City Rejects Push To Landmark Gowanus Station Building

GOWANUS, NY — The city rejected a push by residents to landmark the more than 100 year Gowanus Station building because they felt it has been changed to much over the years, Brownstoner reported.

The Landmarks Preservation Committee [LPC] rejected residents' pleas to landmark the building, on Butler and Nevins streets, despite it being on the state's Historic Register. The lack of protected status puts the building in danger because it could be demolished to make way for a sewer overflow tank for the canal.

"The rejection is somewhat surprising because the justifications used in LPCs language is somewhat strange," said Brad Vogel, a resident who helped push to landmark the building. "It really seem likes an excuse that is being made to find an end result for the destruction of the building."

The LPC wrote to Vogel in a letter that they felt the building, which was built in 1913, couldn't be considered a landmark because it has a "plain utilitarian" exterior and "has been highly altered," according to the letter posted by Brownstoner.

"The LPC surveyed the immediate project area to identify historic resources as part of the environmental review for the Gowanus Canal Combined Sewer Overflow project, and did not identify 234 Butler Street as eligible for landmark designation," Zodet Negron, spokeswoman for the LPC, told Patch in a statement. "We continue to evaluate the Gowanus area for potential landmarks."

However, Vogel feels the outside of the building is architecturally worth preserving and it's also one of the few remaining spots he said gives the neighborhood "a sense of place."

"There really only is one place where the name Gowanus appears in a significant way," said Vogel. "It's not just that it has the name. It's the whole building on the corner the is in fact giving the sense of place."

Other residents felt that not only was the exterior still very close to the original, but Gowanus is sorely lacking in landmarks.

"We have virtually nothing landmarked in Gowanus," said Linda Mariano, founder of the Friends and Residents of Greater Gowanus. " It's in it's authentic, original style. Nothing has been changed."

The building was first built by the city in 1913 as a pumping station for the canal but it now privately owned, Brownstoner reported.

The Environmental Protection Agency's massive cleanup plan at the Gowanus Canal includes installing two large tanks to collect sewage runoff during heavy rain. The Gowanus Station building could be demolished for one of the tanks, but the city plans to at least keep the plaque on the building.

The rejection of landmark status from the building comes right after LPC rejected another landmark push by Vogel.

Earlier this month, the agency decided that Walt Whitman's former home at 99 Ryerson St. wasn't historically significant enough to warrant protectionbecause the famed writer only lived there for a brief time.

"I feel as if the LPC has a somewhat straight jacketed view of what a landmark should be that emphasis architecture purity over what matters in the community," said Vogel.

Image: Brad Vogel