It would be like cities in China.
I’m not suggesting this guy has a duty to do anything.
I’m saying that if you covered New York City with cinderblock high rises overnight, it would be a less desirable place to live. Prices in Manhattan, besides being convenient to work, are propped up by the quaintness of the Village and the status of the Upper East Side.
maly, fyi, Alt 1 IS a big job. Alt 2 is a standard gut reno with no change to occupnacy.
site looks unsafe, someone should call & complain about that.
It’s not a racism card, Dirty. There are just lots of transplanted media people with deep pockets who are not comfortable with Bed Stuy. I’m sure they’d never call themselves racist, and perhaps they are not. However, Greenpoint is a lot more solidly middle class than Bed Stuy. Not that Bed Stuy doesn’t also have a strong middle class — it does. It also has higher crime statistics, more projects, fewer grocery stores, etc. Hrm, and it’s about three times as big, so maybe I am generalizing too much.
However, for what it’s worth (which in housing numbers is a ton), Greenpoint has better schools.
Check out the link from greenwoodgeneral. It looks like that firm creates architecture, not thrown up concrete block and pink or yellow face brick with weirdly scattered windows and ac slots. I beet this is going to be a decent building.
really mopar? there are plenty of neighborhoods in nyc where an apartment in a bland high rise cost more than a whole block of run down brownstones in a fringe brooklyn neighborhood. since when are aesthetics the driving cost of price? why does a 3 story alum-sided building in greenpoint sell for more than the nicest, most historic home in bed-stuy (and don’t pull the racism card – lame)
thats cool you all like old pretty stuff – i do too – but to suggest the guy that bought this place (which apparently was a shell) has any duty to take on a money pit of a project to satisfy the taste of other people (who are in the minority) is silly.
Arguing that historic preservation causes gentrification and unions cause offshore manufacturing is like saying….I don’t know what it’s like saying but it’s ridiculous.
OTOH, if we tore down every building in NYC and replaced it with cinder block high rises, I bet fewer people would want to live in NYC and the economy would collapse. So Benson has a point there.
I am voting for Mr. Rent is Too High, but if he doesn’t win, we could start the Turn New York Into Beijing Without the Jobs party.
I would love if all people complaining about this show us pics of their homes (if they actually own one) including their renovations and preservation achievement. I would love if for each user handle I could see what they contributed to the architecture/preservation of Brooklyn. It would give users just a little bit more credibility.
Just for the record: I assume the end product here will be not very pleasing as well.