Heroes of the Month BROOKLYN-USA.ORG
Gowanus preservationist Linda Mariano was delighted that the city decided to landmark fi ve old buildings in the neighborhood, including
the former American Can Company building at the corner of Third Avenue and Third Street. Kevin Duggan
Recognizing Brooklynites for their good works
Preservationists are rejoicing after
the city granted landmark status
to fi ve historic Gowanus buildings
on Oct. 29, which will save them
from potential demolition ahead of the
neighborhood’s massive planned rezoning.
“As Gowanus changes we want to
try to guide the change so that we don’t
erase the history,” said the head of the
citywide preservation advocacy group
the Historic Districts Council Simeon
Bankoff. “Our concern was that the
city would rezone and then the development
pressure on the area would be
so intense that we wouldn’t even get
these designations.”
The Landmarks Preservation Commission
designated the fi ve structures
— each constructed between 1884 to
1913 — as offi cial city landmarks following
a grassroots campaign led by
activists with the Gowanus Landmarking
Coalition, which later gained the
support of Councilman Brad Lander
(D–Gowanus) and the fi ve building
owners.
ONE BROOKLYN | W 32 INTER 2019–2020
The buildings include:
•The former American Society for
the Prevention of Cruelty to Animalsturned
vinyl-spinning cafe and bar at
233 Butler St.
•The former Montauk Paint Manufacturing
Company at 170 Second Ave.
•The Flushing Tunnel Pumping
Station and Gate House at the head of
the noxious Gowanus Canal at 196 Butler
St.
•A former power station engine
house for the now-defunct Brooklyn
Rapid Transit Company on 153 Second
St.
•The former American Can Company
building on the corner of Third
Avenue and Third Street.
Under landmarking laws — which
in these cases affect only the buildings’
exterior — the owners will require
a permit from the commission
to make any future alterations to the
facades, according to the agency’s
spokeswoman Zodet Negrón.
Protecting these century-old edifi
ces is a necessary step to preserving
the nabe’s industrial manufacturing
past, according to Bankoff.
“The Gowanus Canal was a major
industrial and commercial artery
that enabled so many other things
to happen in Brooklyn,” the history
buff said. “Without keeping some remnant
of all the goods that were shipped
through and the developments that
happened, then you’re only telling half
the story.”
The fi ve buildings are part of a list
of 13 structures the preservationist coalition
wants to see landmarked, including
one building that a developer
has already mostly demolished after a
suspicious fi re tore through it — making
the landmarking even more urgent,
according to one of the group’s
founders.
“You’re not going to get these buildings
back once they’re gone,” said
longtime Gowanus resident Linda
Mariano. “It is our hope that many
more historic buildings in Gowanus
will be landmarked, as they are certainly
worthy.”
The developer of one of the newly
landmarked buildings said that they
support the designation and the commission’s
work — despite the added administrative
hurdles.
“The process becomes more bureaucratic
now that the commission’s
involved but I would say that it’s a
small price to pay for the good that
Landmarks does, and we’re willing to
bear the administrative headaches,”
said Howard Katz, a manager with the
Manhattan-based developer Surtsey
Realty Company LLC, which owns 233
Butler St.
Surtsey Realty recently wrapped up
an exterior renovation of that building
— which included a partial restoration
of its facade — but consulted with the
commission for that work, according
to Katz.
“Coincidentally we just fi nished a
major renovation of that building so
for us the timing was perfect because
the building has just been renovated,”
he said.
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