Those townhouses in Forest Hills have been sold. Here comes the wrecking ball (er, demo by hand).And The Townhouses Go To....
Photo from Forest Hills 72
Those townhouses in Forest Hills have been sold. Here comes the wrecking ball (er, demo by hand).
8 comments:
Excellent work
We know that only a certain clique can propose buildings for landmarking.
We also know that that is exactly what the established preservation community wants.
Or they would change it.
it won't be to all tastes but, by total coincidence (i wrote before checking in here), WWIB just posted an excerpt from what it considers thee greatest Queens novel of all time & ...
it mentions both Forest Hills & Hollis. shouldn't be tough to figure out where this scene is (fictionally) set either.
otherwise, block by block, even modest beauties of Queens perish. The same is happening in Brooklyn too, with A LOT less protest or attention paid than you'd expect given the five thousand blogs here.
Anonymous: I know you're onto something, care to expand? I have a lot thoughts about that, as I see 19th century bldgs throughout South Brooklyn and southern Brooklyn taken down without ONE WORD from even local "real estate" (sic) blogs.
in solidarity,
wwib
They can very easily be converted into residences. I feel they should be "adaptively reused." Some are strictly residential. Why should there be some shoddy buildings with stark features out to the curb, next to the unconverted residences?
Theoretically, we have a brain that produces art & true art inspires us. STOP THE DESTRUCTION & respect thy neighbor as the phrase goes. Enough is enough!
Read the plaque on one of the facades: This marker donates the oldest extant assemblage of residential structures in this historic, beautiful community (of the newly established Forest Hills). These were built in the neo-Renaissance style. The area was originally known as Whitepot. These buildings bridge the gap. They were dedicated & re-dedicated in 1991 & 2006 (in honor of FH 100th).
We have submitted building after building after building, and not only are they rejected, but we get return letters with our address scrawled on the envelope just to drive the point home that we are unworthy of even a hint of respect.
We hear months (and sometimes years) later that our neighborhoods were reviewed (by the right parties, of course), and dropped from some little secret list as deemed unworthy. Local community input was considered superficial.
We seek help and are directed, with a smirk to our local pol or community board with full knowledge that they are there because of the clubhouse, and that the future of our communities are already in hock to campaign donors (generally developers) as repayment. Nothing tears down a building faster, or gets one keener public contempt from the press, than starting an feeble effort at trying to save a local landmark. The entire pointless effort sort of resembles rocks thrown against tanks.
We see the lion’s share of preservation resources of time and money spent only on a tiny fraction of our city, generally, on those communities that have the most internal resources not only for their own needs, but to underpin the entire city’s efforts.
We see those who enjoy the benefits of preservation, are, for the most part, not a true reflection of the wonderful diversity that makes this city great. The sting is greater when we recognize that the landmarks commission is supported by public taxes.
Every time they hear a burp out here, in the red-lined areas, they call on their ‘official’ spokesmen for our communities – local Quislings who, for the most part, are second stringers who are easily puffed up with pride that they now have perceived access to some low level functionary, or who are given a bit of ice cream by having one of their little pet projects designated. No one can put their foot on our neck, and keep our face in the mud, better then our bedazzled brother next door. But they are not the real problem.
Crappy will be posting things soon (I hope) that just shows how far up the arse the regular preservation community is - a fund raiser here or there always held in one of the holy four (GV, BH, ES, WS) where they have decided the most pressing issue is a few extra dollars and a few extra staff to process the backlog of yuppie building repairs – or seminars on how already designated communities can to live with development – but nothing, my friend, not a damn thing that is useful about the real word that the grassroots community preservation groups face: intentional misinformation in the press, lies spread by the politicians, and sadly, the outright disdain they (the preservationists) hold for the rest of us.
Lack of public education, the true root of our problem, is not even on their radar. After all, preservation would lose its cache if the great unwashed suddenly discovered the rarified world of landmarking and such.
The real problem for us is the stranglehold this little clique has on our city. The solution is really quite simple.
Our first order of business is to bash their little manicured fingers from the throat of the preservation movement, and throw it wide open to the people. Preservation is not a club. It is the future of our great city. And the faster we (of the grassroots) can take control of this movement, the faster we all can go forward.
I for one, my friend, am tired of posting about building after building destroyed in my community while the first class passengers tell us nothing (except, of course, to suggest to our minders that we move around chairs on the deck of the Titanic), or worse, watch them as they commandeer the life boats. Life is too short, as a mobster I know once said, to be ‘dicked around.’
We either sink, or swim, together.
The first order of business is to overturn the landmarks law. Then we can all start fresh on the same page.
I hate to see 'em go
but there are HIGHER architectural priorities !
Anyway....the new crap will blend in perfectly
with the rest of the block.
A-hem....."contextual zoning".....eh !
Fasten your seat belts....Forest Hills
is in for an even rockier ride....in future days!
Anon:
You got that right. Where do I sign up to volunteer?
We tried to save our block and got nowhere with them. They told us to call our community board. We did and they said it was as of right. They said to us that the home owners want our block to be full of crap.
A few blocks away is a tony neighborhood. Everytime they burp they get attention and all sorts of nice little bennies.
Its not fair. There are two cities here, the connected, and the rest of us.
$$$$$$ talks....and BS walks !
You are either in the "right" or the "wrong" nabe.
Time to make some more $$$$$$
and move into tony FHG.
The rest of FH is up for grabs......
an unfortunate reality!
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