My Life In Brooklyn

On my return walk on Maple Street I happened to notice what turned out to be an empty wood frame house at what I believe to be 263 or 265 Maple, between Rogers and Nostrand on the north side of the street.

A couple of men were working on the house next door and said the owner of this place died (they heard).  But both said the interior is gorgeous and full of details.  It is a huge place, in the image, the roof that appears at the top — seeming behind the house itself, is actually part of it.

So the owner of the house next door said a pipe burst in this place at one point and he called the city about it; interested parties can expect to see some impact of water in the basement.  It will be interesting to see what happens to it, no telling the money needed for restoration, but I would hate to see a Fedders building here.

Looks like a 1905-1910 era building to me, has some original stained glass visible. No number on the building itself, next door is numbered 261.  This is the next block east of the historic district.

So walking around today I ventured around Kingston Avenue, which I can only summarize as Fedders Central in terms of new construction.  They should consider a name change to Fedders Avenue, maybe they could get some kind of corporate sponsorship.

One block on Maple appears to be mostly new buildings, all with the requisite Fedders slots.  I can’t really say what was there earlier, it could be buildings that were in a sad state and needed to come down.  And it could be they were unnecessary tear-downs.  I did have a look at the satellite maps online – no idea when those images were originally acquired but I assume it has to be within a reasonable period of time — and I can say from the aerial view the block looked very different than it presently does. It would take some research to learn details on this.  However, I think I may map out the buildings that are so very clearly new and in the future continue to obtain pics of those that look as though they are facing the fate of tear down. 

Ultimately this is changing the face of the “greater neighborhood” which perhaps holds little meaning now, and to some may represent nothing but improvement.  However it will not be long, if the tear-downs continue at the current rate and wild abandon, when suddenly the neighborhood will not only look very different but also be very different.  I understand a block away can mean the world of difference by New York City standards.  As I continue to observe the changes in neighborhoods, I do think in this case the impact of greater residential density, cars and traffic, and something that really bothers me — most of these new building have no green space at all — are all factors that will ultimately affect bordering neighborhoods at the very least.

I just believe that development should be for people, not contractors, in design and the context should work within the greater neighborhood.

There was a fire less than a hundred feet from us around ten p.m. on Friday evening.  Amazing to see the quantity and quality of the NYFD response.   I will add a short video maybe later today on this.  It looked as though it would be a very serious incident, but it didn’t take long for the FDNY to break through the metal gate in front of the store where the fire was, check the roof, I saw FDNY people walking though the second floor apartment with flashlights as well.

I was worried about the store cat, a big fat cat who lives there and begs like a dog.  But the owner told me this morning it was an electrical fire, he is insured and the cat is fine though still freaked out and in hiding at the moment.