WGPA

Today's Times has an article on Henry Miller and Fillmore Place. On May 12, the Landmarks Commission is expected to formally designated Fillmore Place and Miller's childhood home (which is on Driggs, not Fillmore as the photo caption in the article says).

110 - 114 North 9th Street
ca. 1860s

On the north side of North 9th Street between Wythe and Berry there is a lovely row of tiny houses, about 9 in all (originally there were 10). Raised on low basements, the two-story buildings are simple and small. They are constructed of brick with brick or stone segmental-arch lintels and brick cornices.

By Northside standards, the buildings are quite old - they appear on land maps as early as 1869 and probably date to before the Civil War. They've survived for at least 140 years pretty much intact. Some have been painted, some have been made fancier through the addition of porticos and porches. But for the most part, they have remained as simple brick buildings.

96 North 9th Street (during)

Until now. The westernmost building in the row (96 North 9th Street) is in the process of being "upgraded" with a new stucco finish. This is a treatment that has become ubiquitous in Greenpoint and Williamsburg in the past few years. It involves gluing styrofoam to the face of a building and then applying a very thin coat of cement stucco. By sculpting the styrofoam, wonderful (as in wonderfully tasteless) shapes can be achieved. The stucco can be tinted any color of the rainbow, and it usually is. In a neighborhood that has embraced every form of artificial siding ever invented, maybe its appropriate. But from the building's point of view, there is absolutely no reason for it. The stucco will not make the building last longer - certainly no longer than a decent pointing job would. It certainly doesn't make the building look better. It just makes the building look like something it shouldn't be.

N.Y. Quinine Co. (44 Berry) - reality.

After our stroll down North 9th Street this weekend, we went around the corner to check on the progress at the former N.Y. Quinine Co. Building (44 Berry Street). Last January, we were laying bets that the through HVAC vents would be something more than hardly noticeable (as the developer claimed). Turns out we win - 44 Berry is no Fedders atrocity, but the final result (as shown to the right) is a far cry from the subtlety shown in the rendering (see the detail - and a mini-treatise on pointing - here).

N.Y. Quinine Co. (44 Berry) - rendering.

Not to pile on 44 Berry, but this detail photo, which we took to illustrate the through-wall HVAC vents (hardly noticeable, right?), also shows why good pointing matters. Compare the area above the stringcourse to the area below the string course, which has not been repointed. The mortar joints in a brick wall represent roughly 10% to 15% of the total wall area; a bad pointing job can increase that to 15% to 20%. This may not go that far, but the difference in color, tooling and joint profile are clear. The new pointing practically swallows up the brick.

(BTW - those small openings between the HVAC vents are scuppers. Many buildings high-rise loft buildings of this period have them - they were there to drain water in case a pipe burst (either from pipes freezing - these buildings were often not heated - or from the sprinkler system going off.)

The Fillmore Place Historic District

Its official* - after a vote by the Landmarks Preservation Commission this afternoon, Fillmore Place is Williamsburg's first historic district!

*Subject to the approval of the City Council and Mayor.

Pencil Factory Lofts
Architect: Daniel Goldner Architects

Bad news for Greenpoint development - a lender is suing developer Baruch Singer for failing to complete the Pencil Factory Lofts project in a timely manner. According to the Real Deal, construction was to have been completed by January of this year. That has clearly not happened, though based on a recent pass by, the project seems to be pretty far along.

As originally reported by Vanishing New York, work on the project came to a halt about two weeks ago. The site itself was once part of the complex of buildings owned by the Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, but was left out of the landmark district because permits had already been pulled and work had started (including demolition of two smaller buildings). Luckily, the building that is to replace the former Faber buildings is a nice one (thanks to Daniel Goldner Architects), so for once we aren't losing something significant and getting a pile of banal in return. Having come this far, the neighborhood will be a lot worse off if the project does come to a complete standstill, so hopefully it will restart soon - either as a condo or as a rental.