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More Than 600 Homes Added to Crown Heights Historic District

By Rachel Holliday Smith | March 24, 2015 3:55pm | Updated on March 24, 2015 4:20pm
 Phase three of the Crown Heights North Historic District was approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday.
Crown Heights North Historic District
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CROWN HEIGHTS — History buffs, rejoice!

More than 600 Crown Heights homes have joined the neighborhood’s historic district after the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission approved a third landmark designation in the area on Tuesday.

The LPC unanimously approved the third phase of the Crown Heights North Historic District at a hearing Tuesday morning after a brief presentation about the architectural and historical significance of the area, located mostly between Brooklyn and Albany avenues to the west and east and Pacific Street and Lincoln Place to the north and south.

“I am very excited about this … all of us here [at LPC] are happy to bring it to fruition,” said LPC chair Meenakshi Srinivasan before the vote, adding that the district “has truly an amazing collection of buildings and styles that are very, very cohesive.”

Included in the 640 buildings in Crown Heights North Historic District III are three homes where Rep. Shirley Chisolm once lived, some of the borough’s first multi-family homes called “Kinko Houses” and a variety of 19th- and early 20th-century townhouses.

Several members of the local preservation group Crown Heights North Association cheered when the vote came down. They’ve been working since the early 2000s to designate a large swath of Crown Heights as a historic district, succeeding in designating the first phase in 2007 and a second area in 2011 that, together, total about 1000 homes.

“What we have out of today is celebration. It’s a measure of surety that our neighborhood is going to be preserved with its character and uniqueness the way it is today,” said CHNA member Ethel Tyus, whose family has lived in the area since 1956.

The group will soon begin applying to include the newly designated area on the National Register of Historic Places so homeowners can receive tax credits for future renovations, Tyus said. CHNA is also planning to apply to create a fourth phase of the historic district, though that could take years, she said.

Homeowners in the newly created historic district area can get more information about the designation from CHNA’s website or by attending an information session at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum on April 15 at 6:30 p.m.