Landmarked Brooklyn Heights bank slated for demolition

A 20-story residential tower will rise in its place.

May 22, 2019 Lore Croghan

The second tower from the left in the revised rendering is 200 Montague St. In the image showing the property’s existing condition, it’s the shortest building. Beyer Blinder Belle images via the Landmarks Preservation Commission

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The city has given developers the go-ahead to tear down a Brooklyn Heights bank and construct a 20-story apartment building in its place.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission approved the demolition of Modern-style 200 Montague St. by a majority vote on Tuesday, even though the commission included the property in the 21-building Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District it designated just a few years ago, in 2011.

Commissioners Adi Shamir-Baron and John Gustafsson voted against both the demolition and developer Midtown Equities’ construction plan for the building.

In this rendering, the dark-hued building with big storefronts is 200 Montague St. Beyer Blinder Belle rendering via the Landmarks Preservation Commission

Commissioners who supported the measure felt it was okay to tear down the former Lafayette National Bank because of alterations made to the building.

It was designed by architect Philip Birnbaum and constructed in 1959 and 1960. Originally it was two stories tall — and had a driveway for drive-through banking, just like in the suburbs. The building was a rebellious modern presence among Montague Street’s old-fashioned commercial buildings.

But two floors were added to the building in 1968. And in 2006, a glass curtain wall was installed as a new facade.

Second time’s the charm

Midtown Equities has owned 200 Montague St. since 2007, when it bought the property for $25 million from HSBC Bank, city Finance Department records indicate.

The design for the apartment tower the developer will build passed muster with the LPC on Tuesday because of revisions made by architect Richard Metsky of Beyer Blinder Belle. At a March hearing, several commissioners criticized his initial design as “timid” and “self-effacing.”

On Tuesday, Commissioner Jeanne Lutfy called the revised design “a very handsome building” with “much better articulated” details.

Left: the original design that the commission rejected in March. Right: the updated, approved design. Renderings by Beyer Blinder Belle via the Landmarks Preservation Commission

In this design, Metsky uses black granite as the material for the lower floors of the building’s Montague Street facade and dark-gray glass fiber reinforced concrete for the upper floors. There’s contrasting bronze-colored metalwork around the windows.

In Metsky’s initial design, the Montague Street facade was limestone and pale-colored glass fiber reinforced concrete.

Commissioner Kim Vauss complimented the revised plan for 200 Montague St. by saying it reminded her of the American Radiator Building.

The 1920s landmark at 40 W. 40th St. on the edge of Bryant Park is an iconic black brick building with top floors made of gold-colored masonry. The late Christopher Gray wrote in his New York Times “Streetscapes” column in 1994 that the American Radiator Building’s distinctive design “supposedly recalled the black iron and glowing embers of furnaces” from the era of its construction.

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