Rush to Tear Down Admiral's Row is Slowed

Good news regarding the endangered Admiral's Row at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The Brooklyn Paper reported that "a plan to tear down 10 historic houses at the Brooklyn Navy Yard and replace them with a supermarket has been delayed indefinitely thanks to a decision by federal officials to review whether the dilapidated 150-year-old mansions can be saved."

“There is absolutely no way we can give any sort of end date at all … there is no mandated time limit,” said Kristin Leahy, the manager of the National Guard Bureau Cultural Resources Program, which is investigating the mansions’ historical integrity — to the frustration of those eager to see the run-down buildings torn down.

Leahy said the earliest that she could hold a meeting with the city, area residents and preservationists is March. And that meeting would be just the first of a series.

Bizarrely short-sighted City and neighborhood officials continue to characterize the preservation movement as a villainous scheme to deprive poor folks in the neighborhood or ready access to fresh fruit and vegetables. I wish somebody would hit them with a piece of fresh fruit.

The paper also mentioned that preservationists have been helping to make their case by showing off some renderings by Lucy Sikes which illustrate what the mansions one looked like. I'll do my part by reproducing one here. Purty.