COURIER LIFE, MAY 21-27, 2021 35
OUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO THE BOROUGH OF KINGS
BY KEVIN DUGGAN
Nestled between garages and
across the street from the Port Authority
piers in the Columbia Street Waterfront
District lives an eye-catching collection
of statues and artworks dotting
a driveway at 82 Degraw St.
The property’s owner is Ben van
Meerendonk, a retired Dutch-American
record importer and broadcast journalist
who bought the old warehouse between
Columbia and Van Brunt streets in the
1980s and converted the dilapidated site
into an eclectic sculpture garden.
“I want people to feel happy when
they go by, because it puts a smile on
people’s face when they see something
that’s pretty,” van Meerendonk told
Brooklyn Paper. “Instead of having a
junkyard, it’s a collection of art.”
The assembly of ornaments — which
isn’t open to the public, but is on full
display for passers-by in the hide-away
area of the Columbia Street Waterfront
District — includes an Easter Island
statue, a front gate inspired by Dutch
cubist Piet Mondrian, sculptures by
Elliott Arkin, and replicas of works by
Edvard Munch and Jeff Koons.
There’s also a remnant of a second
building’s shell converted into a large
display case featuring a metal horseriding
skeleton facing off against Star
Wars character Boba Fett, along with
Chinese symbols spelling “Blood,
sweat, and tears,” (after a Dutch song
van Meerendonk likes) that light up.
“I like to put things there A, that I
can afford; B, that I think is worthy to
my ridiculous taste; and in the idea
that it gives some people or kids pleasure,”
van Meerendonk said.
An oversized red-white-and-blue
Dutch fl ag is painted across the fl ank of
the adjacent three-story row house and
further back, a wall bears three whiteon
black crosses referencing the fl ag of
the 79-year-old’s native Amsterdam.
Named after his father, a renowned
Dutch photo-journalist, van Meerendonk,
who is Jewish, survived the Holocaust
with his parents by hiding in a
farm for a year and a half when he was
just a toddler during World War II.
He moved to New York City in 1963
at the age of 22 and followed in his dad’s
footsteps, working as a photographer
and writer for several different outlets,
before becoming a foreign correspondent
for the Dutch public broadcaster.
He eventually headed up the sta-
Made you
look!
Behind the quirky
sculpture garden
in Columbia Street
Waterfront District
I PULLED OVER FOR THIS: Ben van Meerendonk’s
eclectic art collection on Degraw
Street has been inspiring double-takes for
years. Photos by Kevin Duggan
Continued on page 36