Historic Sunset Park Mansion Could Be Torn Down For Apartments

SUNSET PARK, NY — Residents want the city to save a historic Sunset Park mansion in danger of being torn down and replaced with an apartment building.

The plans call to demolish the former Dr. Maurice T. Lewis House, the neighborhood's only mansion at 405 55th Ave., to build a seven-story building with 24 apartments on the lot, city records show.

However, residents are fighting the plan and called on the Landmark Preservation Commission to give the home protected status to save it from destruction.

"As the only freestanding mansion in Sunset Park it is unique among the rowhouses," the Sunset Park Landmarks Committee, which is fighting to protect the building, wrote on Facebook. "Swift and timely action from the LPC is needed to thwart its impending destruction."

The agency added the home to the public hearing schedule of their March 6 meeting this week, the last step before they would vote to landmark it.

The 55th Street mansion was built in 1907 by Lewis when he was the president of the Bay Ridge Savings Bank, where he lived until he died in 1931, according to Brownstoner.

The building was sold to SL 218 LLC for $2.8 million in 2017 and they filed an estimated $3.3 million plan to demolish the home and build apartments there later that year, city records show.

The owner of the building, listed as Shuang Lin on city records, could not be reached for comment.

Kathleen Culliton contributed to this report.

Image: Google Maps