Building of the Day: 72 Poplar Street

The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 72 Poplar Street, between Henry and Hicks
Name: Former 84th Precinct House
Neighborhood: Brooklyn Heights
Year Built: 1912
Architectural Style: Italian Renaissance Revival
Architects: Beverly King and Harry Walker
Landmarked: Yes

Why chosen: Back in the old days, a police precinct house was built like a fortress or castle designed to repel invaders, or to impress upon that same populace, with stateliness and gravity, the rule of law. With the latter in mind, you get impressive buildings like the old Police Headquarters in lower Manhattan, the magnificent 78th Precinct on Bergen and 6th, and this one, hidden on a quiet street in Brooklyn Heights. Both this building and the 78th Precinct were built around the same time, when the city cared about good civic architecture. Compare that to the horrible precincts built throughout the city in the 60’s and 70’s, and you can see why these buildings still resonate with passersby and neighbors. The AIA Guide calls this building a Florentine palazzo with a soaring cornice, and it is a fine building with elegant lines. It served as the local precinct and had a gang enforcement unit for many years. But as the city and the precinct grew, the building became too small, and by 1992, it was home only to 6 units of the Internal Affairs Division. A new 84th Precinct building was built on Tillary and Gold. In 2004 the building was sold at city auction to Regal Investments for $9.6 million. They planned to turn it into condos, and came up with plans to add another story and build on the garage. These plans were turned down by the LPC, around the same time the market changed. Today, there are plans to turn the building into high end rental apartments. This is a beautiful building perfect for adaptive reuse.