City Denies Landmarking Grand Prospect Hall Amid Impending Demo

PARK SLOPE, BROOKLYN — The city has denied a plea to designate Grand Prospect Hall as a landmark, just days before a court hearing aimed at saving the building from demolition, according to advocates.

In a letter sent Tuesday, the Landmarks Preservation Commission said that the century-old banquet hall has had too many alterations over the years to "rise to the level of architectural significance" needed to consider it for landmark designation, which the neighbors hoped would protect the building from an application from new owners to demolish it.

"As a regulatory agency concerned with protecting historic fabric, we must consider the integrity or intactness of the building," the commission said in its letter. "...Because of alterations to the exterior and interior of the building, it does not have sufficient historic integrity for consideration as a landmark."

The denial comes just a few days before a neighbors were set to argue in court that developers should be restrained from tearing the building down while landmarks officials considered their request.

A judge ordered earlier this month that no demolition of the front facade would be allowed until the court date, which will still be held on Monday.

Advocates said Tuesday that, despite the set back, they plan to keep working to save the venue.

Giving city officials a chance to review the landmarks request was just one of the arguments made in a legal petition to save the building, according to Jessica Breuer, an attorney representing the neighbors. Among remaining questions is whether the building facade should be protected under what's known as the State Environmental Quality Review Act.

"I don’t think the [landmarks decision] means the fight is quite over — there are other avenues to go down," Breuer told Patch. "We’re hopeful the developer will...come to the table."

Jim Glaser, who is among those spearheading the fight to save Grand Prospect Hall, said aside from the legal challenge, neighbors also plan to appeal to the business interests of new owners.

A petition to save the venue has gained the attention of nearly 40,000 supporters since it was put up in the wake of news that the venue had been purchased by electrical contractor Angelo Rigas.

Rigas has said he plans to build a "low-scale residential building with an affordable component" on the property.

"With all this attention and education about how dear this place is to so many people, there is a path to potentially a better business plan," Glaser said. "These guys are going to want to sell units or retail spaces, or whatever it is, and if they do it as heroes rather than villains it will be better for everyone."

Glaser and others have suggested that any development the new owners want to build on the property can be constructed around and above the four-story venue, allowing it to still be used for events.

An application to fully demolish the building is still pending with the Department of Buildings, but work on the inside of the venue has already begun given a permit for interior demolition.

Photos in Gothamist recently revealed the extent to which the interior was gutted from its original grandeur, which has served as the backdrop for movies, photoshoots, beloved local commercials that spawned an SNL parody and thousands of local events held at the building since the late 19th century. Rigas has claimed the interior fixtures were already gone when they took over the property.

The interior demolition was among the alterations that the landmarks board pointed to in their denial.

Read the full letter here:

Some unfortunate news: @nyclandmarks has denied our request. Nonetheless, we plan to keep working to try and save the facade by halting work or discussing with the developer ways to preserve the facade. We will update you soon.

You can read the full letter below: pic.twitter.com/t0MNjlaNK1
— Save The Grand Prospect Hall (@savethegph) September" class="redactor-linkify-object">https://twitter.com/savethegph... 14, 2021