WGPA

Arion Hall, once home to the Arion Singing Society, is one of many remnants of Bushwick's once-thriving German population. The building sits on Arion Street (formerly Wall Street), between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue/Beaver Street. While the building today is no match for its past glory, its recent renovation as the Opera Lofts is a vast improvement over the sorry state it was only a few years ago (click down to the end of the page).

For more about the Opera House Loft conversion, see this thread at Brownstoner (prompted by a lovely mystery image of the building's pressed-metal cornice, complete with lyre).

Arion Hall, circa 1910.
(Credit: Brooklyn11211 collection)

Opera House Lofts, 2007.
(Photo: WSD)

More information on Arion Hall:
Forgotten New York
Brownstoner
Go there

Old Dutch Mustard Co. Building, November, 2007.
(Credit: Curbed)

The Four Three Boro Neighborhood Preservation Association recently nominated sites in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island for landmark designation (they must not get to the Bronx much). The sites chosen by 4B in North Brooklyn include:

Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory
McCarren Park Pool Center
Matchett Candy Factory
Weidmann Cooperage
I. Rokeach & Sons Building
Old Dutch Mustard Co.
Harte & Co. Building
143 Roebling Street
55 Hope Street
South Bushwick Reformed Church
Fillmore Place Historic District
Grand Street Historic District
Dunham Place Historic District

As Curbed was kind enough to note, its a bit late for Dutch Mustard, and the McCarren Park Recreation Center was already heard by LPC back in January. Still, despite some glaring omissions, and a list is heavy on WPA's industrial priorities to the neglect of everything else, 4B's list includes many worthy landmarks.

Landmarks has just announced that the Eberhard Faber Pencil Factory complex is on their calendar for a designation hearing next Tuesday, 17 April. Time, TBA.

More info to follow (breaking, as they say).

61 Greenpoint Avenue (ca. 1930)

UPDATE: As noted below, Landmarks has announced that they will hold a hearing next Tuesday to calendar the Eberhard Faber Historic District (see map, below). The historic district includes the iconic pencil building at 61 Greenpoint Ave. (above), and the original pencil factory building at 37 Greenpoint Ave. (below). Also included are the buildings at 58 and 59 Kent Street, and the building at 104 West Street.

The designation does not include the buildings on West Street between Kent and Java (X marks the spot on our map). Developer Isaac Katan demolished two of these buildings within the last month, and has plans to significantly alter the remaining building at the corner of Java and West.

We will post more details on the hearing as they become available.

37 Greenpoint Avenue (ca. 1870)

The Eberhard Faber Historic District

58 Kent Street (ca. 1900)

59 Kent Street (ca. 1900)

104 West Street (ca. 1900)

A quick update on the Eberhard Faber Historic District.

At this morning's Landmarks Commission hearing, the Commissioners voted unanimously to put the complex on the calendar for designation consideration. The research staff made a brief presentation, after which there were a few questions from the Commissioners and the vote.

The district is not landmarked - yet. What this means is that sometime in the next month or two LPC will hold a formal hearing to decide whether or not the EFHD should be officially designated a NYC Landmark. In the meantime, the fact that the district is officially on LPC's calendar does mean that no alterations (or demolitions) can be undertaken without the approval of LPC. So no more funny business for the time being.

You can help make the designation of the EFHD a reality by sending letters of support to the Landmarks Commissioner, Councilmembers David Yassky (in whose district EF sits) and Jessica Lappin (who chairs the City Council's Landmarks Subcommittee) and Community Board #1. (WPA will post links to make this process easier.)

And, of course, you can testify at the Landmarks hearing, when the time comes. We will keep you posted.

Recently, elsewhere:

Will Greenpoint's Pencil be Saved [Curbed]
Williamsburg's 184 Kent: Nowe with Weird Orange Things [Curbed]
Which Williamsburg Building is Uglier? You Decide [Curbed]
LPC to Calendar Cluster of Greenpoint Buildings [Brownstoner]
East Williamsburg [Forgotten NY]
133 Kent Avenue Then and Now [INSIJS]
Rethinking McCarren Pool's Landmark Status [Greenpoint Star]

Next Thursday, 26 April, support WPA by drinking good beer and hearing good music:

Oxford Collapse
Antelope
Rahim
DJ's Micah Welner and Jackson Pollis

Beer by Brooklyn Brewery

See you there.

Photo by: Zach K

The New York Times reported today that the Mayor's vision for 2030 includes plans for the restoration of the McCarren Park Recreation Center. Luckily, we don't have wait that long - in fact, we might be swimming in a few short years.

What the Times did not catch is that Mayor's FY2008 (begins July, 2007) budget includes $3.85 million for planning and design development. In addition, the City has promised $46.2 million in FY2010 (begins July, 2009) for the restoration of the pool. That means that honest-to-goodness planning could start as soon as this July, and that the construction budget would be part of Bloomberg's last budget.

Word from Community Board #1's District Manager Gerry Esposito is that the plan the City is working on is to rebuild the pool as an Olympic-sized pool. We'll reserve judgement on the plan itself until we see the details, and for now applaud the fact that the McCarren Pool might soon have water.

Recently, elsewhere (a little late this week):

In Park Plan, a New Life for Spaces Long Closed [NYT]
Seeking Landmark Status, and Hoping to Lose a Label of Unrest [NYT]
One of Brooklyn's Own Gets Her Due [Star]
On this Date in History: Brooklyn's Funny Girl [Eagle]
Ward Bakery Crumbles a Little, Linkage Included [GowanusLounge]
Blight Me: Is Developer Blight a New Brooklyn Tactic? [GowanusLounge]
Help LPC Get Needed Funds to Preserve Our City [HDC]

The Galapagos Benefit was a great success - there were over 100 people in attendance, and WPA was able to raise almost $700 (money that we will put towards more events, more postcards and more t-shirts, as well as more activism). Very special thanks are due to Dana Gluck, the event's organizer. Dana pulled together a great lineup of talent, and the beverages and raffle.

Special thanks also to the talent - Oxford Collapse, Antelope and Rahim and DJs Micah Welner and Jackson Pollis. Thanks to Brooklyn Brewery for donating beverages and being an event sponsor. And thanks to the local businesses who donated raffle prizes - Cinders Gallery, Armoire, Greenhouse Holistic, Fornino Pizza, Barcade, Cheeks Bakery and Treehouse.

We have some more events planned for the summer, so stay tuned.