PARK SLOPE — The Old Stone House needs a new neighbor, officials say.
Operators of the Revolutionary War site in Washington Park want to add a new building to help handle throngs of students and other visitors at the history and culture center.
"As the park has evolved as a public space, it's more heavily used and we're not able to support the capacity of our daily usage with the building we have now," said Old Stone House Executive Director Kim Maier. "Another building would help for our education programming and for community events."
There are no designs yet for the new building, and no money yet for the project, which would be funded by the Parks Department.
Officials will take a first step in making the building a reality this weekend when they gather input from locals about what they'd like to see in a new facility. That will happen at two community meetings on Jan. 9 and Jan. 10 where residents are invited to share their ideas. People who can't attend the meetings can submit suggestions in an online survey.
"We think it could potentially be a wonderful community asset and are looking forward to hearing the thoughts and ideas from the community,” a Parks Department spokeswoman said. Parks representatives are scheduled to attend the Friday and Saturday sessions.
The new building would be constructed at the Fourth Street cul-de-sac between Washington Park and M.S. 51, Maier said. The goal is to build a space that could host performances for up to 99 people and host a range of community events as well as private parties, Maier said.
Right now the Old Stone House is booked solid for birthday parties and weddings, and it also provides low-cost rehearsal space for arts organizations. Those rentals help fund the nonprofit that runs the Old Stone House, paying for gardening and housekeeping. A new building would allow for more revenue-generating private events.
The Old Stone House also serves as a venue for theater, music and events like the Kings County Fiber Festival. But its primary function is to educate visitors about colonial times and the Battle of Brooklyn, which pitted the British against George Washington's troops in August 1776.
Old Stone House usually hosts two school field trips a day and received 7,000 student visitors last year. Officials regularly turn away school groups because of lack of space, Maier said.
A new building would help handle school crowds, and it would also help alleviate a problem that's plagued Washington Park: too few bathrooms. A new structure would provide adequate restrooms for the crowds that flood the park during warm weather.
Maier said the new structure has been "part of the conceptual plan all along" for the Old Stone House, which has been inside Washington Park since the 1930s. (The house looks historic, but it's actually a replica of a house built in a nearby location in the 1690s.)
The community meetings about the new building will take place at the Old Stone House at 336 Third St. between Fourth and Fifth avenues on Friday, Jan. 9 from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. and Saturday, Jan. 10 from 10 a.m. to noon.
