Round One victory in Landmarks fight goes to angry neighbors of 115 Lincoln Place

Eye On Real Estate: Commissioners hail their garden core as "unique"

December 11, 2013 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

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R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

A nearly pristine Park Slope garden core won praise this week from the city Landmarks Preservation Commission.

They told the designers of a proposed multi-floor rear-yard addition at 115 Lincoln Place to go back to the drawing board and come up with something less intrusive to the block’s cherished green space, which provides light and air – and a sense of peace – to residents.

“It does measure up to the standard of unique,” Commissioner Libby Ryan said at a Dec. 10 public hearing. Other commissioners echoed her, saying the block is “just so special” and its garden core has “the feel of a commons” like that of iconic Sunnyside Gardens in Queens.

More than 20 of homeowner Michael and Sarah London’s neighbors, who have been battling the expansion, testified at the hearing.

In October, we detailed their fight for a scaled-down back-of-the-house build-out at the Londons’ 1870s Italianate townhouse.