Wednesday, March 30, 2016

The Frankenhouse of Maspeth

"Hey Crappie please add this to your monster houses that are swallowing up Queens. This used to be a nice house till they started making "little" alterations all of which were legal according to the DOB.

Jay Ave. and 66 Street Maspeth."

Before:


Hmmm... these plans were approved on February 29th of this year. That was an awful fast construction job! And some nice violations as well.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

The good news is with the permit going through so late the department challenge process is still available. If you want, challenge the zoning, but bring some ammo.
-somethingstructural

Anonymous said...

If the building is occupied, it would seem to me that for safety reasons the inhabitants should be evicted.

BIS WEBSITE indicated no electrical permits EVER. There is now a PLUMBING PERMIT.

Garry Flanagan's GC license is NOW Inactive.

Truth of the matter is this whole project needs to be SHUTDOWN until the fines are paid and the letters of correction are received.

DOB IS TOTALLY USELESS and WHERE ARE THE NYC DOB BUILDING MARSHAL's. THEY SHOULD BE NOTIFIED. Obviously, much of the electric and plumbing work is illegal.

Anonymous said...

Lol looks like the irish flag. Lol maybe they are getting their revenge against the chinese and Greeks! Lol it doesn't even look like a house, it looks like an inn to me.

LibertyBoyNYC said...

Before we grab our pitchforks and torches ... I don't know the owners personally but I live in the that nabe. The owners have lived there and raised children there for some years now. In fact the part that you see in the "before" picture was quite shabby before the owners moved in; they fixed the front, back, windows, etc putting in nice fencing and a patio, and new masonry, in addition to the somewhat garish but cheerful faux-Mediterranean paint scheme. The house is literally a few steps from a Q18 stop as well. Just saying...sometimes it truly is a matter of taste. The house across the street is not altered from its original look and footprint but is literally falling apart. Weeds infest every crack. Often as a neighbor you are given the choice of A) a house falling apart or B) a house kept together. Which do you favor?

Anonymous said...

"A little of this and a little of that" architecture at its finest.

JQ LLC said...

"it looks like an inn to me"

Broadway Stages can use this if they choose to update the Newhart show.

Or if they remake it's a wonderful life, it could be the millenial Bailey Boarding House

Way to purge the DOB de Faustio and AG Schneiderman of dereliction and yet still entrenched corruption.

Anonymous said...

I have seen worse. This is Maspeth, not known for good taste or restraint.
Waddaya expect from gavones?

Queens Crapper said...

Why does this great family who raised their kids there suddenly need a house on steroids?

Anonymous said...

There are worse examples out there of crappifictaion !!

Anonymous said...

Looks like they'll be lots of room for illegal tenants

Anonymous said...

At least they kept the very old building and didn't put up that crappy Chinese cheap stainless steel railing throughout.

Anonymous said...

I love the nouveau Mansard Roof on the addition.

Anonymous said...

The word is after he pumped the house up on steroids he plans on selling it. He was never a good neighbor, his truck always blocks the sidewalk and his dog always barked. Good riddance to bad trash.

LibertyBoyNYC said...

That's not your taste, or my taste, but that's their private property, Crappy, and their business. In fact a lot of people in the neighborhood go "up" with renovations. Are we going to turn on private owners of frame houses, or keep our sights directed at the sort of development turning Queens Boulevard into Flushing South and Fedder-izing formerly-frame-house blocks, or the creeps up at Willet's Point, or that LIC is starting to look like Toronto?

As far as "bad neighbors" are concerned, dog management is hard to find as I scan the pavement for dog stains and have to swerve every 30 feet or so in any part of "Le Plateau Maspethe". The people across the street from this house didn't do a thing to their property but I would argue they are worse neighbors because their house is falling apart, scary, for years now, and they refuse to clear the weeds all year long from the sidewalk around the corner. Let's keep on the BIG GAME, is all I'm saying!

Queens Crapper said...

"That's their private property" - which is overdeveloped, has multiple violations, including for work without a permit, and may violate zoning. Strain on infrastructure, especially sewers, etc. Did we forget? My friend, this is the big game.

Anonymous said...

I looked at the ZD-1 for a few minutes and aside from some strange yard conditions due to city changes in the frontage, I didn't see anything that jumped out at me. I'm slightly surprised that they can build 3 stories with that fireproofing class and no sprinklers (offhand), but that's a hypothetical fireproofing issue not a zoning issue - and one they could resolve easy enough to keep the square footage.

Also there are other permits on their original non-zoning application, including plumbing. Note they built under the original permit and got the SWO because they were framing the extension.

I think you're misguided beating the shit out of this guy for the zoning. You want to pants him for starting the extension without a permit - because he only did the zoning approval because he was caught (clearly) that's legit. Ditto for shaming him on not filing the paperwork to resolve the objections. But there are better battles to fight like "How the hell can R4 accommodate such an unwieldy structure". This isn't an over-development issue that was propagated by the owner, it was propagated by the city.
-somethingstructural

Queens Crapper said...

I feel that there is equal blame here. What do you, as an architect/engineer, plan to do about it?