"The Ugliest Building in Brooklyn"?

Photographer Nate Kensinger, whose work we love and whose forays into places that are hard to access have brought us great visual joy, sent us some photos of a condo in Fort Greene called the Verdi on Adelphi. It has been featured many times by our friends at Brownstoner, who have not minced words about its aesthetics. Phrases like “a mix of generic-looking brick and an over-the-top swaths of blue mosaic tile” and “an over-the-top eyesore” have been used. Mr. Kensinger wondered if it’s “the ugliest building in Brooklyn” in sending us photos. The “Ugliest in Brooklyn” competition is beyond our scope here and would have dozens of nasty contestants, so we’ll just share a bit of his love for the Verdi:

This is the Verdi on Adelphi St, near the Navy Yard… they have been working on it for a while… but you really have to get up close to see how horrendous the tiles on this thing are! Its would be like living inside of a disco ball, or a fragmented oil slick. Its being touted as “a modern compliment to the rich history and lush streetscapes of fort greene.” Haha. How does a mirrored tile jukebox complement a classic brownstone?

Mr. Kensinger also checked out the website of the architect Gene Kaufman, whose latest work will include a hotel and two residential buildings on N. 12 Street in Williamsburg, and writes:

He is working on some truly awful buildings, and has great descriptions of the neighborhoods he is trying so hard to gentrify. He calls Bushwick a “recently troubled neighborhood” and is helping a client in “re-homesteading a deteriorated area” on 11th and A in the East Village. He is also building on “a derelict contaminated site in the hip Williamsburg neighborhood” and is doing all sorts of waterfront glass boxes…

The tiles kind of remind of us the Gowanus Canal near the Union Street Bridge where oil bubbles to the surface and puts a nice sheen on the water.

New Look 360 Smith Continues Making an Impression

The redesign of 360 Smith Street unveiled last week at a Carroll Gardens Neighborhood Association meeting by the developer, Billy Stein, continues to elicit reaction from residents. The CORD group, which was formed after original renderings or the Robert Scarano-designed “Heavy Metal” building were posted last May, offered up a photoshopped view of Second Place as it might look with the new building as well as a rendering that included blue sky in order to make the building stand out more. Of the view from Second Place, CORD writes on its blog: “It is clear how large the mass is from the surrounding architecture…second place and smith street are dwarfed by this bulk.”

Gowanus Update: Slow Going at the Bunker on Bond

Whenever we pass by the building that we like to call The Bunker on Bond Street because of its lack of windows superior abundance of wall space, we check to see how much progress has been made. We’re not sure if it’s the slowest moving building project in Brooklyn, but that’s only because there is so much competition in the borough. We feel safe in saying that it’s one of the slower ones we’ve seen. The address of the building is 346 Bond Street and the last standing horse stable on Bond Street was demolished to make room for it. The house on the corner, however, was not. The photos here came from our Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Correspondent who, it is fair to say, can not be counted as an admirer of this Robert Scarano structure. Our correspondent writes:

I would like to note the strange faux walnut veneer siding and tiny dot-dash shaped windows on the Bond St side. Bank Leumi has financed 346 Bond Street which could possibly account for its West Bank style. Tiny windows help in dry, desert climates to conserve energy and keep interiors cool. Also small windows are used in libraries of Universities for riot safety. I’d say this building alone could entice a design riot or two.

Someday, when the work wraps up on the Bunker, we will get the full effect of the building looming across the Gowanus Canal from the Carroll and Union Street Bridges.

Carroll Gardens 340 Court vs. Prague Building: Part II

Yesterday, we posted a side-by-side comparison of the former International Longshoreman’s Building at 340 Court Street (which has an impending date with the wrecking ball) with a modernist building in Prague. This is Part II, featuring another two photos sent to us by our Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Correspondent. Call it the Tough Tony Anastasio Building vs. Praha Architektura.

Carroll Gardens 340 Court vs. Prague Bldg: Separated at Birth?

On the left is the former International Longshoreman’s Association Building at 340 Court Street in Carroll Gardens. On the right is a building in Prague. We would love to take full credit for juxtaposing these two structures cut from the same cloth, but it actually goes to our special Carroll Gardens-Cobble Hill Correspondent who writes:

I am actually going to miss that chunk of fifties modernism. Reminds me of this building in Prague I used to walk by. Very Funtionalist…the two buildings could be fraternal twins separated at birth!

Indeed.

Bklink: Nominations Please

It’s time for the 2008 Building Brooklyn awards and the Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations. Will North Brooklyn get the short end of the stick again? “The contest regulations require that a project have a temporary or final CO issued in calendar 2007. So such favorites as 20 Bayard, North8 Condos, 207-211 South First Street and the Lucent are eligible. Others, in that grand Brooklyn tradition, will have to wait until next year.”–Brooklyn 11211

What’s That Thing on Top: Ikon Growth Complete

We return to our very occasional series “What’s That Thing on Top?” to update the status of one of the most notable things to be put on top of any Williamsburg building: the growth added to the building on Karl Fischer Row that is now known as the Ikon. We last viewed it from behind, when it was still a steel box. While we’re certain that the buyers of those units will enjoy their view of McCarren Park and Manhattan in the distance, we’re not clear how many residents are enjoying their view of The Thing. What we do know is that is quite the imposing presence from street level.

Meet the Nightmare on Pacific Street

Rarely have we seen a building that made such a swift impression as 262 Pacific Street, which we’ll be calling The Nightmare on Pacific Street (Nightmare on Pacific, for short, or Pacific Street Nightmare) or, possibly, the Pacific Penitentiary. Brownstoner started off the New Year with a bang (and possibly signified that Boerum Hill, Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens have nowhere to go but up from January 3 forward) with the renderings of this 12-story building with 30 units they found on the website of architect Chien Dao. Here’s part of the description:

Designed with Nektarios Ioannidis to take advantage of the views of Brooklyn and Manhattan, and avoid views of the downtown correction facility, the building façade shifts as the interior space is projected out. Pre-cast concrete, metal panel and glass curtainwall exhibit the recessed and projected portions of the building.

Could this building possibly be as horrific as the rendering makes it appear? Is it really a tall concrete shaft, twice as tall as its neighbors, with tiny correctional facility-type windows and weird angles so no one has to see the Brooklyn House of Detention? All we know for certain is that the Department of Buildings has disapproved the plans, but we doubt it’s for aesthetic reasons. There are early signs, however, that some neighborhood opposition is organizing against the building, as we heard from a number of activists yesterday about opposing the Nightmare on Pacific.

Park Slope Crest Improves Fouth Ave. Streetscape

The fencing around The Crest in Park Slope has come down. The mindboggling results are above. We will refrain from a long diatribe about how such architecture is the equivalent of saying “screw you” to the streetscape and how people that design residential buildings this way should be held up to professional ridicule for designing walls at street level. (Though we love the big vent effect.) We simply can’t understand why anyone would make the entire first floor of a condo being pitched to a high end market into a wall. Ironically, it is across the street from this gem at the Con Ed building, which we called “The Great Wall of Gowanus.” It looks like Brooklyn’s “Park Avenue” is off to a shaky start architecturally speaking.

"Action" on Scarano Projects "After the Holiday"?

News of the new permits for the Caroll Gardens Hell Building at 333 Carroll Street has gotten around the neighborhood and residents have been emailing city officials. One reply making the rounds says that elected officials are still working on a variety of issues related to architect Robert Scarano:

We are trying, but even Scarano has the right to due process….Bill of rights anyone????? Look for some action after the holiday…

It’s unclear whether the “action” is on issues related to the architect’s professional certification, about the controversial 360 Smith Street project or about the revived Hell Building development. Interesting.