Former Carroll Gardens School Back On Market After Landmark Push

CARROLL GARDEN, NY — A former kindergarten under consideration to become a landmark after a developer planned to tear it down was put back on the market this week.

The more than 100-year-old building at 236 President St. was listed for sale at $4.9 million by the Corcoran Group this week, a decrease fromthe $5.4 million price tag it had last year, according to the real estate listing.

Developer Avo Construction planned to demolish the two-story home to build a six-story condo building in its place, but a group of elected officials, residents and folk musician Joan Baez started a push to save it.

Earlier this month, the Landmark Preservation Commission voted to calendar the application for the kindergarten-turned-home and the neighboring 236 President St., the first step in the city's process to designate the buildings for protection.

Avo Construction did not respond to a request for comment for this story. The New York Post previously reported that the landmark efforts scared off Avo, who tried to back out of the sale.

The 3,485-square-foot home has six bedrooms, four bathrooms, stained glass windows, original beams and a huge basement, according to the listing.

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. The kindergarten later became a Methodist church then was converted into a two-story home in 1974.

The neighboring 238 President St., which doesn't have plans to be demolished, was built for Edward Kellogg in 1853 then bought by Christian sometime in the 1880s, the LPC said.

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

Image: Landmark Preservation Commission