Kingsborough Houses-Kingsborough Extension

Kingsborough Houses-Kingsborough Extension, also known as Kingsborough Houses, is a housing project in Brooklyn, New York covering 15.97-acres in Crown Heights, and is bordered by Ralph and Rochester Avenues, and Pacific and Bergen Streets. The project consists of 16, six-story buildings with 1,148 apartment units. It is owned and managed by New York City Housing Authority.[1][2]

Kingsborough Houses-Kingsborough Extension
NYCHA property
Nickname: 
Kingsborough
Location within New York City
Coordinates: 40.675120°N 73.924680°W / 40.675120; -73.924680
Country United States
State New York
CityNew York City
BoroughBrooklyn
ZIP codes
11233
Area code(s)718, 347, 929, and 917

History

Construction of the Kingsborough Houses finished in 1941 and cost $5,160,000.[3] Upon its completion, 36 employees worked on-site at the development, with nine in the office and remaining 27 employed on the grounds.[4] The development opened with a majority of white residents, but by the late 1950s over two-thirds of residents were African-American.[4][5]

The Kingsborough Extension was later completed in 1966[6] and is devoted to housing senior citizens.[7]

Artist and architect

The cast-stone frieze, Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho, created was created by Richmond Barthé through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. Originally intended for the Harlem River Houses, an African-American public housing development,[8][9] Barthé created the site-specific work for an amphitheater. The piece consists of scenes from the Old Testament through the eyes of an African-American child, inspired by the play The Green Pastures. After completion, the panels were placed in storage until 1941 when they were installed at the Kingsborough Houses, a majority white development.[10][11] By 2018, the frieze was in disrepair with NYCHA unable to fund due to capital needs.[12] As of 2021, the deferred maintenance and repair costs to restore the frieze are estimated to be nearly $1.8 million dollars.[13]

Landscape architect Gilmore Clarke designed the development's grounds in a style reminiscent of city parks of the time.[4]

The Kingsborough Extension was designed by architects Morris Ketchum Jr. & Associates.[14]

See also

References
  1. "Locations Gallery - NYCHA". www1.nyc.gov. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  2. "MyNYCHA Developments Portal". my.nycha.info. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  3. "Mayor Dedicates Kingsborough Houses, City's 10th Home Project, 3d for Brooklyn". NY Times. September 10, 1941. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  4. Bloom, Nicholas Dagen (February 9, 2009). Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812220674.
  5. "A PUBLIC PROJECT AGES GRACEFULLY; Kingsborough Tenants Have Made Development and Its Area Better by Work". NY Times. October 14, 1958. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  6. "Assessment of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Properties" (PDF). New York State Department of Health. March 2018.
  7. Aging. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1963.
  8. Vendryes, Margaret Rose (2008). Barthé: a life in sculpture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. p. 82. ISBN 978-1-60473-092-0. OCLC 225088294.
  9. Gill, Jonathan (February 1, 2011). Harlem: The Four Hundred Year History from Dutch Village to Capital of Black America. Open Road + Grove/Atlantic. pp. 310–311. ISBN 978-0-8021-9594-4.
  10. "Richmond Barthé & "Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho"". NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  11. Vendryes, Margaret Rose (2008). Barthé: A Life in Sculpture. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604730920.
  12. "A historic work of art is crumbling in a NYCHA complex". am New York. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  13. Small, Zachary (December 29, 2021). "As the Mayor Promised Millions for New Monuments, Old Ones Crumbled". The New York Times. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
  14. "MORRIS KETCHUM JR., 80, DIES; RETIRED NEW YORK ARCHITECT". NY Times. November 27, 1984. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
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