The Landmarks Preservation Committee will be voting today on landmarking part of the historic Crown Heights neighborhood, the first step in a process of creating a larger Historic District to protect the neighborhood. The New York Times reports:

…in a meeting this morning, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission is expected to designate a long swath of 472 buildings as landmarks. The designation, in effect, freezes the look of the area. Any significant changes to the facades of those buildings must meet commission approval.

It is a designation more widely associated with Manhattan’s stately blocks, but it is appearing more throughout the boroughs. Today’s Crown Heights vote is the first of a series in the neighborhood that, when completed, would apply to about 1,800 mostly middle-class, black-owned homes and buildings landmarks, second only to Park Slope.

“It has a vibrant community and a vibrant historic housing stock,” said the commission chairman, Robert B. Tierney. “It has an eclectic array of architectural styles.”

As always, there are a large number of important Brooklyn landmarking discussions and votes pending in coming weeks.