President Street Brownstone Losing Its Squiggles
There are two brownstones on President Street facing Carroll Park that have long set themselves apart from their brothers by the distinctive scrollwork that adorns their fronts—decorative vines and urns and such. I have no idea if the etchings are original, or very old. I suspect not. They're in too good a shape to be of any great age. But I've always found the two buildings appealing in appearance, lending a curious Scandinavian air to the block.
Pretty soon, however, I suspect there will only be one such brownstone. The one to the left is covered in netting and workers have blasted away the facade, including the scrollwork. I doubt the owner has any intention of restoring it.
UPDATE (4/22/11): The brownstone will retain its squiggled, per comments left by friends and relatives of the owner. And the work is being done by Melchior Costas, who restored the building's neighbor 15 years ago.
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13 comments:
flat, Soviet styled, Phillip Johnson slab is all the rage again I hear...
Our house was restored and the other house is being restored by the same stone mason. On the corner of President and Smith where the ugly Rite-Aide store sits was a Scandinavian Church long gone unfortunately
Anonymous: Are you the owner of the house not be renovated? Are you saying the other house is going to be restored to the way it was?
I know the owner of the brownstone quite well and can say with 100% certainty it is being restored, squiggles and all. I know the "there goes the neighborhood" posts are much more exciting but you know what they say about assumptions...
Hi Brooks,
Yes, luckily, the owner is restoring the building to the way it was, including the squiggles.
The work is being done by Melchior Costas, who restored its twin to the right 15 years ago, using a photo from the 1940's.
Hello: My aunt and uncle own the restored one. The restored details on their bldg are exactly as they had been before, lovingly reproduced. I'd lay off the assumptions too (as per the other posting). Sensationalism in your off-the-cuff statements, diminishes your position. From an architectural observation (and speaking as a professor and architectural historian), the "Soviet styled" direction of bldgs seems over-dramatized, and Mies preferred slabs, not Johnson (who was more a post-modernist chameleon, even as far back as his Glass House). I can understand your Scandinavian reference, but Scandinavian stylings are actually derived from Swiss Style forms, which is actually what this bldgs is based on, akin to the Stick Style, but here wooden elements are carved in sandstone (a topic close to my heart and stemming from my recent book on Norwegian Architecture and the adaptation of the Swiss Style). Again, hold off on the alarmist headlines, or you will be perpetuating an architectural "birther" rumor movement, far from the scholarly effects of a Jay Holtz Kay. Best of luck.
-Rob
This is a historic district, right? I don't think the owner would be allowed to make that sort of exterior change without getting a variance from the city.
My favorite house on President St, and I've admired it my entire life. The squiggles on the restored house are original. I remember when the facade was resurfaced years ago, and I was glad to see that the stone mason reproduced everything that was there. It looks new because of the restoration, not because the squiggles were added as a flourish. Very nice job indeed. I hope the second house does the same thing.
Great news. Love the cornice in the house on the right.
Anonymous: Well, I now what Felix Ungar thinks about assumptions. But, hey, if you were in the New York blog biz, you'd come to expect the worst. Glad I'm wrong in this case.
Enedo: No, sadly (criminally), this street is not a historic district.
The headline is technically correct: it did lose its squiggles at the time the post was made. But fortunately, they came back. I don't blame you either for jumping to conclusions. Actually I wouldn't even say you jumped given how this city works. You made a logical assumption based on past experience. Maybe a update when you're happily proved wrong would be the way to go. Anyway, after this post I kept an eye on the progress and intentionally looked it up on your blog today to see if you'd noticed too that the ornamentation has been replaced. And I'm so glad it has.
I seen a stone mason did a stoop as well a lower wall restoration on president st corner of smith st. I believe it's innovation construction & restoration.
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