467 Tompkins Avenue Apartment House

Brooklyn, NY
5,500 SF
Completed 2021

Our design for this new seven-unit four-story plus penthouse apartment building at 467 Tompkins Avenue in Stuyvesant Heights Historic District Brooklyn filled a missing tooth in the street scape. In 1871 a new three-story row house was built, one in a succession of seven. In 1899, that row house and the three south of it were enlarged in depth and height and unified by a new Flemish bond brick façade which created an alternating ABAB configuration. By 1993, #467 was abandoned, in disrepair and thus demolished. We began the project with an empty lot.

Our design exceeds the standards of the NYC Energy Conservation Construction Code, provides a handicap accessible apartment on the first floor, and offers tenants a roof top terrace with sweeping views of the Manhattan skyline. We formed a team of structural and mechanical engineers to achieve an efficient economical and contributing design. Despite Landmarks’ “de facto zoning,” which often limits the maximum potential of development rights, we used ninety percent of the allowable maximum floor area.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission, which voted unanimously at Public Hearing in favor of our design, stated,“the brick and cast stone materials of the front façade contribute to the harmonious appearance of the row; the paired and triple windows on the upper floors and design of the base recall the historic rhythm of the row, including the former commercial ground floor; and the penthouse addition at the roof visible from the north, is in keeping with penthouse additions added to buildings of this type over time.” The design respects the context and adds something new.

Our client for this project is a developer. In fact, we had three successive developer clients for this project. At various stages of design, the developer sold the lot and each time the new developer hired us to continue. Each time, we re-formed an effective team and moved the project forward.

Collaborators: Hidamari Mechanical Engineers, Office of James Ruderman Structural Engineers, GIM Construction