A butter-yellow Italianate wood-frame house on South Oxford Street in Fort Greene may soon be demolished, as developers have filed applications to replace it with a five-story apartment building, according to Brownstoner.
The 1860 residence at 158 South Oxford St., between Hanson Place and Atlantic Avenue, is one of a shrinking number of surviving wooden houses in the neighborhood. In 2010, the home was highlighted by Brownstoner as a rare and well-preserved example of its kind, notable for its Gothic-trimmed porch and symmetrical windows.
At the time, the property was included in a proposed expansion of the Fort Greene Historic District, but that expansion was never approved. As a result, the house does not have landmark protection, the news site said.
In November, developer Shimon Kleiman filed an application to demolish the three-story structure. The following month, he submitted plans for a new five-story building containing 17 apartments and 10 off-street parking spaces. City records show that neither permit has been issued, according to Brownstoner.
Although the permit applications list Kleiman as the property owner, city deed records continue to show artist Marc E. Lambrechts as the owner. Historical records suggest the property has long been associated with artists. Renowned artist Richard Artschwager owned the house from 1985 to 1995, before transferring the deed to Lambrechts and his wife, Suzie Soo Gyong Cho.
The parcel measures approximately 100 by 115 feet and allows for up to 23,000 square feet of buildable space, according to PropertyShark. The property does not appear to be publicly listed for sale. The lower duplex has been rented out in recent years, with a listing appearing as recently as October.
The city’s finance department recently estimated the market value of the property at $8.01 million. In 2014, Lambrechts sold a neighboring compound at 164 South Oxford Street to a developer for $7.5 million, the website said.
