432 Park Avenue (center in the photo above) claims the title of tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, and second tallest building (after the new One World Trade Center) in New York City, but if measured by roof height the tallest. It’s described by its architect, Rafael Viñoly, as designed around “the purest geometric form: the square.” Not only is the building’s horizontal cross section a square, but all the windows are squares.  It dominates the midtown skyline with the grace of a colossal headless Pez dispenser, or upraised middle finger (the photo above was taken from Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park). Aaron Betsky admires its “relentlessness”; I demur. Betsky also celebrates how 432 Park “represents the transformation of this and every other city into a place for the wealthy to live and play” as if driving out struggling artists and other relatively impecunious but creative people, and the inexpensive infrastructure that supports them, constitutes progress.

With bad luck, we may be subjected to more Viñoly designs, like 125 Greenwich Street, all of which will end up being pieds a terre for billionaires, with perhaps a few lower floor, smaller apartments going to mere multi-millionaires.

Viñoly discusses his design philosophy in this video. He plays piano well.

The developers of 432 Park are CIM Group and Macklowe Properties. Harry Macklowe is a developer whose company was once fined two million dollars for reckless endangerment resulting from the rapid night-time demolition of two buildings. Macklowe compares 432 Park to the Mona Lisa.

Source: Self-Absorbed Boomer
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tzVM/~3/3szUd7I9sU4/harry-macklowe-flips-off-new-york-city.html

We recently went on a trip back in time at some of the restaurants in the North Heights. Now it’s time to start doing the same down on Montague Street. What was there before today’s eateries? What do the owners want you to order if you stop by? Let’s find out!

Our first stop will be Teresa’s Restaurant (80 Montague Street – Yelp! profile).

Teresa’s Restaurant. Photo by Evan Bindelglass

According to owner Teresa Brzozowska (yes, there is a Teresa!), it was a dry cleaners before she opened the restaurant in 1989.

80 Montague Street, 1967. Photo courtesy NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Brzozowska is originally from Gdansk, Poland. She came to America in 1980 and settled in Williamsburg, where she has lived ever since. She had what she described as “life experience in the food business.” She worked in delis (German, Jewish, Polish, French, and American) and, in 1985, she opened Teresa’s in the East Village (on 1^st Avenue between 6^th and 7^th). She had some customers and friends who lived in Brooklyn Heights and she found Montague to be a “nice street” and opened the second location. The original bit the dust in 2007, but the second incarnation is still going strong 25 years on. Brzozowska loves the support of the public and said being a “neighborhood place makes business very stable.”

What The Owner Says To Order:
Appetizer: Chicken soup
Entrée: Cheese and blueberry blintzes

ARCHIVE DOCUMENTS: 1988 Certificate of Occupancy | 2000 Certificate of Occupancy (PDFs)

Up next, we don’t have to go far. It’s on to Heights Café (84 Montague Street – website).

Heights Cafe. Photo by Evan Bindelglass

Buildings Department records from 1930 list the first floor as simply “stores.” As of 1940, the second floor was being used as a school. A 1976 document called the “Montague Street Revitalization” listed a York School, as well as an antique store. As of 1967m it was the Plymouth Pharmacy. For the 27 years prior to 1995, the first floor was the Promenade Restaurant, a staple of the area. It even had its own postcards!

84 Montague Street, 1967. Photo courtesy NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Eventually it closed and the space became available. That caught the eye of Greg Markman, who opened Caffe Buon Gusto up the block in 1992 (he sold his interest in it over a decade ago). Markman teamed up with Joe Secondino, who was an accountant at ABC and with whom he’s been friends with since they were seventh graders at JHS 281 (now IS 281) in Bensonhurst, and, on May 15, 1995, opened Heights Café on the corner of Montague and Hicks.
Joe Secondino and Greg Markman. Photo by Evan Bindelglass

While they run the day-to-day, Markman’s father Martin and brother Glenn (the real estate brains) are also partners in the restaurant. Greg Markman always loved the corner and said it needed “something special.” Since then (with the exception of a closure from this January to April for a remodeling and menu sprucing up), they’ve been serving “something for everyone.” “We love our customers,” he said. “[Some of them see the restaurant as] an extension of their living room.” Secondino called them “friends.”

They have had some celebrity customers. Paul Giamatti stops in sometimes, as do Jennifer Connelly and her husband, Paul Bettany. Also spotted have been Leonardo DiCaprio, Anne Hathaway, Willem Dafoe, and Susan Sarandon. Markman even got a photo with “Transformers: Dark of the Moon” star and Victoria’s Secret model Rosie Huntington-Whiteley.
Greg Markman with Rosie Huntington-Whiteley. Photo courtesy Greg Markman.

What The Owners Say To Order:
Fried Chicken at Heights Cafe. Photo by Evan Bindelglass

The Southern Boneless Fried Chicken with mashed potatoes, gravy, and coleslaw. If you are worried about boneless chicken being dry, stop. It isn’t dry and it is full of flavor, as are the mashed potatoes. It is so easy to go wrong with coleslaw, but this was very well-balanced. If you want a little extra creaminess, it’s on the bottom. The  gravy is wonderful, but everything else is so great already that you might forget to make use of it. Try to remember.

Markman and Secondino also own Dellarocco’s Pizza around the corner (214 Hicks Street – website). They opened that in 2012. In 1976, it was listed as a hair stylist and from 1981 to 2011 it was home to the gift shop Overtures.

Dellarocco’s Pizza. Photo by Evan Bindelglass

ARCHIVE DOCUMENTS: 1930 Certificate of Occupancy | 1940 Certificate of Occupancy | 1972 Certificate of Occupancy (PDFs)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/70104

As we moved away from the dock, we got a good view of the World War Two veteran aircraft carrier Intrepid.

Heading downriver, we passed the retired, now privately owned fire boat John J. Harvey and the also privately owned lightship Frying Pan. Six years ago I was on a cruise on the tugboat Cornell when we were called on to pull Harvey, then stuck on a mudbank, free. I recorded the incident on video. The large structure behind Frying Pan is the Starrett-Lehigh Building, (Cory & Cory, Yasuo Matsui; 1931), a striking adaptation of some elements of art deco architecture, such as rounded corners, continuous horizontal strip windows, and varying brick colors, to an industrial and warehouse structure.

Continuing down the Hudson, we saw another former government vessel now in private hands, the lightship tender Lilac. Behind her is the Borough of Manhattan Community College and the towers of the Independence Plaza housing complex.

Passing the tip of lower Manhattan we saw a skyline dominated by the new One World Trade Center (David Childs/SOM; completion expected later this year) and the newly opened Four World Trade Center (Fumihiko Maki, 2013). The low, white building on the shoreline below One WTC is City Pier A, built in the 1880s and expanded in 1900 and 1919. It was used at different times for police and fire boats, lay derelict for many years, and is now being rehabilitated as a venue for restaurants.

Looking up the East River, we could see the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, as the sightseeing boat Robert Fulton went by.

We headed through the Buttermilk Channel, which lies between Brooklyn and Governors Island. The retired harbor tanker Mary A. Whalen, purchased and restored by PortSide New York, is docked at a pier on the Brooklyn side. In the background, above Mary’s wheelhouse, is the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building (Halsey, McCormack and Helmer, 1929), for many years Brooklyn’s tallest.

A double-crested cormorant was perched atop a buoy.

Heading across the harbor, we passed the ferry terminal on Staten Island and the ferry Spirit of America.

Entering the Kill Van Kull, which lies between Staten Island and Bayonne, New Jersey, we passed the tug Brian Nicholas pushing two barges, one loaded and one empty, lashed side-by-side.

The tanker Skopelos was docked on the Bayonne side. In the background, to the right, is a wind turbine; an effort to reduce the demand for the fossil fuel tankers carry.

King Duncan, another tanker, was berthed just beyond Skopelos.

The World War Two veteran destroyer escort U.S.S. Slater was undergoing maintenance at Caddell Dry Dock and Repair Company, Inc. on the Staten Island side. There’s an article about Slater’s stay at Cadell’s, ending with a photo showing her after completion, sporting her bold camouflage, here. Slater is now back in Albany, where she serves as a floating museum.

A short way past Caddell’s we passed under the Bayonne Bridge, which is being raised to allow the gargantuan container ships now going into service to pass under it. The project is being done in stages, so as to keep the bridge open to traffic except during late night hours. Photo by my wife.

After the bridge, we turned into Newark Bay, and passed the outbound container ship MSC Arushi R., escorted by the tug Miriam Moran.

After MSC Arushir came Don Jon Marine’s Caitlin Ann, pushing an empty barge.

Maersk Pittsburgh was docked at Port Elizabeth.

Another Don Jon tug, Mary Alice, was headed up Newark Bay.

Ital Laguna was docked at Maher Terminals, Port Elizabeth. The First Watchung Mountain can be seen in the distance.

Elizabeth McAllister was also heading up the Bay,

Endurance, docked at Port Newark, is a rarity these days; a large civilian cargo ship flying the U.S. flag. She is a RO-RO (Roll On-Roll Off) ship, and is used to transport equipment and supplies to U.S. forces abroad.

Heading back toward the Kill Van Kull, we passed Ellen McAllister. The tug’s low profile suggests she may sometimes be used on inland waterways with low clearances.

MSC Bruxelles was docked at Port Newark.

As we came alongside Maersk Pittsburgh we saw St. Andrews, the tug that had brought the barge from which Pittsburgh was taking on fuel. Note the scrape marks on the ship’s hull.

Another view of the Bayonne Bridge as we headed back toward the Kill Van Kull.

The tug Houma passed us just before we reached the bridge.

We passed the Moran tug fleet’s Staten Island home port. Laura K. Moran and two other tugs were docked there.

A little farther along was the Reinauer dock, where Dean Reinauer and Kristy Ann Reinauer waited for their next assignments.

Traffic was heavy on the Kill Van Kull as we headed out. Ahead of us was Northstar Marine’s barge Northstar 140, towed by Reliable.

Here’s a better view of Reliable as we overtook the tug and her tow.

With the New York City skyline as a background, Bouchard’s B.No.280, escorted by Charles D. McAllister, headed up the Kill Van Kull.

Power behind B.No.280 was supplied by Ellen S. Bouchard.

Then came Manhasset Bay…

…which was easily overtaking Paul Andrew pushing a barge.

We encountered three tugs in succession towing barges “on the hip”; first Brooklyn, …

…then Sassafras, …

…then Gulf Dawn.

We almost overtook MSC Arushi R., which we had passed earlier as we entered Newark Bay, as she left the Kill Van Kull headed for the Narrows and the Atlantic.

As we left the Kill Van Kull and rounded Constable Hook, we passed the Bayonne Golf Club, with its faux lighthouse club building (2006). The Scottish style links were built atop what previously was a waste disposal landfill. 

The container ship Positano, sitting light with no visible cargo, was docked at Bayonne’s Military Ocean Terminal.

Just past Positano was the U.S. Naval Ship Watkins, undergoing maintenance work at the Bayonne Dry Dock & Repair Corporation’s graving dock.

The cruise ship Explorer of the Seas was moored at the Cape Liberty Cruise Port, Bayonne. The Kirby tug Lincoln Sea and a barge were docked at the end of the pier.

After passing Bayonne, we saw the majestic skyline of … Jersey City, with Lady Liberty in the middle.

Hearing a droning noise overhead, I looked up and saw a World War Two vintage B-17 flying by. 

The Colgate Clock, on the Jersey City shoreline, is a memory from my childhood, when I passed it several times on ships leaving from or arriving at New York. The building on which it once sat has been demolished; fortunately, the clock (Seth Thomas, 1924) has been preserved.  We were right on time; our cruse started at 11:00 a.m. and was scheduled to last two hours.

As we approached our dock, I saw kayaks near Intrepid’s stern.

Source: Self-Absorbed Boomer
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tzVM/~3/_gwLogl8zyo/photos-from-hidden-harbor-tour.html

A lot went on at Thursday night’s Brooklyn Heights Association Annual Meeting, much of which is touched on in our “Tale of the Tweets” coverage. I have a few points about the business side of the meeting to expand on. In addition to the awards for “best diner” to Clark Restaurant and to Patricia and John Duffy for their renovation of 265 Hicks Street, there was one to the extended Alperin/Lowe/Sullivan family for their various ventures, including Marissa Alperin Studio on State Street between Columbia Place and Willow Place (a frequent stop for your correspondent when shopping for presents for his wife), clothing store and art gallery Goose Barnacle, kids’ clothing shop Junior Lowe, both on Atlantic Avenue, and the re-opening of the Long Island Bar and Restaurant, also on Atlantic.

A new honor was the Martha Atwater Award, named for the Heights resident, TV producer, wife, and mother tragically killed just over a year ago when an out of control truck hit her on the sidewalk on Clinton Street. The first Martha Atwater honoree was Mary Frost, of the Eagle, who received the award in recognition of her coverage of the battle to keep Long Island College Hospital open. Finally, a “Best New Addition to the Neighborhood” award was given to Ted Zoli, with Brooklyn Bridge Park President Regina Myer accepting on his behalf, for his design of the Squibb Park Pedestrian Bridge.

Clay Shirky (photo above), who holds joint appointments as a professor in New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and as Distinguished Writer in Residence in NYU’s Arthur. L. Carter Journalism Institute, was evidently prepared (he is a former resident of the area) for an audience heavily salted with geezers, like your correspondent. Hence he saw his mission as dispelling any notion that the internet is leading to the End of Civilization as We Know It. But what is it destroying? There are some distinctions that it is seriously eroding, if not ending.

Shirky said he was sure we were all familiar with the Iliad, the classic account of men at arms and warfare, while a photo of the cast of Hogan’s Heroes was projected above him. Similarly, he said, we knew the Odyssey, the prototypical tale of adventure at sea and on unknown islands; this was accompanied by a photo of the Gilligan’s Island cast. He then showed a typical example of internet trivia: someone’s tweet of their fast food breakfast. Next he showed a page of a blog, NeverSeconds, started by a nine year old Scottish schoolgirl, Martha Payne, who would photograph her school “dinners” (lunches to us) and rate them for taste, healthiness, presence or absence of hairs, and other qualities. Her blog went along for some time, and gained fairly wide readership, with no reaction from school officials until it got mentioned in a newspaper. This caused her to be taken out of class and told she could no longer photograph her school meals. Her “Goodbye” post went, as they say, viral, and generated so much protest that the county council reversed its decision, and Martha’s blog, complete with photos, continues. Shirky said this illustrates one of the cultural changes the internet is effecting: an erasing of the professional/amateur distinction. Once, to reach a wide audience quickly, you had to be a professional journalist. Now, thanks to the internet, even an amateur can.

Another distinction being lost is that between public and private – as Shirky discussed in this chat a few years ago with “Switched”:

Shirky noted that tweeting on Twitter is often used as a means of chatting with friends, as oppeosed to e-mail or text messaging, but that it isn’t private, as e-mail or texting is.

As to whether the internet is oblivious to, or drowning out, “serious culture” (like the Iliad or Odyssey), Shirky noted that the printing press was invented in 1450, that the first erotic novel was printed in 1495, but that serious philosophical papers weren’t printed until the 1600s. So, just be patient. (Actiually, the first thing reported to have been printed by Johannes Gutenberg was “a German poem”; after that he produced the first printed Bible. He also printed papal encyclicals, church indulgences, and Latin grammars.)

Since I’ve used Wikipedia as a reference, it’s worth noting an interesting statistic that Shirky used in his presentation. The total person-hours used to produce and edit the entire content of Wikipedia up to a fairly recent date is approximately 100 million, but the total time spent watching TV over the same period of time (I don’t recall if he said, but I’m assuming this is worlwide) is estimated at 200 billion person hours. So, the time used by amateurs to produce an encyclopedia is, in shirky’s words, a “rounding error” compared to couch potato (or stationary bike/treadmill) time.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/65931

It was announced last week that Midtown Equities had been chosen as the developer for the adaptive re-use of the historic Empire Stores warehouse buildings, which extend along Water Street between Dock and Main streets in DUMBO. There was, however, no immediate announcement of which of the anonymous “team” entries revealed in June was the winning design. We now know that it was “Team 5″ that was chosen, a design by Studio V Architecture for Midtown Equities, which includes a glass arcade at the roof level.
Here’s another view, showing almost the whole building from above. Renderings are by Studio V Architecture, via DUMBO NYC. You can see more renderings at Brownstoner.

Empire Stores already has one announced major tenant, furniture mart West Elm, which will move its store and corporate headquarters there.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/62279

My Brooklyn Heights Blog colleague made this video. He gave it the title “A Tale of Two Bridges” because it includes scenes of and on both the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, but it concentrates on the latter, lesser known span. Lesser known, that is, until recently, according to this New York Times article. The Times piece attributes its new found popularity on the fact that its Brooklyn anchorage is next to DUMBO (“Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”), a neighborhood that has undergone roughly the same evolution that SOHO in Manhattan did starting about two decades earlier: from decaying industrial area to place where artists could occupy cheap if not yet quite legal loft spaces to trendy Bohemian neighborhood to pricey place for the rich but hip, combined with office space for tech companies.

I have a particular affection for the Manhattan Bridge: it was my first crossing of any of the East River bridges. This happened in 1954, when I was eight years old.  My parents and I had just returned from England, where my dad, a U.S. Air Force officer, had been stationed for three years. We came by ship, and debarked at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. There we boarded a bus to Penn Station that took us by way of Flatbush Avenue (when we turned onto this broad thoroughfare my dad, an Indiana native who had spent some time in New York City early in World War Two, said “This is Flatbush”: noticing some low-lying shrubbery in a planter box on the median, I thought I knew what he meant) to the Manhattan Bridge, where I was thrilled by the view of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and East River traffic.

The  Manhattan Bridge was the last of four East River bridges–the others, in order of completion, are the Brooklyn (1883), the Williamsburg (1903), the Queensboro (now officially the “Ed Koch Queensboro Bridge”; also known as the 59th Street Bridge and as such immortalized by Simon & Garfunkel; March, 1909)–to be completed. The Manhattan Bridge was partially opened late in 1909, but not fully opened until 1912. It was designed by Leon Moisseiff, who was also involved in the design of the Golden gate Bridge and the Benjamin Franklin Bridge in Philadelphia, but whose reputation was blotted by his having been the principal designer of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a.k.a. “Galloping Gertie” (caution: the linked video may give you nightmares, though it may also warm the hearts of dog lovers).

Source: Self-Absorbed Boomer
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/blogspot/tzVM/~3/0hiqrSM-UOk/karl-junkersfelds-tale-of-two-bridges.html

You may recall the lengthy legal battle over the St. Ann’s Warehouse theater’s attempt to build a new performance space inside the 19th century Tobacco Warehouse in the Fulton Ferry Historic District, which led to a court decision holding that the transfer of the Tobacco Warehouse space from Brooklyn Bridge Park had not been done according to law. This legal obstacle has now been overcome by a transfer of new land into the Park in exchange for the Tobacco Warehouse, and St. Ann’s has presented new plans (see image) for a performance space, community room, and lobby to be built inside the roofless shell of the Warehouse. You can read more about the planned new facility and see more images in Theatermania.

The design proposal by St. Ann’s was considered by the Executive Committee of Community Board 2 at its meeting this last week and will go to the full board on May 8.

Note: This post has been modified since original publication.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/57706

The iconic Hotel St. George sign on the corner of Henry and Clark Streets has been refurbished and returned to Brooklyn Heights this morning. Michael Correra at Michael Towne Wines and Spirits wrote us to say that the sign is looking great thanks to the hard work of the folks at Paul’s Signs.

BHB reader Chris Fohlin tweeted us a photo of the sign’s return this morning. Our Heather Quinlan is on her way to get more info….

UPDATE: And here I am, Heather Quinlan, with the latest sign news. According to Correra, “I think the sign is from 1933, though I don’t have any proof. What’s interesting is the man who repaired it said it had square bulbs, and they haven’t used square bulbs since the 1950s.” Correra also recommended a book New York Nights about the history of NYC signage. Featuring the Hotel St. George Sign, square bulbs and all.

Looks like the new St. George sign may be going up today /cc @bkheightsblog twitter.com/cfohlin/status…

— Chris Fohlin (@cfohlin) March 20, 2013

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/56534

Grace Church, which was designed by America’s then pre-eminent church architect, Richard Upjohn, and has stood at what is now 254 Hicks Street (corner of Grace Court, between Joralemon and Remsen) since 1848, is about to undergo an extensive renovation that will close its sanctuary (photo; services will be held in the upstairs Guild Hall during the renovation) for a year, starting after the Easter services at the end of March. To mark this occasion, and to give all members of the community an opportunity to view the sanctuary before it is closed, the clergy and vestry of Grace will host an open house and tea on this coming Sunday, March 24, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. There will be guided tours of the interior and a talk about the magnificent stained glass windows, some by Tiffany; organ music by Paul Olson; and an opportunity to see a model of the interior’s planned restoration. Refreshments will be served.

In the words of Grace’s Wardens and Rector:

Throughout its long history, Grace Church has served the wider community in Brooklyn Heights and beyond as well as its parishioners, whether through Grace Church School, the 85 year old pre-school, by making space available for community groups to meet, and through our many outreach activities. We view Grace Church as a community landmark and resource as well as a spiritual home for our many parishioners.

Please be our guests on March 24th to learn more about our plans to restore this beloved community landmark. We look forward to seeing you.

The event is free and all are invited.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/56448

The Bossert Hotel could begin receiving hotel guests at 98 Montague Street as early as this summer, according to a report from the Architect’s Newpaper—as long as construction remains on schedule. That includes preserving the facade, lobby and reception area, updating the rooms with new design finishes and amenities, and restoring the Marine Roof to a restaurant and lounge.

On January 8, the Board of Standards & Appeals unanimously approved a request for variance to change the Certificate of Occupancy for “transient hotel use, accessory hotel use and commercial use,” officially allowing the building to open its doors as a hotel once again.

David Bistricer and Joseph Chetrit closed on the 103-year-old, 14-story property, for $81 million in November. Since the 1980s, the building had been owned the Jehovah’s Witnesses and used as a community facility. At the time of purchase, Bistricer said the hotel would remain independent and maintain the name of original developer, lumber mogul Louis Bossert.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/54069

Donald Rattner, founder of MODULE R—which opened a year ago at 141 Atlantic Avenue—is profiled in the latest issue of Brooklyn’s The L Magazine. Writer Kristin Iversen offers, “How can we exert some control over our spaces in the absence of oneiric home renovation? Enter MODULE R, a high-concept, modern design store.”

The upscale boutique, dedicated to “modular, reconfigurable and customizable design,” was launched by architect Rattner, who was inspired to open the store after he was commissioned to design 30 identical modular prefabricated hotel cottages for an historic spa resort in West Virginia. He says, “This got me interested not only in modularity, but in any kind of creative product or system that accommodates reconfigurability, co-creativity and flexible design. When I discovered that no one in the design, retail or gallery sectors had thought to specialize in this body of work, I figured it was my duty to rectify the situation.”

L says that Rattner, who our Heather Quinlan profiled in 2010, feels the store benefits from “the architects, graphic designers and members of the creative class” who live in the area.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/52927

The weather forecast is encouraging, but with so many institutions, like Bargemisic, which is in good physical shape but still lacks Con Ed power, coping with the aftermath of the Sandy/nor’easter one-two punch, what is there to do if you’re in town? There’s the penultimate Smorgasburg of the season this Sunday, November 11 from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. at the Tobacco Warehouse, Water Street at New Dock Street in the Fulton Ferry Historic District (I once described it as being in DUMBO and caught holy heck from the Fulton Ferry Landing Association). The final Smorgasburg of the season will be the following Sunday, November 18.

Brooklyn Heights Cinema, 70 Henry Street (corner of Orange) will be showing The Sessions and A Late Quartet. Showtimes are here.

The Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street (corner of Clinton) will have another of its tours of the Society’s historic building on Saturday, November 10, starting at 3:00 p.m. Details are here. Looking ahead to Thursday, November 15, starting at 7:00 p.m., BHS will present a lecture by independent scholar and author Andrew Coe, “Spilt Milk: the Bloody Food Rackets of 20th Century New York,” about how gangsters controlled much of food distribution in New York City in the first half of the past century. Details are here.

Know of anything else interesting happening in Brooklyn Heights or nearby this weekend or in the near future? Add a comment to this post.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/51642

This morning I resumed my routine of taking a brisk walk along the Promenade, down Squibb Hill, around Pier 1, and back. I was anxious to see how this part of Brooklyn Bridge Park had weathered the hurricane. On the way in, I passed this blaze of fall foliage (click on image to enlarge). More photos and text after the jump.

Looking north along the riverside esplanade toward the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges.

A single, battered Rosa rugosa clings to its bush, surrounded by rose hips.

Frank Gehry’s 8 Spruce Street shows its Bernini drapery in the morning sunlight. A Machine, part of Oscar Tuazon’s “People” series of sculptures, is in the foreground.

The Brooklyn Bridge, seen through the trees.

Looking south along the Esplanade; the skeleton of the shed on Pier 2 is in the background.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/51203

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49813

The storied locale that housed Gage & Tollner restaurant from 1892 through the beginning of the millennium is both an endearing and bittersweet tale of Downtown Brooklyn’s history. New York City landmarked the eatery’s exterior in 1974 and a year later, its interior. It was the first landmarked dining room and the city’s third interior landmark of any kind. The first two were the New York Public Library and Grant’s Tomb.

In a lengthy piece in the Wall Street Journal, writer Barry Newman discusses the 120-year-old heritage of 374 Fulton Street, from the seafood restaurant owner’s purchase of the building in 1919 to its eventual demise. WSJ offers: In 1976, Fulton Street became a pedestrian mall, with no automobile traffic. The streets were scary, and the old crowd began eating elsewhere.” In 1985 then-owner Ed Dewey decided to sell the famous destination. In 1995, it filed for bankruptcy, before closing around 2004.

Since, it has held T.G.I. Friday’s, which lasted until 2007. Arby’s came next, in January 2010. It endured for just eight months. And in the summer of 2011, a discount costume jewelry store opened in the spot. WJS says, “The Landmarks commission says the landlord asked for a permit to make alterations after they were made. It denied the application for lack of detail and, this month, issued a violation. The commission, still lacking a satisfactory response, has issued another violation that can lead to a fine of $5,000 a day.”

Meanwhile, many of the original lighting fixtures from Gage & Tollner were stolen. Some mirrors and arches are said to survive behind bright pink panels. And what of the famous eatery that is no longer? Its last owners, Peter Aschkenasy and Joe Chirico still own the name. The latter says he’d like to reopen the restaurant “in a place where you can get to the front door.” And its Landmarked decor? In New York, he says, a crew can “replicate that in no time.” (Photo: Chuck Taylor/July 2010)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49602

A celebration of “neighborhood greats” will take place Friday, October 19, 2012, from 6-9:30 p.m., at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity Church, 157 Montague Street. Featured at the “Spirits of Brooklyn Heights” gala are composer/lyricist Robert Lopez (“The Book of Mormon,” “Avenue Q”) and Harry Chapin’s daughter, urban/folk/soul singer Jen Chapin, who will perform from her own songbook along with songs from her legendary Brooklyn Heights’ resident papa, Harry Chapin. Also performing: Broadway and Off-Broadway actor Michael Winther (“Songs from An Unmade Bed,” “Mamma Mia!”), who will sing from jazz great Fred Hersch’s song cycle of Walt Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass.”

The gala will benefit the landmark church’s tower and organ restoration project, while honoring legends of literature, art and music with roots in Brooklyn Heights who shaped the borough’s legacy as a cultural center.

Cocktails will swirl from 6-7, followed by performances in the St. Ann’s sanctuary. Afterward, dinner, entertainment and a silent auction will take place in the Parish Hall. Tickets are $75 and tables of eight are $500. Space is limited. You’re advised to purchase tix in advance.

The church, which opened its doors in 1847, rests at the heart of Brooklyn Heights, at Montague and Clinton streets. A cornerstone in the historic development of the community, it remains an active house of worship and a venue for numerous musical and cultural events. While there has been significant restoration of the building, structural improvements to the tower on Clinton Street and its organ are now a major focus for continuing restoration.

Information and tickets are available at 718-875-6960 or office@stannholytrinity.org.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/49011

If you thought Best Burger in Brooklyn Heights was a tough choice, we continue the Brooklyn Heights Blog’s Best Of The Heights Open Thread with a category that I, for one, find next to impossible—thanks to an embarrassment of neighborhood riches…

What do you regard as the Most Beautiful Building in the Heights? Church, residential, commercial, whatever makes you swoon every time you walk by. As long as it’s made of wood, brick, concrete or masonry, has a door and windows, it’s up for consideration. Please include the address and why you believe it’s the consummate in architectural splendor.

If you’ve missed previous “Best Of” surveys, see them here: Best Burger, Best Dry Cleaner, Best Pizza Pie, Best Handyman, Best Car Service and Best Vet & Dog Walker. (Photo: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
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The 10-story Queen Anne beauty at 62 Montague Street, near the entrance to the Promenade, is at last revealing its two-year massive facade restoration. In September 2010, the coop building began a meticulous project to repair and restore every iota of its brick, mortar and terra cotta exterior; this week, the scaffolding is coming down, level by level.

The Harbor View Apartments, later named The Arlington, were completed in 1887. The building was designed by Montrose W. Morris, with architectural firm Parfitt Brothers overseeing the project—as well as the Montague, Grosvenor and Berkeley apartment buildings on Montague Street.

The Arlington originally contained 20 family apartments and 10 “bachelor”—or studio—units. For its first 20 years, it was the tallest residence in the Heights. And now, it’s the building I call home. For more history, see the BHB post “A Love Letter To Brooklyn Heights” from March.

(Photos: current/Chuck Taylor; painting/John Lloyd; 1920 vintage/New York Library Archives)

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http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46493

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Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45690

Following Mr. Karl’s video progress report Thursday on the Squibb Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Facebook page featured its own pic Thursday sharing progress on the bridge, which will connect Brooklyn Heights to BBP: “Check out the first bridge pier being installed at the uplands of Pier 1. Looking forward to watching as Squibb Bridge is built!”

As Brownstoner reminds us, Squibb Bridge will connect Squibb Park, right off the neighborhood’s Columbia Heights, to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier One, where the upcoming mega-hotel and condo complex are scheduled to be built. Construction began on the bridge this spring.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46265

Following Mr. Karl’s video progress report Thursday on the Squibb Bridge, the Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Facebook page features its own pic sharing progress on the bridge, which will connect Brooklyn Heights to BBP: “Check out the first bridge pier being installed at the uplands of Pier 1. Looking forward to watching as Squibb Bridge is built!”

As Brownstoner reminds us, Squibb Bridge will connect Squibb Park, right off the neighborhood’s Columbia Heights, to Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier One, where the upcoming mega-hotel and condo complex are scheduled to be built. Construction began on the bridge this spring.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46265

The manse at 40 Willow Place that sold for $7.3M, as we reported Tuesday, gets a deeper look in a story published by the New York Observer. It begins: “The modern masterpiece may not be able to command a sales price like some of its Brooklyn Heights neighbors—to wit, Truman Capote’s old abode at 70 Willow Street set a borough record when it sold for $12 million in March—but in the eyes of the tax assessor’s office, it is the finest in the borough.”

The Observer reports that new owners Charles Brian and Elizabeth O’Kelley, who moved from a West Village penthouse, will pay a heap of taxes for the 45-foot, 6,500sf home, which has an assessed market value of $6.35M (compared to the Capote house, valued at $5.14M). Sellers William and Kathleen Reiland bought the house for $3.1M in 2005.

Further, the property was first listed by Corcoran broker Deborah Rieders last October, asking $7.5M. It briefly entered contract in late fall, but didn’t close and returned to the market in April. She notes it is one of only three other modern houses in the neighborhood, all built on empty lots in the 1960s. Designed by Mary and Joseph Merz (among BHB’s Top 10 Most Interesting People in 2011), the home was featured in a 1966 issue of Architectural Record and is landmarked, despite its more recent vintage.

Rieders says that typically, it’s the older “grand dames” of the Heights that tend to fetch the neighborhood’s highest prices, in the $10M to $12M range. The five-bedroom, five-bath home has double-height ceilings with skylights, a 1,500-square-foot great room with a slate burning fireplace, a glass penthouse with a Japanese soaking tub and a rear curtain on the living spaces and bedrooms “that brings light streaming into the house all day,” according to the listing.

See more photos in the sideshow at the Observer here. (Photo: New York Observer, via Corcoran)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46202

When it comes to lofty living in Brooklyn Heights, it’s tough to top the home at 40 Willow Place, which has sold for $7.35M—a mere shaving off of its October 2011 list price of $7.5M. The 7,400-square-foot, three-story, 45-foot-wide modernist home, built in the 1960s, entered into contract May 7 and closed August 3, with its deed recorded August 15, according to Brownstoner. Needless to say, it was the largest closing in all of Brooklyn last week. The property, which has been wholly renovated, has an assessed value of $6.14M and last sold for $3.1M in 2003.

According to Property Shark, among the 10 most valuable single-family mansions in the city—including Manhattan—this home ranked No. 1 last June. Meanwhile, the Corcoran listing describes 40 Willow Place, designed by Joe and Mary Merz, as “the perfect marriage of sleek minimalism and functional modernism,” with multiple outdoor spaces, a garage, five bedrooms, five baths, a 1,500sf great room with slate wood burning fireplace, library, family room and double-height rec room. Read more at Corcoran here.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46180

Curbed has taken a look at the floor plan of one of the fancier apartments planned for 20 Henry Street, and quotes a tipster as saying “it’s one of the worst 4BR floorplans she’s seen”. Take a look here, and let us know what you think.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46159

SpacesTV, a YouTube web series, checks out a unique “Garden Room” somewhere on Joralemon Street in Brooklyn Heights. Can you figure out where? Watch the video after the jump.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/46155

It appears the historic Williamsburg Bank building at 1 Hanson Place, which stood for decades as the tallest structure in Brooklyn, at 512 feet & 37 stories, is now just one of the crowd. As gentrification continues in Downtown Brooklyn, at least a half-dozen highrise residential towers are in the works.

The New York Observer tallies the progress, noting the skyline along Flatbush Avenue “has been utterly transformed” in recent years, as six new apartment towers rose during the last building boom: the Toren, the Brooklyner, the Oro, Avalon Fort Greene, the DKLB and Forte.

Adding to those projects (with BHB research from Brownstoner, Real Deal, Curbed):
* The Oro 2 at the corner of Gold and Johnson Streets is now getting off the ground, which will rise to 35 stories with 208 apartments.
* Billionaire John Catsimatidis is preparing the second of four buildings on Myrtle Avenue between Ashland Place and Flatbush Avenue in Downtown Brooklyn. At the end of June he filed for a 15-story mixed-use building with 160,000sf of residential and 13,000sf of commercial.
* 29 Flatbush Avenue, where construction is well under way. The 42-story rental building is slated for 2013 completion.
* Two Trees is developing a formerly city-owned property at Flatbush & Lafayette near BAM, which is said to include a residential tower and public open space.
* City Point Phase 2 facing Fulton Street Mall, is set to begin construction in the coming months. The nearly complete Phase 1 (due to house Century 21) comprises 45,000sf of retail space; while Phase 2 will include a 250-unit 19-story tower and a 400-unit 30-story tower—both residential rental—connected by a four-story structure containing a half-million square feet of retail. Phase 3 is supposed to be a 54-story tower, but so far remains penciled in on the drawing board.
* Still in the planning stages: The Hub from movie moguls David and Douglas Steiner, which calls for a 52-story, 720-rental unit tower at Flatbush and Schermherhorn.
* 85 Flatbush Avenue Extension—a triangle-shaped parcel at Flatbush, Tillary and Duffield—remains ripe for development, after Brooklyn-based North Development Group, led by developer Isaac Hager, planned to build a 21-story, 108-unit residential condo tower at the vacant site, which stalled at year-end 2011.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45622

One of Brooklyn Heights’ mightiest architectural triumphs, the Romanesque Revival Herman Behr Mansion at 82 Pierrepont Street—which changed hands in 2008 for $10.98 million—has been covered in netting, as it undergoes a mass of restoration to its facade.

It was built in 1888 by architect Frank Freeman for $80,000, and named after the mining industrialist who built it—and had a sordid existence after its namesake died. (Behr’s son Karl, a renowned tennis pro, survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.) In 1919, after the family relocated upstate—with a massive add-on—it became The Hotel Palm, which those in the know were aware was a neighborhood bordello.

Afterward, as the Franciscan House of Studies, it housed the Order of the Franciscan monks, who were sent to the Brooklyn Heights locale when they needed a place to “dry out.” In 1977, it was converted to 26 rental apartments (six lucky bastards are rent-stabilized), and it has remained 100% occupied since.

(Info extracted from Chuck Taylor’s The Smoking Nun blog here.)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45755

The six-story apartment building at 70 Clark Street and Henry is photographed here September 15, 1948. Note the three towering TV antennas along the roofline. The street-level retail gave us Parker Drugs, offering a lunch counter and soda fountain; with “Soda and Lunch,” “Cosmetics and Cigars” advertised along the front signage. (See details below.)

Today, 70 Clark, across the street from the St. George Hotel, is the location of Clark’s Restaurant and Ozu Japanese, while the residential coop has changed precious little over the past 50+ years. According to a recent Prudential Douglas Elliman listing, many of the building’s units feature 9-foot ceilings, along with a common garden between its twin structures.

(Historic Photo: Wurtz Brothers, Museum of the City of New York/Current: Chuck Taylor)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45694

So we were apparently a little tardy in our weekend post about the closing of Montague Street’s Hallmark store. Let’s make good by sharing the latest on the building planned for 172-174 Montague, which will replace the two-story structure that once held Eammon’s and Hallmark.

First, the Brooklyn Eagle reveals that new owner “BH 1 CD LLC,” is operated by principals Eli Stoll and Charles Dayan. A little more digging by BHB shows that the company is based at 499 Seventh Avenue in Manhattan. As previously reported, the 8,150/sf building (and 5,000/sf lot) sold for $12 million. The current 50-foot wide and 95-feet deep structure—which also has a cellar—was originally constructed in 1925, and does not fall within the Brooklyn Heights Landmark District and thus is not subject to its 50 foot height limit. According to Property Shark, the building was most recently assessed at a value of $1,699,650.

With a C5-2/DB zoning designation, the property is approved for 60,000 buildable square feet and “significant air rights,” with a demolition permit already issued by the Department of Buildings, the Eagle says. Originally, an application was filed to construct a 19-story, 66-unit mixed-use residential building—but was nixed by DOB July 10.

Besen & Associates, which brokered the deal, says the seller Robar, LLC (a private investor) “resisted the temptation to sell his air rights on several occasions after receiving unsolicited offers,” according to David Davidson, who represented the seller with Besen’s Lynda Blumberg. That includes a bid from the developer of the 34-story Archstone luxury rental next door, at 180 Montague Street. It was built in 1999, and sold in 2006 to residential REIT Archstone Smith for $101 million.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45576