CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS
BOROUGH OF STATEN ISLAND
108898- Block 891, lot 205-
91 Flagg Court – Ernest Flagg Estate, Individual Landmark
A garage constructed prior to 1909 and altered c. 1989. Application is to alter the façade of the garage and construct an addition.
CERTIFICATE OF APPROPRIATENESS
BOROUGH OF STATEN ISLAND
118774- Block 891, lot 205-
91 Flagg Court – Ernest Flagg Estate, Individual Landmark
A garage constructed prior to 1909 and altered c. 1989. Application is to request that the LPC issue a report to the City Planning Commission relating to an application for a Modification of Bulk pursuant to Section 74-711 of the Zoning Resolution.
HDC finds the design of the new construction to be a fairly nice translation of the style and details of neighboring buildings, and if it were a proposal for a garage added to an existing home, it would be quite good. Unfortunately though it is the opposite – the addition of a house to an existing garage. We find the addition far too large for the garage and the spirit of the Flagg Estate. Although it is not technically an historic district, rather a series of individual landmarks and a few structures which remain heard but not designated, the Estate and its history should be the context in which any additions are considered. Due to its attached multi-car garage, turret and courtyard wall, the proposed building looks more like a mini-estate house than a small cottage or outbuilding that would be more in keeping with Flagg’s vision.
Although Ernest Flagg is remembered as the architect of the Singer Building, the tallest building in the world at the time of its completion, he was also interested in designing affordable homes for the middle class. Flagg built a number of model cottages near his own house on Staten Island and dreamed of developing a “Norman village” of such homes on the 200 acres he owned here. In addition to his own construction, he wrote books, like “Small Houses: Their Economic Design and Construction”, and articles for both architecture and popular journals on the topic. Flagg’s designs should be looked at and considered for a smaller house. It should be Flagg’s original houses and designs, not any 1980’s renovations or construction, that should be the models. This is, after all, the Flagg Estate, not the Stern Estate.
Another take would be creating a design more along the lines of an outbuilding, as the garage was, rather than strictly a house. After all, many historic garages and carriage houses have been converted to residences throughout the city. A design which uses the restored garage as a starting point, rather than an appendage, could possibly work here.
HDC does not view this project as one worthy of the 74-711 needed to complete it. While the restoration of stonework would be nice, the building itself is rendered unrecognizable once consumed by the new construction. This seems more like a case for the Board of Standards and Appeals than a 74-711 from the LPC.
LPC determination: 74-711 denied; no action on new construction