Grand Prospect Hall by Hobo Matt is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
End of a dream: Grand Prospect Hall denied landmark status
The interior of the historic building had already been gutted when the landmarks commission issued its decision this week
Some dreams don’t come true after all. The Landmarks Preservation Commission has denied a request to consider landmark status for the beloved Grand Prospect Hall. Although the Victorian interior of the building has already been gutted, demolition of the facade was on hold ahead of a pending September 16 court date aimed at saving the building from demolition.
In their letter to neighborhood activists campaigning to save the building, the Landmarks Preservation Commission contends that the 118-year-old event space has sustained too many alterations over the years to “rise to the level of architectural significance” needed to consider it for landmark designation.
“As a regulatory agency concerned with protecting historic fabric, we must consider the integrity or intactness of the building,” the letter reads. “Because of alterations to the exterior and interior of the building, it does not have sufficient historic integrity for consideration as a landmark.”
Some unfortunate news: @nyclandmarks has denied our request. Nonetheless, we plan to keep working to try and save the facade by halting work or discussing with the developer ways to preserve the facade. We will update you soon.
You can read the full letter below: pic.twitter.com/t0MNjlaNK1
— Save The Grand Prospect Hall (@savethegph) September 14, 2021
Grand Prospect Hall, which has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999, was acquired by electrical contractor Angelo Rigas back in July. Rigas purchased the hall as part of a $30 million dollar deal with 11 other properties. Following demolition, the developer plans to replace the hall with a “low-scale residential building with an affordable component.”
Since August, a coalition of neighbors, builders and elected officials have been fighting to save the building, and more than 40,000 people have signed a petition to stave off demolition.
“The Grand Prospect Hall is an icon of Brooklyn, and has been standing as a communal space where Brooklynites come to celebrate ever since its construction in 1892,” reads the petition. “If the Department of Buildings chooses to approve this demolition, over a century of Brooklyn history will be gone.”
Teen activists Solya Spiegel and Tony Pannone, who are among the locals spearheading the campaign, submitted the request for landmark status a month ago. New York City Council Member Brad Lander and state Assemblymember Robert Carroll also wrote to Landmarks urging designation of the historic ballroom.
Despite the rejection from the Landmark commission, the activists remain determined to preserve the hall.
“We’re not going to stop—we’ll keep writing people, calling the mayor, calling offices, we’ll keep putting up posters,” Spiegel told Brooklyn Paper Tuesday. “We’ll do whatever we can do get anyone to notice.”
An application to fully demolish the building is still pending with the Department of Buildings, Patch reports. Demolition of the hall was halted by a court order earlier this month pending a hearing, which will still be held on Monday even though demolition is almost a given at this point.
The Grand Prospect Hall Historical Marker by NewYorkBrass is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0
