LPC NYC
HISTORIC: The Landmarks Preservation Commission named four sections of Sunset Park as historic districts.
Massimo said on Tuesday.
“But that history is being
erased by an increase in absentee
investors destroying the
row-house facades.”
The LPC’s decision marks
a big win for local preservationists,
many of whom have
pushed for landmark designation
for over 30 years. Under
the historic district designation,
homeowners are barred
from making any changes to
the houses’ exterior without
LPC approval, and all changes
must match the building’s architecture.
“We’ve held meetings with
block associations, and community
boards,” said Svehlak,
who was present for the landmarking
decision. Since 2013,
the Sunset Park Landmark
Committee has spoken to over
400 homeowners in the neighborhood
and has collected over
3,000 signatures in support of
historic demarcation, the committee’s
website reports.
Applause erupted during
the meeting when the Landmarks
commissioners voted
unanimously to preserve the
four Sunset Park districts.
BY ROSE ADAMS
The Landmarks Preservation
Commission designated
four areas of Sunset Park as
historic districts on June 18,
after a decades-long fi ght by
community members to preserve
the neighborhood’s architectural
— and blue-collar
“We feel that it’s not just
architectural history that’s
being preserved, but also the
history of a working-class community,”
said Lynn Massimo,
project leader of the Sunset
Park Landmarks Committee,
which has spearheaded the
landmarking effort since 2012.
The four historic districts
— which together encompass
about 20 blocks bounded by
44th Street in the north, 59th
Street at the south, Fourth Avenue
in the west and Seventh
Avenue to the east — contain
brownstones, co-op apartments,
and row houses dating
back to the 1890s. Sunset Park,
once a home for Irish, German,
and Scandinavian immigrants
during the turn of the century,
claims a wealth of Romanesque
and Renaissance revival-style
buildings, according to local
historian Joe Svehlak.
“Sunset Park was originally
designed as the middleclass
version of Park Slope,
but it became working-class,”
said Svehlak, who has fought
for the landmark designation
since the 1980s. “The six
blocks between 54th and 60th
streets contain some of the oldest
houses.”
But in recent years, the ageold
buildings have been under
siege as Brooklyn has undergone
its own Renaissance revival.
Residents complain that
developers have destroyed the
classic edifi ces and erected
modern, multi-family buildings
in their wake.
“Generations of Sunset
Parkers have kept their row
houses intact and looking historic,”
— roots.
INSIDE
Partners: The married co-founders of Ample
Hills — Jackie Cuscuna and Brian Smith —
recently opened their 15th ice cream shop in the
historic fireboat house in Dumbo. Liz Clayman
Fulton dairy
Ample Hills Creamery opens at Fulton Ferry Landing
By Aidan Graham They’ve got the scoop on local history!
The latest branch of a Brooklyn
ice cream chain uses its historic location and
delicious sweets to uncover the rich history
of the borough. Ample Hills Creamery, now
open at Fulton Ferry Landing in Dumbo,
serves a creamy dessert inspired by the
favorite foods of the Bard of Brooklyn, said
the scoop shop’s founder.
“Two of Whitman’s favorite foods
were coffee cakes and donuts, so we took
those and added them to ice cream, and
made a new flavor,” said Brian Smith.
“It’s not the same recipes he used, but it’s
close enough.”
The new shop, the 15th operated by the
chain, debuted on June 13 with the flavor
“I Contain Breakfast Foods” — a play on
Walt Whitman’s famous line “I contain
multitudes.”
The Ample Hills ice cream chain takes
its name from a line in Whitman’s classic
poem “Crossing Brooklyn Ferry,” and
often cooks up flavors that evoke stories
close to the hearts of Smith and his wife
and co-founder Jackie Cuscuna.
“We try to think creatively about how
to tell stories through ice cream,” said
Smith. “We really have fun creating a
story and then making an ice cream to
tell that story.”
The ice cream maestro said he had to
double down on the Whitman symbolism
for the new location, which occupies a
historic fireboat house at the same Fulton
Ferry Landing where the famed wordsmith
found inspiration for the poem that
inspired the name of the ice creamery.
“We have a signature flavor in every
location,” said Smith. “It’s one of the ways
we’re able to tell the story of that location,
and that particular neighborhood.”
The Ferry Landing was home to the
first mass-transport system bridging Kings
County and Manhattan, and during the
19th Century, the advent of the steamboat
allowed for speedier travel, leading to massive
development in Brooklyn as a suburb
of its densely populated neighbor.
“That spot transformed modern
Brooklyn,” said Smith. “The birth of
Brooklyn can be traced to this spot.”
The founders also have their own special
history with the location, which was previously
occupied by the Brooklyn Ice Cream
Factory, according to Smith.
“We had ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice
Cream Factory the night before we got
married. It’s an important place to us,” he
said. “It’s like coming home to be in that
building.”
Ample Hills Creamery at the Fulton
Ferry Landing 1 Water St. at Old Fulton
Street in Dumbo, (718) 874–2483, www.
amplehills.com. Open Fri–Sun; 10 a.m.–
midnight; Mon–Thu; 11 a.m.–11 p.m.
Your entertainment
guide Page 55
Police Blotter ..........................8
Brownstoner ........................ 26
Standing O ............................38
Letters ....................................40
Op-Ed ....................................... 41
The Right View ....................42
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MAKING HISTORY
Huge landmarking victory for Sunset Park preservationists
The four landmarked districts in Sunset Park contain houses that date
back to the 1890s. LPC NYC
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