June 20, 2013 By Christian Murray
The plans to develop a site within the Sunnyside Gardens Historic District were greeted with skepticism by Community Board 2’s Land Use Committee last night.
The architects provided details on the developer’s proposal to construct an aluminaire house –made of metal– and eight accompanying residential units for the first time.
The development would take place on the corner of 39th Avenue and 50th Street, at the site of the historic Phipps playground. The Phipps sold the property in July 2007 to DBH Associates for $1.43 million.
The proposed residential units—which would be contained within one building– would be clad with terracotta-colored panels, with a brick pattern.
About 50 residents turned out for the committee meeting—many holding leaflets that read: “Say ‘No’ to unwanted development in our Community!”
Meanwhile, a letter was circulating that had been written by Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer to the Landmarks Preservation Committee voicing his opposition to it. “Though architecturally significant in its own right,” the letter read, “the Aluminaire House is … out of character with the neighborhood and I am opposed to it.”
Many residents questioned whether any type of development could take place on the property. Dorothy Morehead, who is a member of community board 2 and owns a real estate firm in the Gardens, said that the former playground is deemed “open space.” She said that she has never heard of a case where the Landmarks committee has permitted development on “open space”.
Nevertheless, Michael Schwarting, an architect with Campani and Schwarting Architects, presented the developer’s plan.
Schwarting focused heavily on the aluminaire house and its historical significance. The house, he said, was designed in 1931 as a case study for the New York Architectural League Show at the Museum of Modern Art—out of donated building materials, primarily aluminum.
The house has been disassembled and reassembled many times in its 80-year history.
Schwarting, who is on the board of the Aluminaire House Foundation, said the intention has always been to put the house in a low-rise, high density residential area such as on the edge of New York City. The idea is to showcase what was being discussed at architecture schools in the 1930s in terms of building low-cost housing.
“We believe the site is appropriate to the time period, the ideology [of the Gardens], and would be a positive contribution to the historic nature of this district,” Schwarting said.
The house would essentially be a showpiece or a museum where people could visit. The Aluminaire Foundation, he said, would be leasing space on the site from the developer to keep it there.
The housing units—which would bring income to the developer through rent or condo sales—would act as a buffer between the aluminaire house and the historic brick homes in Sunnyside Gardens.
But Stephen Cooper, Co-Chair of the Land Use Committee, suggested that the aluminaire house – and accompanying units—were not a good fit for the Historic District. “The buildings [in the Gardens] are all essentially the same. They are brick, all two stories tall—essentially all the same look,” he said. “There is not a single aluminum house in the area.”
However, Schwarting argued that the aluminaire house “will stick out in an elegant way and it is a beautiful house of the same time period as the surrounding houses.”
The committee asked Schwarting how he would deal with graffiti and other security issues—given the fact that the house would operate as a museum and be surrounded by open space. While he mentioned surveillance cameras, he said he would get back to the committee.
Furthermore the committee wanted to know about the financial condition of the foundation and how it was funding the aluminaire house. It wanted to know whether the foundation had enough funds to construct/assemble the house as well as maintain it. The committee was concerned that the house could one day be abandoned.
Schwarting said that “we have funds to the build the house and are beginning the process of [fundraising] to establish the museum and maintain the house.”
Schwarting said the inclusion of the aluminaire house as part of the development was not a ploy by the property owner to get the eight residential units approved. “We went to the developer and asked if we could put the aluminaire house there,” he said. Then, he said, he was put in charge of designing the entire site.
Schwarting said that he has a hearing with the Landmarks Commission concerning the plan on July 9.
However, Joe Conley, chairman of Community Board 2, asked Schwarting to postpone that hearing until September. By that time, Conley said, the community board would be able to hold a public hearing on it and the entire community would be able to weigh in on it.
Schwarting said he was willing to postpone the July 9 hearing.
However, if Schwarting is unable to change the date, Conley said a public hearing would most likely be held on June 27 at the Sunnyside Community Services Center.
The community board, however, is an advisory body and it is the Landmarks Preservation Commission that ultimately makes the decision.
