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So let me tell you a lil story about this 160-year-old true mansion in my neighborhood that I am kind of obsessed with, and which recently sold to developers: 176 Washington Park. https://twitter.com/BBolander/status/1355587497951191041
It and three other mansions next to it were built in the 1860s or so by T.B. Jackson. It was sold to a wealthy family whose name I cant remember, who then sold it to a Japanese immigrant doctor, Dr Toyohiko Takami, and his family, in 1916.
According to autobiographies from his descendants and newspaper clippings, the first floor of the 5-floor, 10-bedroom mansion was his practice's waiting room, with his office and personal bedroom on the 2nd floor. His family and staff/servants lived on the upper floors.
I'm not clear on when the house eventually left the family, but eventually, it did, and most of his descendants moved out west. The earliest photo I can find of the mansion is from around the 40s, unsure who was the owner then.
Here is a more recent photo from 1958, vs now. You can see how very different the front looks. Most of the Italianate trimmings were removed.
but back to the ownership, property shark says it changed hands a few times, long story short, i became interested in this home because it was in a serious state of disrepair when i moved into the nabe, but as far as i could tell, it was habitated.
there was a derelict car in the yard which many cats and raccoons had taken up residence in, busted out windows, weeds everywhere. obviously whoever was inside was not in a good place.
turns out, the home was occupied by a brother and sister, and was the target of a deed thief. the sister only found out when her brother died in 2011, and she was ordered by the state to vacate the home. story: https://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20170509/fort-greene/deed-theft-fraud-central-brooklyn-aderibigbe-ogundiran/
so essentially, this guy Aderibigbe Ogundiran, who posed as the woman's dead brother to steal the deed, was caught because the home was in such bad shape the state deemed it uninhabitable and was served eviction papers.
nuts.
nuts.
so once he was out of the picture, there was still the obvious issue of what to do with this house. the brother's heirs I supposed opened probate, took ownershp, and sold it recently to "Shape Capital." Here's pics of the inside. no water, electricity. https://www.brownstoner.com/architecture/fort-greene-historic-district-brooklyn-176-washington-park-dr-toyohiko-takami-shape-capital-decay-interiors/
Fast forward to just last week, and I went to my first community board land use meeting. The landmarked home review? 176 Washington Park. No shit. https://twitter.com/nicoleamurray/status/1352038800344702976
The architects on the call said the mansion is being turned into 5 apartments (one 2-br unit per floor) + a separate 2 or 3-story (cant remember) dwelling where the collapsing detached garage currently is. Here is their rendering of the main home where apartments will go:
I don't have pics of the materials slide but the architect made a point to say that they were trying to be true to the original house's materials and form. No pushback from the board at all about it, really, the board seemed happy with it. But the detached home... whew boy!
get a load of this beaut. [right pic is what is there now: a small garage.] basically everyone hated it. usual comments: "doesn't fit the neighborhood character."
(note that additions to landmarked homes are supposed to look very different from the landmark.)
![get a load of this beaut. [right pic is what is there now: a small garage.] basically everyone hated it. usual comments: "doesn't fit the neighborhood character."(note that additions to landmarked homes are supposed to look very different from the landmark.)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Etbn2_9XYAEXtdJ.jpg "get a load of this beaut. [right pic is what is there now: a small garage.] basically everyone hated it. usual comments: \"doesn't fit the neighborhood character.\"(note that additions to landmarked homes are supposed to look very different from the landmark.)")
![get a load of this beaut. [right pic is what is there now: a small garage.] basically everyone hated it. usual comments: "doesn't fit the neighborhood character."(note that additions to landmarked homes are supposed to look very different from the landmark.)](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EtboI4fXUAEI3vY.png "get a load of this beaut. [right pic is what is there now: a small garage.] basically everyone hated it. usual comments: \"doesn't fit the neighborhood character.\"(note that additions to landmarked homes are supposed to look very different from the landmark.)")
(note that additions to landmarked homes are supposed to look very different from the landmark.)
i wanted to SCREAM because, remember this? the house itself has changed SIGNIFICANTLY over the years. in fact.... https://twitter.com/nicoleamurray/status/1357522371033378816
that's not even the original roof! the original roof was flat. the mansard roof was added sometime before the 40s, according to the photo records. And you know what the Fort Greene Historical Society said about the roof in the 70s? TAKE A GUESS!
now fast forward from 1978 to 2021 and all of a sudden, the mansard roof is a PART of the "original character" the the landmark board looooves it.
FUNNY HOW THE PASSAGE OF TIME WORKS!!!!
FUNNY HOW THE PASSAGE OF TIME WORKS!!!!
so what's did I learn that day? 30 YEARS FROM NOW NO ONE WILL CARE HOW A BUILDING LOOKS. If anything, just one generation later, whatever it looks like WILL be "the neighborhood character." this decade's NIMBYs will be fighting to keep what yesteryears' people built!
I dont know how much the apartments are going to rent/sell for. I don't know who the developer is. I don't know who the final landlord will be.
i DO know that 5 2br apartments + a house is better than one $3.7M mansion (ya, it sold for $3.7M WITHOUT HEAT, WATER, OR ELECTRICITY).
i DO know that 5 2br apartments + a house is better than one $3.7M mansion (ya, it sold for $3.7M WITHOUT HEAT, WATER, OR ELECTRICITY).
This beautiful home has served the neighborhood well, especially when it was a dr's office. It's unfortunate that the last owners did not have the means to keep it habitable, and I hope the sister is safe and well. But the itself structure is not "owed" a single family.
Now, many more families can move in and make fort greene their home. i love this house, and i hope it gives new people and families beautiful memories.
*and i hope future tenants organize to seize the property and commonly own it, lalala~
*and i hope future tenants organize to seize the property and commonly own it, lalala~
one more thing: bitching about the "original character" of stolen land on behalf of the landed gentry makes you look ridiculous.
MOAR historical info for those interested! The earliest buyer of this home I can find is William C. Kingsley (1872) who invested in the building of the Brooklyn Bridge. https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/4781
They remained there until AT LEAST 1940, according to a an almost certainly racist and interment-related directory of Japanese students in NA. (The street used to be named Cumberland) https://archive.org/details/ldpd_11381022_007/page/n61/mode/2up
https://twitter.com/nicoleamurray/status/1357521394456817666
https://twitter.com/nicoleamurray/status/1357521394456817666
Sometime between 1940 and 1970, it was converted into a 3 family and main ownership came under the Tremmels, who were the most recent owners. It was landmarked in 1980.
https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentImageView?doc_id=BK_7030040300369
https://a836-acris.nyc.gov/DS/DocumentSearch/DocumentImageView?doc_id=BK_7030040300369
