A 12 block area in Prospect Heights consisting of 870 buildings is being designated a “historic district” by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. It’s the city’s latest effort to preserve history while serving progress at the same time. Even though the LPC’s intentions are arguably well-intentioned, the proposal is too little too late and absolutely ineffectual in blocking the very destroyer of this locale’s history in the first place: the Atlantic Yards.
“’The purpose of our agency is how to protect the historic fabric of the city’s neighborhoods, not to stop development,’” de Bourbon said, noting that Landmarks primarily looks at architecture, dates of construction, and the streetscape. “’It certainly may have been a part of the motivation of people who wanted us to designate the district, but that’s something that we really can’t consider.’”
A factor used in determining a building’s historical significance here is its “sense of place” along with a “coherent streetscape” (in short, its appearance and location). Because this proposal came to the drawing board so late, it will be difficult to determine these senses of place and coherency when time and money press on. Bruce Ratner, the Goliath of the Atlantic Yards project and genius of laissez-faire construction and intrigue, is unlikely to compromise by becoming miraculously nostalgic when the financial and political cards are stacked in his favor.
Source: The Brooklyn Paper “Prospect Heights to Get Protection?”
brooklynpaper.com/stories/31/29/..
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