CLINTON HILL — A wooden home built before the Civil War might meet the wrecking ball after the city found it to be unsafe, according to city records.
The landmarked house at 69 Vanderbilt Ave. was built in 1850 and inhabited for nearly 160 years.
In 2009, the Department of Buildings found that the front façade, porch and roof were rotted and partially collapsed and issued a vacate order, according to agency records.
On Dec. 17, permits were filed for full demolition of the home known for its Greek Revival style with Italianate details. The DOB is in the process of reviewing the full demolition request.
The demolition request ends years of work by local residents and the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership to save the historic structure.
The group had discussed possible preservation solutions with the owners, hired a structural engineer to survey the building and asked the Department of Housing Preservation and Development to board up the house to protect it. They had also secured landmark status for the structure as part of the city-designated Wallabout Historic District.
"Unfortunately the building's landmark status could not protect it," said Chad Purkey, director of planning and economic development at the Partnership. "Safety had to trump preservation."
The Landmarks Preservation Commission also unsuccessfully attempted to work with the owner for many years to complete needed repairs, but the building continued to deteriorate, agency officials said.
The owner owes more than $35,000 in fines, which must be paid even if the building is demolished, according to the DOB.
The home was built by architect Richard P. Pease and had a façade clad in shingles, wooden windows and door, a concrete porch with a possible historic metal railing, a tar-paper roof, two brick hutches with shingles and molded windows, according to a Historic District Designation Report by the Landmarks Commission.
To residents, 69 Vanderbilt was known as "the house on the corner." But until 1964 — when the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway was built — it was actually located in the middle of the block, according to Purkey.
