From the NY Times:This isn’t a case of Nimby, the neighbors in Sunnyside Gardens, Queens, say. It’s more a matter of namby.
Some residents are upset about a plan to build a two-story, eight-unit apartment house at 39th Avenue and 50th Street, in the Sunnyside Gardens Historic District.
What has galvanized opposition is a gesture that was supposed to make the project palatable: In the crook of the L-shape apartment house, the architects Frances Campani and Michael Schwarting would reconstruct the vestiges of the groundbreaking prefabricated, all-aluminum Aluminaire House of 1931.
“How can a house that in some ways resembles a spaceship be plopped down in the middle of this neighborhood?” asked City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents Sunnyside Gardens.
The proposal is scheduled to go before the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday.
The heads of two influential preservation groups, the Historic Districts Council and the New York Landmarks Conservancy, said they did not support the Aluminaire House plan. Still, almost everyone hopes it will have another life.
“The Aluminaire House is architecturally significant,” Councilman Van Bramer said. “It should be restored and put on display for people to learn about, enjoy and experience. However, that should be done somewhere else.”
8 comments:
Easy maintenance. At least you wont have to repoint the bricks. And any graffiti washes right off.
Lot of people went to bat for them when they got designated - and they promptly forgot them.
Jimmy has now revived them and poured a lot money in - yes you guessed it - he lives in the Gardens.
Unfortunately, like Jimmy, they have a bit of a holier than thou reputation in the community - which is sad.
If Queens can ever shake off the grip of the politician - developer block and their stooges we need communities that have designations to spread the word - not "we got ours now you get yours suckers."
That kind of attitude is not good.
Not good at all.
Let stonewall Van Bramer occupy it as his district office.
Meanwhile ol' stonewall sits upon his stone wall, and cant agree that 5 Pointz deserves landmark designation.
Last year he pointed out that 5 Pointz is a vital site for Queens. Now, suddenly it isn't, Jimmy? How come the quick change in attitude?
Jimmy can't even figure out that the graffiti art displayed there is art. Meanwhile, the rest of the intelligent world has already agreed that, indeed, IT IS ART!
And I thought that gay men were more avant guard and forward thinking.
I guess that Van Brainless has become a servant of the Wolkoffs (who own the 5 Pointz site). He got paid a bundle of $$$$$ by them. Go and look up that information for yourselves online.
Wait until a lightning bolt strikes it.
Metal attracts...well...SHAZAM!
There ya go...and everyone inside gets done to a crisp.
Sunnyside up...or scrambled? juice and coffee?
Maybe if Van Bramer lived in this aluminum can, his premises wouldn't have been burglarized so easily.
We're gonna graffiti your tombstone, George,
when your time comes!
How about "God is dead" for your epitaph?
You'd be in good company with your idol...you know who.
Nah, sorry ta disappoint youse. I'm gonna be cremated. Youse can smoke my ashes like Keith Richards puffed on his pops'.
What happened to the children's park that was on the site? Why did it close?
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