
Somers Brothers Tinware Factory Building Image Credit: Landmarks
Gowanus community wants Landmarks to continue designating sites before rezoning. On September 24, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing to designate five buildings in the Gowanus section of Brooklyn as individual landmarks. The five proposed buildings are the Gowanus Flushing Tunnel Pumping Station and Gate House, the Somers Brothers Tinware Factory (later American Can Company), Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) Central Power Station Engine House, Montauk Paint Manufacturing Company Building and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Rogers Memorial Building. All of the buildings hold a connection to the Gowanus Canal’s industrial history. To read Cityland’s prior coverage of each building, click here.
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ASPCA Brooklyn Office, Shelter and Garage Image Credit: Landmarks
The five buildings highlight Gowanus’ industrial past. On October 29, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Committee unanimously voted to designate five buildings near the Gowanus Canal as individual landmarks. The five designated buildings are the Gowanus Flushing Tunnel Pumping Station and Gate House at 196 Butler Street, the Somers Brothers Tinware Factory (later American Can Company) at 238-246 3rd Street, Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT) Central Power Station Engine House at 153 2nd Street, Montauk Paint Manufacturing Company Building at 170 2nd Avenue and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Brooklyn Office, Shelter and Garage at 233 Butler Street.
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Update Front Rendering of 27 Cranberry Street Image Credit: Landmarks
Formerly approved design seeks re-approval with modifications. On October 8, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission heard an application for a Certificate of Appropriateness, to construct a new three-story, single-family residential building on a vacant lot located at 27 Cranberry Street in Brooklyn. The lot is located on the north side of Cranberry Street, on the middle of the block between Willow Street and Hicks Street. The block consists of primarily three and four-story rowhouses. Directly to the left of the site is a two-story, 200 year old, wooden home. To the right is another three-story rowhouse. The lot is located right in the middle of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District.
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South Side of Bay Ridge Parkway in Brooklyn. Image Credit: LPC.
Historic district designation would ensure protections for the largely intact, over 100 year-old, block of limestone row houses. On March 26, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to calendar a proposed historic district in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn. The Bay Ridge Parkway – Doctor’s Row Historic District would be comprised of 54 row houses built in the early 1900s on Bay Ridge Parkway between 4th and 5th avenues. Constructed in the Renaissance Revival along with elements of Colonial Revival styles, the intact rows’ high degree of architectural integrity and aesthetic consistency gives them a strong sense of place and distinguishes them in the neighborhood. (more…)

Rendering of proposed four-story residential building (center) at 375 Stuyvesant Avenue in Brooklyn; View from Decatur Street. Image Credit: LPC/DXA Studio
Applicants failed to convince Landmarks Commissioners on the appropriateness of the project. On October 2, 2018, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on a certificate of appropriateness for the construction of a four-story residential building at 375 Stuyvesant Avenue, located in the Stuyvesant Heights Historic District in Brooklyn. The applicants proposed to demolish and reconstruct an existing garage on a different portion of the lot to make room for the proposed building. (more…)