The Ridgewood Masonic Templewhich, confusingly enough, is technically located in adjacent Bushwickis probably going to become apartments. The 1920-built Beaux-Arts meeting hall had basically been on the market since 2010, and it finally sold last fall. No longer functioning as a Freemasons' lodge, it served as a venue for concerts and parties but ultimately fell into disrepair. In January, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reports, permits were filed to convert the historic 95-year-old thing into an apartment building:
[Owner Yoek] Wertzberger filed a plan with the Buildings Department proposing a horizontal and vertical enlargement of the building to create 28 apartments and turn the existing three-story "public assembly building," which has a cellar and mezzanine, into a four-story residential building with a cellar and penthouse. The permits name Nataliya Donskoy of ND Architecture, and well, oof. She's got a track record of conversions, particularly church-to-apartment ones, and let's just say they don't turn out to look like their past selves.
On the upside, the Ridgewood Masonic Temple was named a landmark last summer, which means any alterations to the exterior have to get approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. That means Donskoy can't go all uncontextual (or Transformer) on the neighborhood.
· The Ridgewood Masonic Temple's Buyer Intends To Turn The Landmark Into an Apartment Building [Brooklyn Daily Eagle via Brownstoner]
· Mysterious Ridgewood Masonic Temple Is Now a Landmark [Curbed]
· Secret Society Hideaway Could Become Condos [Curbed]