Coda: Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park Designated as Landmark by LPC

Fred Baer, former President of the Fiske Terrace Association, and among the prime movers throughout this designation process, sent this email to area residents/FTA members regarding the Landmark Preservation Commission's designation of the Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park neighborhoods as Landmark Historic Districts:


March 19, 2008

Yesterday we witnessed a historic event for our neighborhood: The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission formally designated the Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park Historic District. The Commission members’ commentary this morning was extremely complimentary towards our neighborhood, and reflected their admiration for how well kept our homes are and how well we have maintained the original character of our neighborhood.

Now that we are officially and landmarked district, there will certainly be many questions that we all as homeowners will have as to what we can and cannot do, and how and when we will need approval by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to make changes to our homes.

There is a great deal of information on the Landmarks Preservation Commission website: http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/home/home.shtml, or you can go to www.nyc.gov and click on the Landmarks button.

Within the site, there is a button on the left hand column called “Working with Landmarks.” On the next page, at the bottom of the list there is a section entitled “Perform Work on a Landmarked Property.” You can then go to whatever section might answer your question(s). There is also a phone number to call for further information. There are also other sections of the website (e.g. FAQ’s etc.) with other useful information.

We strongly encourage you to use the Landmarks Preservation Commission website and contact phone numbers to get answers to your questions before you commit to work on your houses. This can save you problems later if it turns out you needed a Landmarks permit for the work.

Also, within 1-2 weeks, the Landmarks Preservation Commission website will display the Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park designation report, with a great deal of detail on the history and architectural details of our neighborhood, with photos of many of our homes. It makes for fascinating reading.

As spring approaches and our neighborhood begins to bloom, we can be confident that the environment we all chose when we bought our homes here, will be preserved.

Fred Baer