NEWS: Senator Street Vies for NYC Landmark Status
From Courier Life Publications
12/14/2006
Senator Street Votes For Landmark Designation
By Helen Klein
Four years after it was added to the state and national registers of historic places, a stretch of Senator Street is being championed for landmark status.
Residents of the block, between Third and Fourth Avenues, have applied to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) for the designation.
What makes the block distinctive is the fact that it is lined, on both sides, by 38 Renaissance Revival brownstone row houses designed by one architect, Fred Eisenla, in the early years of the 20th century.
The block is the only one in Bay Ridge, “that contains fully brownstone clad homes lining both sides of the street,” wrote residents Ronald Gross and Eric Rouda in an September 4th letter to LPC asking them to consider the block for landmarking.
Landmark designation would help preserve the integrity of the architecture on the block, they stressed in their letter to LPC.
Being listed on the state and national registers, “Affords us no protection from inappropriate modifications and alterations,” Rouda and Gross contended, noting, “The last year alone has seen a house’s stone covered over with a coat of paint. Another home, which had already been painted, was repainted in a totally inappropriate color. Both of these situation would not have occurred with the protections inherent under the NYC landmarks laws.”
The street, Rouda and Gross added, remains, “Remarkably intact. Out of the 38 homes, only one has had its high stoop removed and the entrance lowered to street level.”
So far, both City Councilmember Vincent Gentile and Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz have come on board the landmarking train.
Also supporting the proposal is the Historic Districts Council, whose Executive Director, Simeon Bankoff, noted in a September 28th letter to Robert Tierney, LPC’s chair, “As an intact streetscape, from their extraordinary bowed bays to their wonderfully intact and consistent stone stoops, these houses equal some of the best streets in Park Slope or the Upper West Side.”
The strip, he added, is an exemplar of, “The row house block… one of New York City’s great iconic vistas, where each component of the ensemble works together to establish a distinct visual rhythm.”
Most recently, the Zoning and Land Use Committee of Community Board 10 voted overwhelmingly to recommend that the full board request that the strip be evaluated by LPC for landmark status.
Noted Stephen Harrison, the committee chair, “There is sufficient evidence that this is something that should be evaluated to determine whether or not landmarking should go forward.” The meeting was held at the board office, 621 86th Street.
There are currently two landmark homes in Bay Ridge – the Farrell-Bennett house on 95th Street, and the “gingerbread house” on 83rd Street. If LPC grants the Senator Street Historic District landmark status, it would be the first such landmarked district in southwestern Brooklyn.