Brooklyn, NY - Commission Considering Adding Crown Heights As A Landmarked City Neighborhoods

Crown Heights, Brooklyn, NY - The Landmark Preservation Commission will consider adding Crown Heights to the list of landmarked city neighborhoods, a list that includes much of the Upper East and West Sides, Brooklyn Heights, Park Slope, Greenwich Village, and TriBeCa.

The proposed Crown Heights North historic district, which roughly includes the area around Dean Street between Bedford and Kingston Avenues. The proposed district contains more than 470 buildings - the largest historic district the commission has proposed in more than decade.
A local homeowner who helped to spearhead the Crown Heights preservation effort, Deborah Young, said that a surge of development is threatening the neighborhood's character. A few years ago, Ms. Young and a group of neighbors "dusted off" a 1978 architectural study produced by the Landmarks Commission of Brooklyn neighborhoods. "We believe we are just as worthy as Park Slope, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Stuyvesant Heights," Ms. Young said.

A homeowner, Earl Beecham, said that he supports designation, but he worries that some of the neighborhood's older residents, who are on fixed incomes, will oppose the plan because of the extra costs and time-consuming regulations that associated with making renovations in a historic district. "I had just better get some renovation done before it happens," Mr. Beecham said.