Clinton Hill church’s conversion into 8 townhouses gets LPC approval

The condo conversion of a former Clinton Hill church and adjoining Parish Hall and school building received the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s approval on Tuesday. This was the second time the church conversion came to the LPC; in December, the Commission sent back a previous iteration of this plan back to the drawing board.

At that time the Commission had issues with the rooftop addition on the school building, and concerns with the removal of stained glass windows in the church designed by Tiffany and Thomas Lamb, among other concerns.

Architecture firm Roart presented a different vision on Tuesday: the rooftop addition had been significantly reduced, making the structure less visible from the street level; on the behest of developer Brooklyn Capital, the stained glass windows will either be donated to a museum or cultural organization, if one is willing to accept it, or the new residents of the development will have the option of having the stained glass windows re-installed when the redevelopment is complete.

In addition, the unit count has also been altered from the previous proposal. At that time, the developer wanted to build 14 apartments and five townhouses between the two structures. Now that has changed to eight townhouses, four in each structure.

Via ROART

Commissioners were impressed with the changes brought to the hearing on Tuesday, and unanimously approved the conversion.

“This is much improved from the last time, and the request for stained glass windows is as reasonable as one can imagine,” said Commissioner Michael Goldblum.

“They represent a model for what can be done in such cases,” added Commissioner Bland, enthusiastically.