The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 8-0 yesterday to create a Dumbo Historic District. The unanimous voted capped a long effort to create the district. The boundaries are John Street to the north, York Street to the south, Main Street to the west and Bridge Street to the east. The district includes 91 […]

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Saving a slice of Brooklyn’s and America’s history, we are learning, may have a very small price tag. Yet, it’s one that a host of local officials seem unwilling to pay. The report that was delivered to a public meeting about Officer’s Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard on Tuesday night said that the buildings […]

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In what could be good news for preservationists and bad news for advocates of tearing down the buildings on Brooklyn’s Admiral’s Row, a Federal study has found that the historic buildings still have “an extremely high level of integrity” and that they could be saved. The price tag, however, could be up to $20 million. […]

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Given that the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.’s president, Andrew Kimball, has already publicly stated a commitment to tearing down the historic buildings on Admiral’s Row (saying he doesn’t want the property with any conditions attached), tonight’s meeting about the buildings will be interesting. The city is planning to demolish the buildings to make way […]

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The historic buildings in the Brooklyn Navy Yard known as Admiral’s Row will have an important hearing next week when a hearing is held about transferring six acres of property from Federal control to the city. The city is planning to demolish the buildings to make way for a supermarket and parking lot while preservations […]

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Yesterday evening was one of those times when it would have been useful to be in several places at once. At things would have it, we were under the weather an unable to be at any of them. So, we’re grateful to be able to refer to some superb coverage today by people that did […]

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The Carroll Gardens “Public Forum” on landmarking is taking place tonight (11/19) at 6:30 PM in the auditorium at PS 58. The panel will be moderated by Robert Levine, who chairs the Landmarks Committee of Community Board 6. Written questions will be submitted to a panel, but it’s our understanding that there will not be […]

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That big Carroll Gardens meeting that appears like it will primarily be dealing with the issue of expanding the small neighborhood landmarking district will be taking place next Monday, November 19, at PS58 in Carroll Gardens. It will run from 6:30PM-8:30PM and is described as “an opportunity to learn about landmarking from the experts.” There […]

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The Waterfront Preservation Alliance of Greenpoint and Williamsburg is changing its name. The group, which we like to call the WPA (which in turns reminds us a Depression Era public works projects) is changing its name to the Williamsburg Greenpoint Preservation Alliance. According to the newly-minted WGPA (which we’ll probably mis-type as WPGA more than […]

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Yesterday was a good day for a couple of possible Brooklyn landmark districts. The Eberhard Faber District in Greenpoint was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission and appears headed for final approval by the City Council. Meanwhile, the hearing on the Dumbo Historic District “went astonishingly well,” according to the Historic Districts Council Newsstand blog. […]

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[Map from the Landmarks Commission via Dumbo NYC]The hearing on creating a Dumbo Historic District takes place before the Landmarks Preservation Commission today. It’s an important step on the road to creating a Dumbo Historic District, which is widely expected to occur. Dumbo NYC has very thorough coverage of the issue as does the Dumbo […]

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The Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting tomorrow (10/30) is going to feature a long agenda of designations and discussion. Among the two significant topics are the proposed Dumbo Historic District and the Eberhard Faber Historic District in Greenpoint. The Dumbo subject matter is an initial hearing. Eberhard Faber, however, is expected to be designated. The “Eberhard […]

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The main buildings of the old Domino Sugar factory in Williamsburg were landmarked yesterday in a vote that was, ultimately, a formality. As it’s one of the very few preservation victories in North Brooklyn recently, we should be jumping up and down and cheering. The buildings weren’t demolished before anyone moved to landmark them, for […]

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Will a Prospect Heights Historic District be created soon? There’s no timetable, but the disrict is said to be “at the top of the list” of ones the Landmarks Preservation Commission is considering. The news was conveyed by Atlantic Yards Report: The Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council (PHNDC), with the assistance of the Municipal Art […]

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It’s been a relatively good week in terms of Brooklyn landmarking efforts making progress. As you’ve probably heard by now, McCarren Pool finally gained landmark status. In addition, the Sunset Play Center and Bath House were also landmarked. (That’s the interior pictured here.) The protected structures include all the pools at the Sunset Park facility, […]

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Some good news out of the Landmarks Preservation Commission meeting yestreday. The LPC has finally landmarked McCarren Pool, capping an effort to save the closed WPA-era pool that began in the 1990s. This is a good thing both because protection of the pool is now official and because any modifications, as per renovations that the […]

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Our colleagues at Curbed broke this story about “The New Domino” just before the July 4 break and we think it bears repeating. What you are looking at is a rendering that shows the relative height and density of buildings that would be built at the site of the old Domino Plant in Williamsburg next […]

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[Image courtesy of WPA, created from Google Earth]If you’re trying to keep up on what preservation of the Domino Plant in Williamsburg means, or doesn’t mean, the Waterfront Preservation Alliance of Greenpoint & Williamsburg has been producing an invaluable guide on their site over the course of the last week. The image above is from […]

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The historic Childs Restaurant building in Coney Island came back to life on Saturday night, hosting its first public event in 60 years. Besides the fact that the Mermaid Parade Ball was a great party, it was one of those moments when you could easily and happily envision a future when one of the few […]

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Advocates fighting to save the Underground Railroad Houses on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn from seizure by the city and the wrecking ball are now using a blog to push their cause. One of the new items suggests that an abolitionist museum in the buildings would be a better use of the space than 700 […]

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The Landmarks Commission has confirmed that they will hold the first public hearing for the designation of part of the Domino Sugar Plant in Williamsburg next Tuesday, (6/26). (Brownstoner actually first noted the news last week.) The 9:45AM hearing will follow a vote on the controversial effort to landmark Sunnyside Gardens in Queens. Supporters of […]

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Yesterday, the Municipal Art Society launched a new website called Save Brooklyn’s Industrial Heritage. The site went live to coincide with the Brooklyn waterfront’s naming to the National Trust for Historic Preservation‘s list of the 11 Most Endangered Places in America. The site has wonderful detail on a number of Brooklyn landmarks as well as […]

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After reporting so much distressing news over the last year–including the demolition of the Old Dutch Mustard Building, the Greenpoint Terminal Market conflagration, the de-landmarking of the Austin Nichols Warehouse in Williamsburg, the disappearance of almost every old structure on the Beard Street waterfront in Red Hook and the filling of the Red Hook Graving […]

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The Landmarks Preservation Commission has declined to get involved in the issue of the buildings on Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn that many historians believe were sites on the Underground Railroad, but which the city wants to demolish in order to build underground parking. A consulting firm hired by the Economic Development Corporation and paid […]

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The Crown Heights North Historical District was designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on April 24. On Sunday (6/10), the Crown Heights North Association, (CHNA), which led the landmarking drive, will hold the first annual Crown Heights North Walking Tour. It will include, in the word’s of the group’s press release, “some of the fine […]

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