City To Consider Landmarking Former Carroll Gardens Kindergarten

CARROLL GARDENS, NY — The city will consider landmarking a historic Carroll Gardens kindergarten and the building next door after a developer planned to tear one of the structures down to build condos.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar 236 and 238 President St. at their Tuesday meeting, the first step in the city's process to designate the buildings for protection, the agency said.

The vote comes after a push from local politicians, residents and the community board to save the kindergarten-turned-home at 236 President St. when they caught wind of plans to demolish it.

"The beautiful, historic nature of many of the buildings in Carroll Gardens is one reason why so many people love living in the neighborhood," Councilman Brad Lander wrote in a letter to the LPC last month urging them to save the buildings.

"Especially given the real demolition threat facing the former Hans S. Christian Memorial Kindergarten, we must rally together to urge LPC to help us save 236 and 238 President Street, and in doing so, save a bit of Carroll Gardens history for future generations."

After voting to calendar the buildings landmark application, the LPC will then host a public meeting on the proposal before the full-board votes whether to approve it or not.

Developer Avo Construction is in the process of buying 236 President St. to tear it down and build a six-story condo building in its place, the New York Post reported. There are no plans to demolish next door apartment building 238 President St.

Lander joined with Rep. Nydia Velázques and Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon and started a petition to call on the LPC to save the two buildings. Their efforts were also joined by Assemblyman Robert Carroll, Community Board 6 and folk singer Joan Baez.

Baez's grandfather and father preached at 236 President St. when it was a church and wrote a letter to the LPC calling for the protection, the New York Post reported.

"In addition to their architectural beauty, these two buildings are of unique social and historical significance, and they should be protected and celebrated," Baez wrote in the letter, according to the Post.

The two-story home at 236 President St. was designed by Hough & Deuell in the French Revival style, the LPC said. It was built in 1897 as the Hans S. Christian Memorial Kindergarten, one of the first free kindergartens in the borough, as a gift from Christian's widow, according to a Brooklyn Daily Eagle report from the time.

It later became a Methodist church then was converted into a home in 1974 and was listed for sale at $5.4 million last year, Brownstoner reported.

The neighboring 238 President St. was built for Edward Kellogg in 1853 and was bought by Christian sometime in the 1880s, the LPC said.

She expanded it and turned it into the Brooklyn Deaconess Home of the Methodist Episcopal Church, the agency said. It later became an apartment building.

The preservation efforts have scared off Avo and the developer tried to back out of the sale but the owner's refused, the Post reported.

Image: Landmark Preservation Commission