Owner gets 2 approvals: 4-story cast-stone/brick building to replace existing garage; 1910 mansion to be expanded. The 1 Montgomery Place Association, the owner of two lots within the Park Slope Historic District, applied for permission to alter the existing 1910 neo-Federal-style mansion at 1 Montgomery Place and, immediately adjacent at 125 8th Avenue, to demolish a one-story garage and build a new four-story building.

BKSK Architects designed a cast-stone and brick four-story structure to replace the existing garage. The design included a caststone bay extending from the first to the second floor; brick cladding on the second and third floors; and the repetition of cast-stone cladding and a prominent grey cornice on the top story. Metal balconies would ornament the second and third stories. For 1 Montgomery Place, BKSK presented a proposal for a copper-topped, one-story addition on the roof and a new area-way, ADA-ramp access and landscaping along 8th Avenue.

At the initial hearing, Landmarks expressed concerns over the height and location of the rooftop addition at 1 Montgomery Place, commenting that it was too visible from adjacent streets. BKSK submitted a revised proposal that reduced the height by 80 ft. and increased the setback from the existing wall from 5’6″ to 13’4″.

With the reduction, Landmarks approved both applications, noting that the garage to be demolished was not a contributory building within the historic district. Landmarks found that the new building harmonized with the other existing townhouses and the addition’s reduced height and setback decreased its impact, rendering it only minimally visible. In her approval, Commissioner Roberta Gratz summed up by noting that the design for the new building at 125 8th Avenue harmonized so successfully with the historic buildings that, “It looks as if it should have been there all along.”

LPC: 125-135 8th Avenue (COFA# 05- 5127) (February 11, 2005); LPC: 1 Montgomery Place (COFA# 05-5126) (February 11, 2005) (George Schieferdecker, Harry Kendall, Keith Pitocchi, BKSK Architects). CITYADMIN