Oct. 7, 2013 By Christian Murray
A Woodside group is chartering a free bus next Wednesday to a landmarks preservation hearing that will determine whether an aluminaire house can be constructed in the Sunnyside Gardens Historic District.
Woodside on the Move, a non-profit group, will be taking residents to the Landmarks Preservation Commission, located at 1 Centre Street, on the afternoon of October 15. The bus will be free—subsidized by the personal campaign funds of Congressman Joseph Crowley.
The controversial proposal calls for the construction of eight residential units—and an architecturally significant aluminaire house–on the corner of 39th Avenue and 50th Street. The site was the former Phipps playground.
The Landmarks Preservation Commission will ultimately determine whether the aluminaire house and residential development can be built on the site. The commission might approve the plan, reject it outright or suggest modifications.
Adrian Bordoni, executive director of Woodside on the Move, said the decision to charter the bus is in response to the huge interest in the development. He said residents had reached out to him and the Congressman’s office seeking a bus.
Regina Shanley, a Sunnyside Gardens resident, thanked the Congressman and Woodside on the Move for the bus. “We are trying to get as many people to go to the hearing as possible and to speak out against it,” she said.
Community Board 2 rejected the proposal and elected officials have voiced their opposition to it. Congressman Crowley, Assembly woman Marge Markey, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer and State Sen. Mike Gianaris have all spoken against it. They have all said that an aluminaire house is not in character with the red-brick, historic neighborhood—and question the terracotta cladding of the residential units.
UPDATE: The bus will leave from the Phipps Gardens Apartments, located at 51-01 39th Ave, at 12:30 pm and make other stops in the neighborhood upon request.
Shanley said that those residents who need a ride should send an e-mail to sunnysidegardens@verizon.net or call 718-672-1309.
Featured Events
24 Comments
There are only THREE PEOPLE who benefit from bringing the Aluminum Albatross to brick and mortar Sunnyside Gardens. For two, its all about money, for the other, its all about a massive ego.
@Tattoo You
Nelson’s Christmas store had a wonderful store front on Greenpoint. Unfortunately, when you went inside, the people who ran the place were as vile and unpleasant as you could imagine.
Sunnyside even has its own map. It looks like it was done by a 4 year old but at least it has some useful business numbers on it.
Attilla – The funny part of your comment is that the Tattoo shop in my opinion is by far the nicest looking storefront on all of Greenpoint.
@Tequila Mockingbird: Yes, because the district is the nice part of Sunnyside.
@South: Sunnyside a dying neighborhood? Dumb
@jimmy cracked_corn: No thanks, not interested in tourists in the historic part of Sunnyside. Our coop and house values are doing just fine.
@ James Bond – Sunnyside was rated the #3 neighborhood within NYC (5 boroughs) to live in, in NY Magazine. I would say Sunnyside is on the map…
LOL @ Attila the Pun’s last comment!
@ Attila
All I was saying is that I only see people getting their panties in a twist when it comes to the “nice” part of Sunnyside, the historic part.
When all this anti-ugliness energy could do wonders when it comes to improving the “not so nice” areas.
@ Sycamore
Haha Never enough booze, love.
@ Woodside Boy You know what you are talking about.
@ Tequila Mockingbird Put the bottle down, you’ve had enough.
@Tequilla
Have you seen Greenpoint Avenue? You must be confusing it with Beverly Hills or the Champs-Elysees. Are you trying to say the new C-Town takes away from the high-class, aesthetic quality of the dollar store, the tattoo parlor and the empty store fronts on that street?
Deep breath everyone.
The Aluminaire House is an eyesore and has no place in Sunnyside Gardens?
Too modern? Too ugly? Really?
Has anyone complained that the new C-Town is defacing Greenpoint ave?
That it looks like an enormous sandcastle made of dirty quarry sand with a red plastic pyramid on top the size of Kelly Osbourne’s head ?
Let’s just say.
Change bad. Tourism bad.
Me scared of change. Me scared of revenue coming to dying neighborhood.
banksy is in NYC for october, doing one work of grafitti per day for the month, lets hope he hits Sunnyside and puts this damn place on the map already!
Let them have their aluminum shack. Just make them let the change bum live in it.
@Jimmy Cracked Corn Hi, Jimmy. Where do you live, please? I’d like to come over and be big, ugly and useless and attract tourists right outside your window.
man, cool looking house! Historic too!! slap that baby up an put a couple cafes at opposing ends. thumbs up from me!!
That playground is the last best hope for a “commons” where all members of the community can meet each other in a relaxed atmosphere. Keep it for the community.
Correction: IT DOES NOT BELONG IN SUNNYSIDE GARDENS!!!
Its not a real house! It has no insulation, no electrical, no water, no bathroom, no insulation, its cannot get a Certificate of Occupancy because it WAS NOT DESIGNED TO BE LIVED IN! It was designed as a case study by architects A. Lawrence Kocher and Albert Frey in April, 1931. It belongs in a museum or a sculpture garden like Socrates by the river, it DOES BELONG IN SUNNYSIDE GARDENS!
Good luck residents. Sunnyside/ Woodside is done with its original essence. Thank you for the gentrification process. The best years are over.
This aluminum house can’t be all that historically significant if all t’s good for is a dodge around the zoning regulations. Let them put it there with no other housing, I bet they won’t do it.
I’ll huff and I’ll puff and blow your aluminarie house down. Then I’ll take it to associated and recycle it with all the bottles and cans i’ve dug out of peoples trash at 4am while trespassing on their private property.
AND a slap in the face to the history of Sunnyside AND the residents of Sunnyside.
The developers figured they would have a hard time with building just apartments so the threw in an Aluminaire decoy to bypass the law. SHAME ON THEM!!
The development is an obvious bait (Aluminaire House) and switch (Apartments). The People are smart to reveal the developers true intentions. Its a slap in the face of the Aluminaire House.