Living In Victorian Flatbush: Victorian Flatbush

Showing posts with label Victorian Flatbush. Show all posts

Thursday, June 26

Victorian Flatbush featured on Channel 7 Eyewitness News

Sandra Bookman, of Channel 7 Eyewitness News, came to Brooklyn yesterday in response to the This Old House story which featured Victorian Flatbush. The story featured an interview with Mary Kay Gallagher and Dana Sclar. Alexandra Reddish also showed the reporter several houses in the neighborhood. You can view the video at Channel 7's site by clicking, here.

Wednesday, June 25

This Old House Domino Effect - NY Post and NYC WABC's Channel 7 Updated

The NY Post has also tapped into ThisOldhouse.com's feature of the 12 Best Places to Buy. This article featured our very own Victorian Flatbush. The NY Post article also features the current available properties in the neighborhood. Click here for details.
The most interesting part of the article talks about updating mechanicals and other challenges that come with purchasing houses that are roughly 100 years old. For those who have made these investments do you feel the cost outweighed the investment or was worth every penny? Please feel free to contribute comments and please answer our poll to the right.
With our neighborhood making waves in print and online media we will have another media outlet contributing to the spotlight on Victorian Flatbush. Thursday or Friday on the 6 pm edition of Channel 7 Eyewitness News, Sandra Bookman will be doing a feature on the neighborhood. When the link is posted at 7online.com we will update the blog.

Tuesday, June 24

This Old House Online Rates Victorian Flatbush a 'Buy'

This Old House Online has rated Victorian Flatbush as one of the Top 12 Places to Buy. Click here.

Saturday, November 3

Historic Victorian Flatbush Presentation

Marine Park: Salt Marsh Nature Center, 3302 Avenue U, Brooklyn

Historic Victorian Flatbush. Monday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m

Borough Historian Ron Schweiger presents the lecture on this historic district filled with beautiful homes and memories from the Victorian era. Free. For more information, call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/parks.

photo thecmrc.blogspot

Calendar [Brooklyn Eagle]
October [Salt Mary Alliance]

Tuesday, October 30

Updated features within the Victorian Flatbush Map on MaryKayG.com

The Victorian Flatbush Map has been updated on MaryKayG.com with new Google Maps integration. The map is still the same, but now when you click on each number within the shaded area it takes you to an aerial view map of each sub-neighborhood. Each name and specific boundary was created by the individual developers who were responsible for building each neighborhood in the early 1900's.

Victorian Flatbush Map [Mary Kay Gallagher]
When Flatbush was Greenwich (or Bedford... or Scarsdale): The "Mecca" of Victorian suburbia [Victorian Flatbush: An Architectural History]

Friday, October 26

Mary Kay Gallagher Real Estate and Optimum Homes

Mary Kay Gallagher Real Estate is pleased to announce that our current listings can now be found on OptimumHomes.com and also on Optimum Homes iO Channel 606 through Cablevision. Users will need to have the newest cable boxes provided by Cabelvision to view Optimum Homes iO Channel 606.

With this feature buyers and sellers can now view our listings through a cable box from the couch in addition to online. The choice is yours. Potential buyers can even can email Mary Kay directly through there TV simply by using the remote control.

We would like to thank Brian Cohen from Wells Fargo Home Mortgage for sponsoring our listings. If anyone is interested in sponsoring our listings in the future or banner advertising on Living In Victorian Flatbush contact admin@livinginvictorianflatbush.

We would appreciate any feedback in the comments about your user experience.

11226 [Optimum Homes]
11230 [Optimum Homes]
Brian Cohen [Wells Fargo]

Wednesday, October 24

Flatbush Life - Front lawn vs Curbcut Zoning 201

Helen Klien, long time writer for Flatbush Life explains how The Department of City Planning is trying to get more green space in NYC.

The agency has proposed an amendment to the city’s zoning resolution that would require that a certain minimum percentage of all front yards be landscaped, based on the length of the property’s street frontage.

The amendment would also prohibit front yard parking in developments in the lowest density, single-family zoning districts (R1 and R2). R1 and R2 districts in Brooklyn include portions of Midwood, Victorian Flatbush, Mill Basin, Bay Ridge, Crown Heights and Lefferts Manor.

Current regulations allow for the entire front yard to be paved (left)

Proposed regulations require a percentage of the front yard to be planted (right)

Parking it here has many people angry - Critics jeer paving of front lawns for the creation of home parking lots [Flatbush Life]
Yards Text Amendment [DCP]
PLANYC 2030 [NYC.gov]

Tuesday, October 23

Zoning in Victorian Flatbush 101

Flatbush Gardener explains the various zoning restrictions in the area and why landmarking is the only solution to prevent things like this and above.

Only Prospect Park South, Ditmas Park, West Midwood, Midwood Park, and Fiske Terrace - maybe a third of Victorian Flatbush in area, if that - are covered by R1 and R2. The rest is mostly R3-2. The most at-risk are the R6 zones; there have already been several teardowns along Stratford Road in Ditmas Park West that I've seen and photographed.

Zoning only addresses physical properties, such as setbacks, curbcuts, building height, Floor-to-Area Ratio (FAR), and so on. You can still rip off all architectural details, stucco over the entire woodframe house, add faux quoins, brick in the porch, add picture windows, and top it off with a six-foot rolling gate stainless steel barricade. Only landmarking can protect the street character of a neighborhood.

Victorian Flatbush at risk for inappropriate zoning [Flatbush Gardender]
Victorian Flatbush Map [MKG Real Estate]

Thursday, October 18

Grafitti Clean up in Ditmas Park this Saturday 10/20

From the Flatbush Family Network -

On Saturday, October 20th from 10:00am to noon, Flatbush Residents will team
up with the Church Avenue BID, CAMBA and Teens from the 70th Precinct
Explorers Program as well as Community Officers to clean up grafitti in our
neighborhood. CAMBA is supplying the materials. We are supplying the
backyard at 88 Buckingham Road to meet and have a snack. Make a difference.
Meet your neighbors. Get your children involved in this service to our community.
Email Nathan at nathan_thompson@mccann.com or Mark Dicus at CAMBA at 718-282-2500 x234 for more information. Rain anytime on the 20th will cancel this event.

Thanks,
Eva Lewandowski & Nathan Thompson

View Larger Map

Curbed - Taking out the Garbage

Today from Curbed.com -

Given that Curbed comments are more than a way of life, we're pleased as punch to be introducing a bunch of new comment features on Curbed today. Among the highlights:
· You can now register for a commenter account, which gives you a unique screenname, plus the ability to upload an avatar that will appear alongside all your comments. You need to enter a working email address because we're going to send you an email to activate your account; the email address you supply will never be used for any purpose other than account activation or password retrieval.
· Comments from registered commenters are shown in blue, while those comments from the generic guest login fade to gray.
· Registered commenters each get a profile page, plus the ability to follow favorite commenters and—oh yes—the power to ignore those you dislike. The comments of people you're following appear in green, while those of people you're ignoring fade to an even lighter gray.
· The same commenter login works across all Curbed sites, including Eater and Racked, so you only need to register once.

With malice toward none (except those you choose to ignore), with charity for all, let us strive on to comment, friends. And if you happen to encounter any bugs, or want to share feedback about the new system, email support@curbed.com. This will be fun.

Introducing Curbed's New Comments System [Curbed]

Saturday, October 6

New York Times - On The Market: 1306 Albemarle Road Prospect Park South

Photo: Chester Higgins Jr./The New York Times

VICTORIAN MANSION - $2,595,000

BROOKLYN: 1306 Albemarle Road (corner of Argyle Road)

An eight-bedroom, five-bath 1905 house with six fireplaces, a wraparound porch and a five-room office suite with separate entrance. Mary Kay Gallagher (718) 282-3141; www.marykayg.com

TAXES: $5,203 a year

PROS: In the heart of Prospect Park South, the house has a turreted facade, a triple parlor, a family room and a sunroom. Its original details include Tiffany windows, coved ceilings, built-in cabinets and mahogany beams.

CONS: The kitchen needs updating and is small for a house this size.

On The Market - Victorian Mansion [The New York Times]
A Magnificent 15 Room Grand Colonial Revival [Mary Kay Gallagher Real Estate]
House of the Day: 1306 Albemarle Road [Brownstoner]
1306 Albemarle Road [Living In Victorian Flatbush]

View Larger Map

Friday, October 5

Ditmas Park Local Links - Autumn Heat

Mt Hope Bridge - Bristol, Rhode Island

Dice-K to make postseason debut [Red Sox]
Pettitte assumes familiar Game 2 role [Yankees]
Yankees Decline Wild Card [Onion Sports]

Ditmas Test [The Brooklyn Paper]
Homes for under $1 million dollars in Manhattan [New York Times]
H omes for under $1 million dollars in Westchester [New York Times]
Residential Sales Around The Region [NY Times]
Residential Sales in Brooklyn [Brownstoner]

The State of Flatbush/Midwood [Flatbush Gardener]

Q & A: Sounding off on the health of the market [The Real Deal]
The Ultimate Warm and Cozy [New York Times - Escapes]
The New Yorker Festival in Brooklyn [The New Yorker]
Weekend Events [Brownstoner]
Tainted Lavender: Apathy and dreams along the Gowanus Canal [Scienceline] via Gowanus Lounge

2007 Green Buildings Open House [Sustainable Flatbush]
Q&A With Ladybug Transistor's Gary Olson [Village Voice]
Victorian Place Cultural Center [Ditmas Park Blog]
Newkirk Ghost Buildings [Ditmas Park Blog]
Farmers' market ISO musicians [Ditmas Park Blog]
Makeover in Ditmas [Crazy Stable]
Parks Department looks to go ‘Dutch’ in the neighborhood - City makes bid to acquire pre-Revolutionary homestead [Flatbush Life]
Neighborhoods, Names, and Shocking Revelations [Icky in Brooklyn]

Monday, October 1

Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park await Landmarking on Oct 16th

By JENNIFER BLEYER Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park look and feel much as they did a century ago, when the conjoined neighborhoods were built on razed farmland in central Brooklyn.

Their grand wood frame houses in the Queen Anne and Colonial Revival styles, with broad front porches, peaked roofs and lush gardens, evoke gracious country living within the city. It is not hard to picture women in high-necked gowns and men in silk waistcoats gently swaying on porch swings at twilight.

For nearly a decade, residents eager to protect the area from overdevelopment, and its houses from inappropriate alteration, have sought to have the neighborhoods designated as a historic district. Now they are preparing for a long-awaited public hearing, on Oct. 16, at which the Landmarks Preservation Commission will decide on the designation for 12 blocks bounded by Foster and Ocean Avenues, Avenue H and the subway tracks of the B and Q trains. continue reading...

Fiske Terrance/Midwood Park; Aging Beauties, Factory-Made [New York Times - The City]
The Four Borough Neighborhood Preservation Alliance (FBNPA) seeks landmark status for Ditmas Park West and West Midwood [Archives 3/29/07]

From The NYC Landmark Preservation Commission -

The Landmarks Preservation Commission is considering the Fiske Terrace - Midwood Park neighborhood in Brooklyn for designation as a New York City historic district. On September 19, 2006 the Commission calendared the proposed historic district for a public hearing to be held October 16, 2007. Click here to read more about this largely intact, early 20th century enclave.

View the September 19th Presentation (PDF format)

View the Proposed Fiske Terrace - Midwood Park Historic District Map

Read About the Proposed District

Frequently Asked Questions about the proposed district
Proposed Historic District: Fiske Terrace - Midwood Park, Brooklyn
[NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission]

Thursday, September 27

Ditmas Park Links - Who is The Chile Goddess?

Kills 3, From 3 Generations, in a Crowded House in Brooklyn [New York Times]
On illegal sublets [Ditmas Park Blog]
Illegal Conversions Kill [Flatbush Gardener]

Ugly Circulars Be Gone...The magic-of-micro activism [Son of Planet PLG]
Connecticut Muffin Open Tomorrow [Flatbush Gardener 9/26/07]
On The Way Sushi ? [ATP]
A new restaurant? [Ditmas Park Blog]
City Approves Use Of Gas Heaters At Sidewalk Cafes [NY1]
City’s ‘Greenest’ Building Opens in Queens [NY Times City Room]
Two Brothers Sort Out Names of City Streets [NY Times City Room]
St. John's professor turns lockdown into 'teachable moment' [NYDN]
City Living: Prospect Heights [AM New York]
New round of neighborhood grants available [Flatbush Life]

About New York Times Mobile Real Estate Listings [New York Times]
Residential Sales Around The Region [New York Times]
REBNY's Listings Search Web Portal Draws Big Crowd [Curbed]
Senators Scrutinize Google’s Bid for Ad Firm [New York Times]
Foxton's Shuts U.S. Operations, Blames Housing Slump [Bloomberg] via Brownstoner
Mortgage woes doom Foxtons [Star-Ledger]

Residential Sales in Brooklyn [Brownstoner]
Blowing In[sulation] the Wind [Brownstoner]
Living in Dust: Gut Renovation on the Cheap [New York Times]
House of the Day 1407 Dorchester Road [Brownstoner]
1890 Ditmas Ave [MKG - Recent Sales]

Open House New York - Schedule Release September 28

Get a Guide!

On September 28, the 2007 openhousenewyork (OHNY) Weekend Event Guide will be available as an insert into the New York Times (City Edition only).

Free guides will also be available during the OHNY Weekend, October 6 & 7 at all participating sites, and at OHNY Information centers.

You can also purchase a guide for overnight delivery by September 29, by pre-ordering a copy here.

Encourage your friends and family to register their contact information at info@ohny.org to get the most current information on the 2007 OHNY Weekend or visit ohny.org.

Buy a 5th Anniversary Commemorative Ticket [openhousenewyork]
GL's Open House New York Brooklyn Picks [Gowanus Lounge]

Saturday, September 22

Yoga & Meditation in Ditmas Park

Found this flyer at Tea Lounge in Park Slope -

Grand Opening Free Yoga Classes
Sunday, September 23rd, 2007 11:30 am
Special Mediation 1:15pm

Fall Schedule -
Tuesdays 10:00-11:30 am, 7:00-8:00 pm
Thursdays 10:00-11:30 am, 7:00-8:30 pm
Sunday 11:30-1:00 pm, Special meditation class 1:15-2:30 pm

Single Class $18, Monthly Unlimited $120

Located at 1410 Beverly Road corner of Marlborough

Call Einat Amitay Shakti at 917-584-7611
or email the_healing_path@yahoo.com

1410 Beverly Road [MKG Recent Sales]