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The Gowanus Landmarking Coalition applauds the calendaring of five historic Gowanus buildings for designation as individual landmarks. For the first time in the face of a proposed city-initiated rezoning, vigorous strategic advocacy by a coalition of grassroots, neighborhood, and citywide advocates has led to the calendaring of a set of individual landmarks in the targeted neighborhood PRIOR TO the proposed rezoning. “We view this as a great first step by the Landmarks Preservation Commission,” said Gowanus resident Brad Vogel, one of the co-founders of the Coalition. “While we strongly encourage the Commission to continue reviewing additional potential landmarks in Gowanus – and along Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue, in Carroll Gardens, and in Red Hook - it is heartening to see even a handful of true landmarks calendared before the proposed rezoning arrives.”
The Commission selected five of the most architecturally and narratively significant properties for calendaring, all of which were on the Coalition’s priority list, and did not close the door on discussion of several additional properties that the Coalition prioritized. “We and others have advocated for Gowanus landmarks for years, and it is refreshing to see the thoroughness with which the Commission conducted its research survey” said Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council. “We hope our continued discussions with the Commission will result in additional designations within the coming year that make an effort to offset the dire ongoing threats to quintessential neighborhood buildings like the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse and the Gowanus Station building.”
This is only the beginning of an ongoing effort by the Coalition as the neighborhood moves through the rezoning process. The Coalition will continue to advocate for the preservation of Gowanus history with the Commission, the Department of City Planning, Council Member Brad Lander, Council Member Stephen Levin, Council Member Carlos Menchaca, and the broader community. “We are appreciative that Landmarks has gotten out ahead of the rezoning and done a tremendous amount of thoughtful work to calendar these five buildings, and that Council Member Lander has offered significant support to move this process forward,” said Kim Maier of the Old Stone House. “We want to be able to tell the story of Gowanus, and these buildings form a helpful core we can build from as we interpret its layers of history.”
While several of the sites on the Coalition’s priority list were not designated, the Coalition will continue to use every tool available to it to ensure that the structures are not lost in the rezoning. “We will continue to push for zoning that reduces the incentive to demolish historically significant Gowanus structures on and beyond our priority list, including irreplaceable industrial icons like the Roulston complex on 9th Street, the R.G. Dun building at Butler and Nevins Streets, and the brewery and icehouse complex at 4th and Bond,” said Peter Bray of the Park Slope Civic Council. “We will also continue to liaise with public officials to explore the creation of new policies that would help to protect extant Belgian Block streetscapes in Gowanus and elsewhere in the city.”
Finding a way to reform the Department of Buildings process to prevent drop-by- drop demolitions, as in the case of the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse, is on the table as well. “Watching a true landmark like S.W. Bowne get destroyed along the Gowanus Canal – first by neglect, then by fire, and now amidst an ongoing flurry of violations – has been gut-wrenching,” said Kelly Carroll of the Historic Districts Council. “We call on Gowanus-area city council members to host a roundtable to devise clear, time- sensitive ways for the Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission to intervene and prevent losses like this.”
The Coalition will also continue to raise awareness of the need to designate Gowanus as a state and national register historic district.
State and national register status does not subject owners of properties in the district to restrictions, but it does make historic properties eligible for certain state and federal historic tax credits to assist with restorations. “Aside from the city-level calendaring, Gowanus needs to be designated a State and National register district before the rezoning is unleashed,” said Linda Mariano of Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus. “The original 2014 effort to get the neighborhood on the registers – which could have facilitated many historically- sound restorations – was derailed due to a lack of understanding of what register designation actually entails. The State Historic Preservation Office needs to make this happen. It’s time.”
The Coalition looks forward to the designation of all five calendared Gowanus sites in the coming weeks, which can serve as a prelude to further designations in greater Gowanus prior to the proposed Gowanus rezoning. ####
Press Release
June 25, 2019
gowanuslandmarkscoalition@gmail.com
GOWANUS LANDMARKING COALITION APPLAUDS CALENDARING OF GOWANUS HISTORIC SITES PRIOR TO REZONING, ENCOURAGES ADDITIONAL LANDMARKING
GOWANUS –
The Gowanus Landmarking Coalition applauds the calendaring of five historic Gowanus buildings for designation as individual landmarks. For the first time in the face of a proposed city-initiated rezoning, vigorous strategic advocacy by a coalition of grassroots, neighborhood, and citywide advocates has led to the calendaring of a set of individual landmarks in the targeted neighborhood PRIOR TO the proposed rezoning. “We view this as a great first step by the Landmarks Preservation Commission,” said Gowanus resident Brad Vogel, one of the co-founders of the Coalition. “While we strongly encourage the Commission to continue reviewing additional potential landmarks in Gowanus – and along Brooklyn’s Fourth Avenue, in Carroll Gardens, and in Red Hook - it is heartening to see even a handful of true landmarks calendared before the proposed rezoning arrives.”
The Commission selected five of the most architecturally and narratively significant properties for calendaring, all of which were on the Coalition’s priority list, and did not close the door on discussion of several additional properties that the Coalition prioritized. “We and others have advocated for Gowanus landmarks for years, and it is refreshing to see the thoroughness with which the Commission conducted its research survey” said Simeon Bankoff, Executive Director of the Historic Districts Council. “We hope our continued discussions with the Commission will result in additional designations within the coming year that make an effort to offset the dire ongoing threats to quintessential neighborhood buildings like the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse and the Gowanus Station building.”
This is only the beginning of an ongoing effort by the Coalition as the neighborhood moves through the rezoning process. The Coalition will continue to advocate for the preservation of Gowanus history with the Commission, the Department of City Planning, Council Member Brad Lander, Council Member Stephen Levin, Council Member Carlos Menchaca, and the broader community. “We are appreciative that Landmarks has gotten out ahead of the rezoning and done a tremendous amount of thoughtful work to calendar these five buildings, and that Council Member Lander has offered significant support to move this process forward,” said Kim Maier of the Old Stone House. “We want to be able to tell the story of Gowanus, and these buildings form a helpful core we can build from as we interpret its layers of history.”
While several of the sites on the Coalition’s priority list were not designated, the Coalition will continue to use every tool available to it to ensure that the structures are not lost in the rezoning. “We will continue to push for zoning that reduces the incentive to demolish historically significant Gowanus structures on and beyond our priority list, including irreplaceable industrial icons like the Roulston complex on 9th Street, the R.G. Dun building at Butler and Nevins Streets, and the brewery and icehouse complex at 4th and Bond,” said Peter Bray of the Park Slope Civic Council. “We will also continue to liaise with public officials to explore the creation of new policies that would help to protect extant Belgian Block streetscapes in Gowanus and elsewhere in the city.”
Finding a way to reform the Department of Buildings process to prevent drop-by- drop demolitions, as in the case of the S.W. Bowne Grain Storehouse, is on the table as well. “Watching a true landmark like S.W. Bowne get destroyed along the Gowanus Canal – first by neglect, then by fire, and now amidst an ongoing flurry of violations – has been gut-wrenching,” said Kelly Carroll of the Historic Districts Council. “We call on Gowanus-area city council members to host a roundtable to devise clear, time- sensitive ways for the Department of Buildings and the Landmarks Preservation Commission to intervene and prevent losses like this.”
The Coalition will also continue to raise awareness of the need to designate Gowanus as a state and national register historic district.
State and national register status does not subject owners of properties in the district to restrictions, but it does make historic properties eligible for certain state and federal historic tax credits to assist with restorations. “Aside from the city-level calendaring, Gowanus needs to be designated a State and National register district before the rezoning is unleashed,” said Linda Mariano of Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus. “The original 2014 effort to get the neighborhood on the registers – which could have facilitated many historically- sound restorations – was derailed due to a lack of understanding of what register designation actually entails. The State Historic Preservation Office needs to make this happen. It’s time.”
The Coalition looks forward to the designation of all five calendared Gowanus sites in the coming weeks, which can serve as a prelude to further designations in greater Gowanus prior to the proposed Gowanus rezoning. ####
