NEWS: Catching Lightning In a Bottle: 70 Lefferts Place Saved from Certain Doom
Acting with almost unprecedented speed, today the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) acted to designate 70 Lefferts Place, a yellow 1854 Italianate-style villa, as an individual New York City Landmark, saving it from demolition. Since August, the Historic Districts Council has been working closely with the Lefferts Place Civic Association and Council member Letitia James to preserve this important survivor of Clinton Hill’s early development. Major community support persuaded the LPC to move quickly in researching this unusual building and uncovering information about its original owners , the Elwells, a prominent Brooklyn family who occupied the house for 80 years and its later occupants who were followers of the controversial and influential minister, Father Divine. On October 31st, the LPC calendared the building for a public hearing, which is the first step for gaining landmark designation and also gives the LPC a 40-day period in which to act before any Building permit (such as a demolition) can be issued. Around Thanksgiving, the LPC announced that it would be holding a public hearing to consider landmark designation on December 12. On December 8th, however, representatives of the owner applied for a demolition permit which would have been automatically granted in January had LPC not acted today.
After hearing testimony from neighbors, advocates, elected officials and historians on the architectural, historical and cultural significance of the house, the Landmarks Commissioners, led by Chair Robert Tierney, voted unanimously to designate 70 Lefferts Place and the entirety of the its tax lot as an individual New York City Landmark. The Historic Districts Council applauds the LPC’s strong actions on preserving this important piece of Brooklyn’s history and the agency’s quick response to the community.
Here’s HDC’s testimony:
December 12, 2006
Statement of the Historic Districts Council
Landmarks Designation of James & Lucy Elwell House, 70 Lefferts Place
The Historic Districts Council is the citywide advocate for New York’s historic neighborhoods and structures meriting preservation. HDC is incredibly pleased to have the opportunity to speak out on behalf of this house being preserved. The Elwell House has a rich and interesting history that truly adds to the greater knowledge of how our city developed and how previous generations of Brooklynites lived.
The notion of Clinton Hill as a commuter suburb within the greater city seems almost alien to us now; by all means it remains a residential neighborhood which by the very nature of our city means it is a commuter area, but one built of the more typical attached rowhouses of Brooklyn, not this elaborate Italianate villa. No, this building harkens back to an earlier antebellum period; which is a justly ironic description considering the home’s later affiliation with Father Divine. No longer a “suburb”, the Clinton Hill area is now fully and firmly embedded in the urban fabric, the city has encompassed and absorbed the village. But this building still exists and therein lies part of its power.
The Elwell House, like all true landmarks, exists to mark the land – to serve as a signpost to another era and a window into another time. This is a house that has borne witness to the changes that have swept across Brooklyn, and has survived all of them, changed perhaps – the porch was enclosed, the back portion stuccoed, but still easily recognizable as an artifact from a specific time which possesses beauty and utility.
The narrative research précis that the Commission released prior to this hearing neglected the most recent significant historical event at this house; its regeneration. After years of neglect, private owners took it upon themselves to restore and rejuvenate this building. I don’t know the Maitlands, so I can’t say why they did it precisely, but I’d like to think they spent the time and money needed to bring this house back from the edge, at least in part, because they understood the importance of their home to their neighborhood, as a beautiful and useful member of the community who could tell the new kids on the block about the old days first-hand. This building was a real preservation success story.
HDC thanks the Landmarks Commission for its responsiveness to the community on this issue. When Councilmember James called us regarding the preservation of this building in August, the outlook was bleak to say the least. It unfortunately hasn’t gotten much better – as the Commission knows, a demolition permit was applied for on December 8th. It is not hyperbole to say that this hearing is a life and death decision for this building. HDC believes that life is better than death, and that this building deserves life. It has lived through the Civil War, the Industrial Revolution and the entire 20th Century. There is no reason now to cut the thread.