Demo Crews Ordered To Stop After Bed-Stuy Mansion Already Gone: DOB

BED-STUY, BROOKLYN — The rapid demolition of a beloved mansion in Bed-Stuy has been deemed unsafe by the city — but only after the three-story building was already torn down, according to city records.

Department of Building inspectors issued a stop work order at 441 Willoughby Ave. Thursday evening after they found crews using a "heavy-duty excavator" not allowed in the permit for the site, which got the go-ahead for demolition this week despite a push to designate the building a city landmark, according to building records.

The order, issued after a 6 p.m. inspection, came only after crews were able to use the excavator to level the building to the ground floor in a matter of three hours, shocking neighbors who led a last-ditch scramble to save it earlier that day, records show.

"That was a violent, contentious, unsafe and a complete demolition of not only a building but the spirit of this community today," wrote Lauren Cawdrey, one of the leaders of the neighborhood fight to save the mansion, known as the Jacob Dangler House.

Cawdrey was among a group of neighbors who had spent hours staked out at the Willoughby and Nostrand avenue street corner Thursday morning after noticing developers had started the tear-down.

The demonstrators were able to briefly pause construction by making 311 complaints, sending a Department of Buildings inspector to the building. But the inspector — at first — found "no illegal or dangerous conditions" at the site, allowing crews to start up again that afternoon, according to officials and records.

At the time, crews were using "hand-held tools as required" to demolish the 120-year-old mansion, according to the inspector's 3 p.m. report.

But when the inspector returned at 6 p.m., the excavator was in full swing.

Crews were ordered to stop all work and issued a violation for using the mechanical equipment without a permit, records show.

"Cue 'Ironic' by [Alanis Morissette]," Cawdrey wrote on Instagram. "Just a liiiiiitttttle too late, guys."

Thursday's demolition comes after a months-long fight from neighbors to save the Jacob Dangler House, which has been used as a community meeting spot for decades.

A brief flash of hope in the effort came last month when the landmarks board added the property to their agenda. More than a dozen neighbors — and Hollywood star Edward Norton— then spoke at a hearing held by the board last week, but a 40-day deadline for the commission to vote ended on Wednesday, according to neighbors and reports.

Longtime owners of the building, a masonic group known as the Oriental Grand Chapter of the Eastern Star, decided to sell the property to developers Brooklyn 360 given $2 million of debt largely accumulated when events halted during the pandemic.

Patch has reached out to City Hall and DOB for more details about the stop work order.