Admirals Row Buildings Threatened Despite Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Plans To Save Them
UPDATE: Jan. 30 2012
The New York Landmarks Conservancy is happy that the Admirals Row property has finally been sold to the City and is now in the hands of the Navy Yard who we hope will act quickly to stabilize the two historic structures that are to remain on the site.
Although we would have preferred to see more of the houses saved, we believe that the plan espoused by the Navy Yard incorporating two of the historic buildings is a good one. We trust that the Navy Yard will honor its commitment to historic preservation and look forward to seeing how work on the site proceeds.
Previous update.
The New York Landmarks Conservancy called on the US Army National Guard to take immediate action to protect and stabilize two historically significant buildings at the Admirals Row site of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The buildings remain endangered despite the Brooklyn Navy Yards Development Corporation’s recently released plans to restore them as part of a new sixty million dollar redevelopment of the site.
The Conservancy has spent years advocating for the preservation of the nineteenth century buildings on the site, which is in the process of being transferred from the National Guard to the Navy Yard. Throughout the multi-year process the National Guard has failed to follow up on its promises to undertake stabilization and repair work on the buildings. The two most significant buildings of the row, Building B, and the Timber Shed, are woefully neglected; in fact the timber shed may be in danger of collapse from possible snow and wind damage in its current vulnerable condition.
While the Navy Yard has agreed to restore both buildings once it attains ownership of the site, that may take a year or more. It is possible that in the meantime the buildings could deteriorate to the point that their restoration could be deemed infeasible. That is why we are calling yet again on the National Guard to begin the process of shoring and stabilization.
“The national Guard has been woefully negligent of its duty to stabilize and preserve the timber shed,” said Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy. “Now that engineer Robert Silman has determined that the building can be stabilized and eventually reused,” she added. “The National Guard must protect the Shed from potential damage this winter.”
Decades of lack of maintenance on the part of the National Guard should be considered “demolition by neglect,” which would mark the failure of a federal agency to uphold their responsibility under federal historic preservation laws. In 2009 one of the other significant houses on the site, Building C, collapsed after heavy rains. Last year, after a heavy snowstorm, part of the Timber Shed’s roof collapsed.
The Brooklyn Navy Yard in anticipation of eventually acquiring the site has just began the environmental review process that is necessary to rezone this site to allow for the development of retail uses, including a supermarket, as well as a new industrial building and parking. As part of the environmental review the Navy Yard released plans that incorporate the restored Timber Shed and Building B into the multi-use site. This is a dramatic improvement from initial plans that did not save any of the historic structures on the site.
