2 Old Buildings in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery Granted 'Landmark' Status

The freshly landmarked Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel. Photo by Eden, Janine and Jim/Flickr

GREEN-WOOD CEMETERY, BROOKLYN — A long-shelved plan to grant New York City landmark status to two old buildings in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery was approved Tuesday by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC).

“It’s hard to overestimate the importance of this cemetery in American history,” Frederick Bland, head of the commission, said in a statement.

The sites landmarked Tuesday were the cemetery's Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance near Kensington and Borough Park — including a "visitors’ lounge, a residence, and associated gates" — and the Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel in the center of the park, according to the LPC.

Both the entrance structures and the chapel will now be protected from all types of alteration, relocation and/or demolition without a permit.

The huge, Gothic gateway at the cemetery's Fifth Avenue entrance in Sunset Park was already landmarked back in the 60s.

Below, more on Green-Wood's two newest landmarks, courtesy of the LPC.

The Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance (1876-77) and the Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel (1911-13) are significant Green-Wood Cemetery buildings that are excellent examples of Gothic Revival design harmoniously incorporated into a picturesque cemetery landscape.

Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn was established in 1838. It was the fourth rural cemetery in the United States, and its landscape design was influenced by the “English Rural” garden movement. Both the Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance with its High Victorian Gothic buildings and the Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel with its late Gothic Revival ornament complement the already landmarked Gothic Revival Green-Wood Cemetery Gate at 5th Avenue and 25th Street.

The Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance (1876-77) designed by Richard Mitchell Upjohn, consists of a Visitors’ Lounge, a Residence, and associated gates. The Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel, designed by the distinguished architectural firm of Warren & Wetmore, is an excellent example of a late-Gothic-inspired building with Beaux-Arts massing. In addition to its pavilion-like presence within the picturesque cemetery, it is also notable for its modern structural use of reinforced concrete and its cluster of towers.

“The buildings we are designating are designed by some of the finest architects in New York City’s history,” said Commission Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan. “The Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance and the Chapel are the most architecturally significant buildings in Greenwood cemetery. Their designation complements the already landmarked elaborate gates on Fifth Avenue. The designation of these structures, together, represents the cemetery’s unique history, architectural excellence, and its relationship with its charming, picturesque surroundings.”

“It’s hard to overestimate the importance of this cemetery in American history,” said Commissioner Frederick Bland. “It was impractical to landmark the whole site, and what is being landmarked is of great significance. The cemetery and its management have taken preservation very seriously and these buildings have been maintained as if they’re landmarks."

Also designated as city landmarks Tuesday: That retro Pepsi-Cola sign along the East River and a whole bunch of homes, businesses and churches in Park Slope.