When Pierhouse broke ground beside Brooklyn Bridge Park, heck, even when the building's design was first revealed, there wasn't much outcry over its height. After all, in 2005, park officials made an agreement with the Brooklyn Heights Association to preserve the view of the Brooklyn Bridge from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, no matter what developments occurred in the park. The building was to stop at 100 feet, the same height as the cold storage warehouse that was razed to make way for it. Then Pierhouse started rising. And rising. And a three-story addition started growing on the top of the building, clearly obscuring the view of the bridge (even without the addition, the building completely blocks the view at the north end of the promenade). Neighbors reacted angrily, as expected, and launched a campaign calling for the halt of construction and for the design to be "consistent with the originally approved plan." Now Gawker has picked up on the outrage, with a piece about Pierhouse titled "The Worst Building in the Gilded City."
The anti-Pierhouse club recently formed a group called Save the View, and the website explains the intricacies of their argument, and provides a few telling photos. Above, the before-and-after slider shows the view of the bridge from Squibb Park, which sits just below the promenade. This view was never going to be protected, but still, the change in scenery is jarring.
Also worth taking a look at is the group's post on how the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation determined the height of Pierhouse. Since the three-story addition is a mechanical bulkhead, it doesn't count toward the building's official height. That may be true, but a bulkhead still does a great job at blocking the view. But it's extremely unlikely that anything is going to change, considering that Pierhouse is deep into construction, and many of its condos have already sold.
· The Worst Building In the Gilded City [Gawker]
· All Pierhouse coverage [Curbed]
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