Park Slope

A checklist of New York Methodist Hospital’s doomed buildings

Eye On Real Estate

October 1, 2014 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Majestic … but headed for demolition anyway. One of NY Methodist's brownstones.
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Notice them while there’s time.

We made the rounds of the buildings New York Methodist Hospital is planning to tear down for its controversial expansion in Park Slope. Take a look:

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Demolition targets on 6th Street

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This row of elegant townhouses, which reminds us we’re in historic Park Slope, stands proud on 6th Street — for now.

It is sandwiched between big New York Methodist Hospital facilities on the Seventh Avenue end of the block and a hospital-owned parking lot on the Eighth Avenue end of the block.

Closer to Seventh Avenue it’s a collection of golden-orange brick buildings with curvy façades, with the addresses 505, 509 and 511 6th St. The hospital purchased these properties from homeowners between 1967 and 1969, city Finance Department records indicate. Back then, Methodist Hospital of Brooklyn was the healthcare institution’s name, the deeds remind us.

Closer to Eighth Avenue, matching limestone rowhouses with three-sided bays and fine stone carvings over the doors are located at 515, 517, 519, 521 and 523 6th St. The hospital bought them from homeowners between 1968 and 1971, deeds filed with the Finance Department show.

So what if the stoops have been altered and some sidewalk-level glass entryways have been built? These townhouses transitioned with their dignity intact to serving as hospital offices which include NY Methodist’s Center for Sleep Disorders Medicine and Research.    

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Demolition targets on Eighth Avenue

Majestic but just a bit messed-up.

New York Methodist Hospital’s historic bow-front brownstones at 502, 504, 506, 510 and 512 Eighth Ave. give off an aura of grandeur that’s just right for Park Slope.

Their upkeep is less than perfect in this neighborhood of carefully polished properties, though. Boarded-up windows are visible on the front of 510 Eighth Ave. and the side of 512 Eighth Ave. The front door of 506 Eighth Ave. has a padlock on it.

The hospital bought four of the rowhouses in 1969 and the fifth in 1970, city Finance Department records indicate. Interesting tidbit: The seller of 502 Eighth Ave., Edgar Martinson, was a doctor, according to the deed he signed. That building has a side-street address, 548 5th St.   

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Demolition targets on 5th Street

Three sweet — but doomed — small apartment buildings stand in a row at 512, 514 and 520 5th St., near the Seventh Avenue end of their block.

New York Methodist Hospital bought two of these curvy-fronted limestone plus brick buildings in 1969 and the third in 1976, according to Finance Department records. They are part of the healthcare institution’s proposed Park Slope development site.

Several neighboring properties on the block are not, because the hospital does not own them, Finance Department records indicate. Those homes are midway between Seventh and Eighth avenues, at 522, 524 and 528 5th St. and 532, 536-536A and 540-540A 5th St.

We paused in the middle of this list because the limestone residential building at 530 5th St. has belonged to the hospital since 1970, those ever-helpful Finance Department records show.

In September, the city Buildings Department gave NY Methodist a permit to construct new interior partitions, ceilings and doors and install new plumbing fixtures and piping there. Work was ongoing when we walked by the other day. Clearly this building will be around for a while.


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