All images via Pratt + Black Architects for Landmarks Preservation Commission
This morning, the Landmarks Preservation Commission (“Landmarks”) will hear a proposal by Shake Shack president and CFO Tara Comonte to build a new, four-story townhouse on the 25’ lot next door to her Brooklyn Heights house at 56 Middagh Street. A Landmarks presentation prepared by Pratt + Black Architects shows a 40’ tall house, the same height as its neighbor, with a ground-floor garage whose doors seem inspired by carriage houses. The new house must be built out of fiber cement board, as building codes prohibit new wood houses, but otherwise was designed to look like it was built at the same time as the existing clapboard house, which dates back to 1829. Brooklyn’s Community Board 2 voted to approve the construction in autumn 2019, and the Landmarks hearing is the next step.
Site photo circa December 2019
“We were not trying to push the envelope here” - Elizabeth Pratt, Pratt + Black Architects
Proposed street elevation
Rendering
The news is noteworthy both for the executive and the location where she seeks to build. The Brooklyn Heights Historic District is one of the oldest in the city, having been established roughly six months after Landmarks itself. As a result, the buildings are carefully preserved and Brooklyn Heights is home to New York City’s largest collection of pre-Civil War buildings. The small handful of vacant sites remaining tend to be used as parking places. Indeed, Ms. Comonte used the lot to park her cars before making plans to build. She has not yet decided whether to use it for extended family, rent it out, or sell a portion of her property.
Historic site photos circa 1940
Rendering
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