NEWS: Midwood Park/Fiske Terrace to be considered by LPC
From Flatbush Life: http://www.flatbushlife.com/site/tab4.cfm?newsid=17105997&BRD=2384&PAG=461&dept_id=552850&rfi=6
for more info, see http://www.hdc.org/neighborhoodatriskmidwoodfiske.htm
08/24/2006
Landmark Status For Stately Nabe?
By Helen Klein
With their tree-shaded streets, graceful homes and quiet demeanor, the neighborhoods of Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park have long been gracious residential enclaves.
Besides the obvious attractions offered by these cul-de-sac communities, which sit at the southern end of Victorian Flatbush, hemmed in, on one side, by the Long Island Railroad cut and, on another, by the Brighton line, they may soon have another to offer – landmark status.
Ronda Wist, the executive director of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC), notified homeowners in the two neighborhoods in an August 10th letter that LPC is “considering the Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park neighborhood for designation as a historic district,” and that, furthermore, the commission, “Plans to calendar the Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park Historic District on September 19, 2006, for a public hearing to be held at a later date.”
The First Step
The step being taken by LPC reflects “the merits of the homes,” noted Elisabeth de Bourbon, a spokesperson for the agency. She said, “Many of the homes are worthy of designation, which is why we are seeking the commission’s approval for designation.” The scheduling of a public hearing, de Bourbon added, is, “The first step along the road to designation.”
In all, according to de Bourbon, the Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park historic district being considered by LPC would include approximately 250 houses. Most of the houses, she said, “Were built between 1904 and 1920 by the architects Theodore Ackerson and John Corbin.”
Architecturally, the area features spacious, family-oriented homes which hark back to a gentler time when people sat down for a leisurely meal in a paneled dining room and sat whiling the evening away on a broad screened porch.
LPC’s assessment brief for the neighborhoods notes, “The predominantly Colonial Revival and Shingle Style houses are largely intact, asymmetrically massed and feature spacious porches, elaborate projecting towers, oriels and bays, Palladian windows and deep eaves. The neighborhood also has an unusual street plan that includes landscaped malls and short streets that dead-end at the BMT subway cut.”
“Serious Commitment”
The notification of LPC’s intention to calendar a public hearing, “Means that Landmarks is very seriously considering making a historic district of Midwood Park-Fiske Terrace,” remarked Simeon Bankoff, the executive director of the Historic Districts Council. The step just taken by LPC, he added, represents, “A very serious and professional commitment on the part of the agency. They don’t take it lightly.
“It’s been a long time in coming,” Bankoff went on, pointing out that, “Community groups and members have been asking for it since at least 1998. Everyone sees the benefits of preservation, so this is a very welcome thing,” Bankoff continued.
Fred Baer, the co-president of the Fiske Terrace Association, agreed. “The association is very excited about this,” he noted. “It was clear to the Landmarks staff, when they came to our meeting in March, 2005, that the majority of the neighborhood supports the Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park historic district. The fact that it’s gotten this far is a very good sign.”
Baer said that he was hopeful that, “As many people as possible will come down to testify” at the public hearing once it is scheduled. The fact that the designation is now in front of LPC, he added, is a result of, “The long-standing effort on the part of both neighborhoods.
“We’re looking,” Baer stressed, “to preserve the historic character of our neighborhood and our homes. We don’t want to see them radically changed as other neighborhoods have been. This is one of the original suburban communities in the city. It has an important place in the history of Brooklyn, and we would like to see it preserved.”
Benefits of Preservation
City Councilmember Yvette Clarke, who backs the designation and has worked vigorously for it, concurred. Describing herself as a “community preservationist,” Clarke said she had seen, first-hand, growing up in Prospect Lefferts Gardens, the benefits that preservation confers on ‘The quality of life of the people living there.”
Landmark designation, and the protections it affords, have particular significance, Clarke went on, “In light of what’s happening with development in New York,” when single family homes are being knocked down in many places to make way for multi-family structures.
“I thought this was a priority that had to be pursued,” Clarke stressed. “Time is of the essence in this city, in terms of the areas that are seeking to be landmarked. It’s very competitive because of the limitations of their (Landmarks’) staff.
“From Fiske Terrace all the way to Caton Park is an area that I would like to see maintain its character,” Clarke went on. “It’s a very unique environment, a wonderful respite in Brooklyn.” And, she added, “With the scramble to make as many multi-unit developments on as many lots as possible, it is a race against the developers.”
“The landmark designation process will only benefit the houses,” added Bankoff. “It will only encourage people to continue their good stewardship of the houses, which will only increase the value of the houses as well as maintaining the special sense of place in the neighborhood.”
Looking Ahead
While there is no set timetable for the landmarking process, Bankoff said that, once LPC, “Takes action to calendar a neighborhood, it usually starts moving pretty swiftly, but it doesn’t have to.”
De Bourbon, for her part, cautioned, “There is no clock that starts ticking once a building or district is calendared. The reason for this is that it takes quite some time to fully assess and study the buildings, and it’s hard to predict when it will be completed and available to the public.”
Landmarks’ designation is only the first part of the process, though clearly the most significant hurdle that a building or neighborhood has to clear. Once a designation has been made by LPC, said Bankoff, it must still be affirmed. Thus, it is passed on to the Department of City Planning for review, which can take up to 60 days, and then on to the City Council, which, he said, has 120 days, “To ratify, decline or modify” the designation.
Some of the protections afforded by landmark status begin when a building or area is calendared, Bankoff added. This, he said, is because the city’s Department of Buildings, “Is put on the alert.” If that agency gets an application to do work on a property or perform a demolition on a building that has been proposed for designation or that lies within a proposed landmark area, Bankoff said, “They will go to Landmarks and say, we have this application for work. Will it be a problem? So, Landmarks is given time to act.”
Fiske Terrace runs from the subway line to Ocean Avenue, between Avenue H and Glenwood Road. Midwood Park is right next door, and is bordered by the subway line on the west, Glenwood Road on the south, Ocean Avenue on the east and Foster Avenue on the north. The two neighborhoods were developed as suburban communities, providing “country in the city” living for middle class families.