Admiral's Row

Some roofs have collapsed
Front stoop

Admiral's Row is a row of Second Empire style homes formerly used by naval officers in the New York City borough of Brooklyn at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and owned by the National Guard.[1] Some of the homes date back to the Civil War. Although the U.S. Navy closed the original Navy Yard in the mid-1960s, it continued to house some personnel in the officers’ houses until the mid-1970s.

Review

The property is currently undergoing a Section 106 review by the National Guard. In April 2008, they launched a website in order to invite public involvement in the proceedings. An open meeting was held in July 2008, where the public was asked to weigh in on the preservation of the structures. The results of that meeting are published on the National Guard website, as well as considered in the Alternatives Report for the site.

In 2010, the administration of former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed to revitalize the row. Two developers attempted to revitalize the row, but one was accused of bribery and another could not pay insurance after Hurricane Sandy.[2]

Although Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation president Andrew Kimball has claimed that the residences have been damaged beyond repair by the elements, the report prepared by the United States Army Corps of Engineers refutes this claim, suggesting that the residences are not only excellent candidates for rehabilitation, but meet all eligibility requirements for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, both individually and as a district.[3]The New York State Department of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation has agreed with this assessment and has suggested that alternatives to demolition, including adaptive reuse, must be considered.[4]

In November 2011, the City Council approved a plan to rehabilitate the more stable buildings for retail space, and demolish the unstable ones.[5] Most of the houses are set to be demolished eventually, leaving "Quarters B" and the "Timber shed".[6]

In January 2012 the property was demilitarized, transferred to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation. [7]

In May 2015 a new large Wegmans supermarket was announced for the site, to open in 2017.[2]

Designations

The property on which the Row stands encompasses approximately 8 acres (32,000 m2). Some of the residences are divided into two or three units. The designations of the buildings, along Flushing Avenue from West (Navy Street) to East, are:

  1. A timber shed
  2. Quarters K, Quarters L
  3. Quarters H, Quarters C
  4. Quarters B
  5. Quarters D
  6. Quarters E, Quarters F, Quarters G
  7. Quarters I

Also on the grounds are:

Quarters A, the Commandant's residence, was not located on the Row. Of the structures on the Row, Quarters B is the most intricately styled and is currently in the best condition of any of the residences. Quarters B was the home of Admiral Matthew C. Perry while he was the commandant (titled Commodore) of the New York Navy Yard. An evaluation is currently underway to determine whether quarters B & D may be attributed to architect Thomas U. Walter, who designed the Kirkbride structure at St. Elizabeths Hospital, as suggested by the report.

References

  1. ↑ Admiral's Row, Fort Greene Association.
  2. 1 2 Williams, Keith (2015-04-17). "Promised a Supermarket Five Years Ago, a Housing Project Is Still Waiting". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2016-04-29.
  3. ↑ http://www.nan.usace.army.mil/business/buslinks/admiral/pdf/report.pdf
  4. ↑ http://www.nan.usace.army.mil/business/buslinks/admiral/pdf/letterNRHP.pdf
  5. ↑ Admiral's Row to get Partial Rebirth AM New York
  6. ↑ Historic Admiral’s Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard to be leveled By Erin Durkin NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
  7. ↑ Berger, Joseph (27 Jan 2012). "Admirals Row Transferred to City". The New York Times. Retrieved 15 May 2015.

External links

Coordinates: 40°41′54″N 73°58′46″W / 40.6984°N 73.9794°W / 40.6984; -73.9794

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, April 29, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.