Preservationists fear City Council will overturn Landmarks’ designation. Landmarks voted unanimously on September 20, 2005 to designate the Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse despite extensive opposition from its current owner, Council Member David Yassky and former City Council Member Kenneth Fisher, who appeared on the owner’s behalf. Constructed in 1913 along the East River in Brooklyn, the six-story reinforced concrete Austin Nichols building is attributed to Cass Gilbert, the architect of the Woolworth Building and U.S. Customs House, and considered his first warehouse design using concrete construction.

Experts for the current owner, appearing at Landmarks July 2005 hearing, argued that the original owner’s desire to build the warehouse “on the cheap” greatly diminished Gilbert’s impact on the final building design and Yassky added that a vote to designate would conflict with Council’s approved plans for the re-use of Brooklyn’s abandoned industrial waterfront. 2 City- Land 107 (Aug. 15, 2005). The owner, Lewis Kestenbaum, asked Landmarks to consider that he had received BSA approval to increase the building’s size, costing him over $1 million for project plans. (read more…)

Massive concrete building attributed to Cass Gilbert. On July 26, 2005, Landmarks held a public hearing on the proposed designation of the Austin, Nichols & Co. Warehouse, a six-story unadorned, reinforced concrete warehouse attributed by some to Cass Gilbert. Built on the East River in 1913 for the largest grocery wholesaler of the period, the 500,000-square-foot warehouse was the first collaboration between Gilbert and the Turner Construction Company, and was followed by their collaboration on Gilbert’s well-known Brooklyn Army Base.

At the hearing, experts and elected officials spoke in opposition on behalf of one of the owners, Lewis Kestenbaum. One expert testified that Gilbert did not design the warehouse, but rather a budget conscious owner and a low bid for reinforced concrete determined the materials and design. The expert stated that to the original owner the warehouse was “just an investment, not architecture,” and to designate it would demean a real example of Gilbert’s work, the Brooklyn Army Base. Council Member David Yassky, in whose district the warehouse is located, stated that without a comprehensive City strategy on designation of industrial buildings, random designations, such as this, would interfere with the City’s efforts to rezone industrial areas and permit the planned redevelopment. (read more…)