Updated renderings and proposals have surfaced for a single-family townhouse at 27 Cranberry Street in Brooklyn Heights. The hotly contested structure was first presented and approved by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2011, but the project team failed to obtain construction permits due to legal action by neighboring property owners who feared the new building could damage the value of their historic homes. Plans resurfaced in 2015, but again, construction failed to break ground.
Drawings contained within the current iteration of proposals were submitted by NY3 Design Group and Charles Schmitt Architects. Beyond a more extensive description of building materials, elevations, and massing, it does not appear that the project team has diverged dramatically from the original proposals. Should construction move forward, the building would rise four stories above ground and include a penthouse level and roof terrace. Drawings also illustrate two cellar levels below grade.
Both front and rear elevations of the building are clad in brownstone brick with mahogany-stained wood treatments for the main entrance and window systems. The windows trims, cornices, and cladding at the penthouse level are comprised of gray zinc. The rear of the townhouse is pentagonal shaped, opening onto a private porch and backyard. Black guardrails separate the ground floor from the cellar levels beneath.
Rendering of 27 Cranberry Street – NY3 Design Group / Charles Schmitt Architects
Sketches illustrate elevations and site dimensions for 27 Cranberry Street – NY3 Design Group / Charles Schmitt Architects
The new proposals require approvals from the commission, which again reviewed the architectural plans on October 8. It is unclear whether legal action by the neighboring building owners is still active, which could further delay the commencement of construction.
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Yes its big compared to the timber house…..but its about the same size vertically as the house next door on the corner etc.
Find it interesting how much people complain about others being successful.
It’s not about “others being successful”; this is Brooklyn Heights, for goodness’ sake—just living there means, ipso facto, that you are yourself “successful” (often extremely so). This sort of thing—and it seems to me most common, by far, in Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, and Park Slope—is more or less purely a matter of aesthetic preference on the part of the objectors, who often use phrases like “doesn’t conform with the ‘character’ of the neighborhood” and so forth.
I kind of get it: I don’t particularly like this house, and I certainly like it less than your classic, elegant Remsen St./Pierrepont St. brownstone built in the late 19th century. So if I had the ability and the inclination to veto it by making a lot of noise, that would be tempting, but I really really don’t.
I just don’t get this stuff: you (the objectors) live in maybe the prettiest neighborhood in NYC, and having to walk past this unremarkable-yet-inoffensive house on your daily stroll just doesn’t seem like a hardship. At least people who object to big apartment and condo projects HAVE some legitimate questions/grievances (even if I usually disagree with them); in this case it seems more like a bunch of litigious, cantankerous people in search of an obstruction campaign with which to occupy their days.