A landmark restoration and a new brick building are moving forward on Greenpoint Avenue after the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission approved updated designs for a 10-unit condo development at 124 Greenpoint Ave.
The project includes adaptive reuse of a historic Beaux-Arts limestone firehouse and demolition of a neighboring single-story brick slaughterhouse. Commissioners signed off at an Aug. 18 meeting, while raising design concerns tied to the surrounding historic district and streetscape. The new building is not the only addition planned for the area. In June, the commission approved a new red brick building for Polonaise Terrace across the street.
The approval follows earlier feedback from the commission that sent the design team back for revisions. The new brick building, designed to replace the slaughterhouse and connect to the firehouse, drew criticism for being too dominant and for lacking cohesion with the landmarked structure. The limestone firehouse last served as a firehouse in 1972, and both buildings have been vacant for years.
OPerA Studio Architecture presented a revised plan that reduced the new building from six stories to five stories plus a penthouse, removed rooftop terraces, and simplified the facade. Changes include smaller windows, fewer arched openings, shallower concave bays, and an anodized aluminum storefront with larger display windows.
On the preservation side, the updated plans retain more of the original walls and floors in the firehouse. A limestone frieze that once topped the cornice and was removed after the 1940s will be recreated, and one historic sliding steel door will remain.
Commissioners also directed additional revisions that matter to mason contractors pricing and sequencing restoration work. They asked for a switch from glass railings to metal picket railings, replacement of rear stucco with brick, clearer separation of the two buildings at the rear, and further simplification of the front facade, including possible horizontal window divisions.
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