Prospect Heights Preservation Project Gets 1,000 Signatures

PROSPECT HEIGHTS, BROOKLYN — The battle is on landmark more than 100 turn-of-the-century apartment buildings that more than 1,000 residents say are vital to preserving the neighborhood’s character.

A petition to grant historic district status to the blocks between Eastern Parkway and St. Johns Place from Washington Avenue to Plaza Street East has gained momentum and earned more than 1,000 signatures, according to organizers from the Prospect Heights Neighborhood Development Council.

“Exceeding one thousand supporters after just a few months demonstrates the breadth and depth of support for this idea,” said PHNDC chair Robert Witherwax, who noted half the signatures came from people who live in the would-be historic district.

“This shows deep grass roots support among all residents for this preservation.”

The proposed Prospect Heights Apartment House District is home to 106 apartment houses that went up between 1909 and 1929, making the neighborhood among the first in Brooklyn to move away from row houses at the turn of the century, according to the PHNDC.

Because the area is currently zoned for multi-family complexes between four and 15 stories, preservationists argue historic district status is needed to protect historically significant architecture from developers looking to build bigger, and more profitable, modern apartment complexes.

"Without the protection of historic designation, we are concerned that not only may the character of the neighborhood be lost,” said Isabelle Broyer, president of CuRBA, another advocacy group hoping to preserve the area, “but also that large-scale remodeling or redevelopment may force tenants out.”

PHNDC have been collecting signatures since the Historic Districts Council named the Prospect Heights Apartment House Historic District Project project on of “Six to Celebrate” earlier this year.

HDC chose to support the Prospect Heights project because of the PHNDC's successful campaign to create Prospect Heights Historic District in 2009, manager Barbara Zay told the Brooklyn Paper.

"It was really a no-brainer," Zay said. "I think they have a really good case."

PHNDC officials said they hope to have presented the Landmarks Preservation Commission with the project, and the signatures that support it, by the end of 2018.

Photo courtesy of GoogleMaps/Nov. 2017