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Brooklyn preservation projects to receive Landmarks Conservancy’s Lucy G. Moses Awards

March 19, 2024 Brooklyn Eagle Staff
Powerhouse Arts in Gowanus
Powerhouse Arts in Gowanus. Photo by Albert Vecerka Esto
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The New York Landmarks Conservancy has announced the winners of the 2024 Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards, the Conservancy’s highest honors for excellence in preservation, and four Brooklyn restoration projects are included..

Powerhouse Arts at 322 Third Ave.; 75th Police Precinct Station at 486 Liberty Ave.; Ridges Residences; and Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church at 333 Hart St. will receive the awards at a ceremony on April 10 at The Plaza Hotel.  

Powerhouse Arts in Gowanus

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A former power station along the Gowanus Canal, once deteriorated and covered in graffiti, has been converted into an arts and cultural center.  The award-winning project reflects how Gowanus  has evolved from an industrial hub to a brownfield site to a thriving community. 

Built in 1904, the Central Power Station of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit System (now part of the city’s subway system) was originally a complex comprising  a boiler house and turbine hall. It supplied electricity to the rail and streetcar systems.  By the 1950s the boiler house was demolished.  The turbine hall was decommissioned in 1972, used as a paper recycling center and then abandoned.  

In the 2000s, the deteriorated building became a destination for graffiti artists and squatters and was nicknamed the “Batcave.” The roof and most windows were lost; leaving the interior open to the elements.  The site, like much of the area around the canal, was heavily polluted and designated a brownfield. 

However, Powerhouse Arts saw the untapped potential of the eerie structure.  PBDW Architects as the executive and preservation architect and Herzog & De Meuron as the design consultant collaborated on the transformation.  Before this project could begin, Powerhouse completed a voluntary remediation process under the NYS Brownfield Cleanup Program.

At the turbine hall, the steel structure was found to be in relatively good condition and was left exposed, as it had been historically, a reminder of the industrial building’s past. The brick façade was stabilized and restored.  The project team matched bluestone trim, mortar and multiple historic brick types, but also kept graffiti intact.  New windows were installed.

The interior now holds a 170,000 square foot art fabrication facility for large scale art production in metal, wood, ceramic, textiles and printmaking, as well as public galleries and event spaces.  

75th Police Precinct Station. Photo: New York Landmarks Conservancy

 75th Police Precinct Station in East New York

This 1892 police precinct building, once on the verge of demolition, has been returned to its former glory and the building now provides shelter for formerly homeless men.  

George Ingram originally designed the building in a Romanesque Revival style that resembles a castle. After the NYPD left, a church owned the building for 40 years was not able to maintain it.  Superstorm Sandy exacerbated  the deteriorated conditions.

When current owner Triple Five Holdings, Inc. purchased it in 2016, the façade was damaged and marked with graffiti, the roof had caved in and floors collapsed.  The interior was filled with debris.  It was nearly lost until a preservation engineer found that the load-bearing walls could be rehabilitated and support a new interior.  

 Architecture firm Zyscovich worked with Gregory Dietrich Preservation Consulting to restore and convert the building for its new use.  At the façade, graffiti and infill white glazed bricks were removed. The warm tones of the original brick walls, smoky gray brick tower and red-brick trim emerged, along with sandstone floral trim, lions-head brackets and arched window surrounds. Bluestone trim and terra cotta ornament decorate the façade.  New roofs, windows and doors were installed.  

Inside, an enormous steel and joist system ties into existing perimeter walls to recreate destroyed floors. Wood window moldings, wainscoting, chair railings and baseboards were all salvaged and reused. The building is now code-compliant and ADA-accessible, with 144 dorm-style beds, bathrooms, kitchens, and offices.   

The Ridge Residences in Stuyvesant Heights
Photo courtesy of New York Landmarks

 Ridges Residences in Stuyvesant Heights

The pair of brick houses were built in 1919 in a Spanish Renaissance style.  Two generations of the Ridges family have lived there for decades. 

The project began with a series of problems in the buildings.  Severe cracks had emerged at the façade and along the roof parapet.  The front facades and brick terraces showed signs of masonry buckling.  The roofing systems and windows needed to be replaced.  

As work began, new and unexpected issues presented themselves.  Although it was a daunting prospect, the owners completed this comprehensive restoration, working with preservation architect Michelle Todd, M. Todd Architect LLC and preservation engineer Silman,  

As stucco coatings at the rear facades were removed, the owners came to appreciate the appearance of the bricks, which are also more resilient than stucco.  The roofs were replaced along with new skylights and hatches.  Coping stones were cleaned, repaired and restored. 

Illegal wood framing in a 1956 addition was replaced with a new steel structure. At the front façade, bricks were cleaned, repointed and replaced only when necessary.  The front porches and brick-walled stoops were rebuilt. Final touches included new decorative limestone elements at the front façade, carved in the original motif of flowers and pineapples. This labor of love has shown the commitment of this family to their home and to their community. 

St. John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church, east elevation.
Photo courtesy of Zaskorski and Associates Architects

 Saint John the Baptist Roman Catholic Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant

This massive church was built in 1888-94 as part of St. John’s University’s first home in Brooklyn.  It was designed in a Romanesque Revival style by pre-eminent religious property architect Patrick Keely. 

The church fills most of a square block  In recent years, it has served as a neighborhood parish church. However, the building had never been restored and was in extremely poor condition, with leaking roofs, rusty and decayed sheet metal elements, boarded-up windows and rotted wood window frames.  The tremendous size magnified the problem. 

Zaskorski and Associates Architects worked with the Diocese of Brooklyn to complete this project over 11 years. Although the church has no landmark designation, the project was carried out in compliance with Department of the Interior’s Preservation Briefs.  

The work has dramatically improved the entire façade. All stonework was cleaned, repaired and repointed.  There are new roofs.  An eye-catching eight-foot-tall decorative frieze that runs along the entire building, as well as the cornices, gables, pinnacles and gutters, were replaced in lead-coated copper matching the original.  The stained-glass windows were restored with new hardwood outer frames and new protective glazing. 

The Lucy G. Moses Preservation Awards recognize individuals, organizations, and building owners for their extraordinary contributions to the city.  The New York Landmarks Conservancy, a private nonprofit organization, has led the effort to preserve and protect New York City’s architectural legacy for more than 50 years.  Since its founding, the Conservancy has loaned and granted more than $62 million, which has leveraged almost $1 billion in nearly 2,000 restoration projects throughout New York.


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