After Decades-Long Fight, Willoughby-Hart Historic District Finally Receives Landmark Designation

The city Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated  The Willoughby-Hart Historic District as an official city landmark on Tuesday. 

It was a big win for residents who have rallied more than three decades to get the city to landmark the area, culiminating in a final, passionate public hearing in early June and a unanimous vote "yes" by the LPC on Tuesday. 

The recent decision will make Hart and Willoughby Streets, between Nostrand and Marcy Avenues, the fifth area in Bed-Stuy designated by LPC as an official historic landmark, following Bedford-Stuyveant Historic District (HD), Stuyvesant Heights, Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights, and Alice and Agate Courts.

The newly designated district is known for its brownstones built in the Neo-Greco, Second Empire and Romanesque Revival styles passed down from one generation to another, including many Black families.

"You have these beautiful materials like bluestone and whitestone, brick and strong timber ... these homes were built to last," said Lauren Cawdry, a 13-year resident of the area, the vice president of the Willougby-Nostrand-Marcy Block Association and owner of Willougby General food store, at a celebratory gathering in Bed-Stuy after the decision. 

"Gentrification is not always about the color of people skin; it’s about people who chose to come into a community and respect and participate in it or not. Landmarking was essential for preserving the history and architectural integrity of these homes," said Cawdry.

The majority of the homes were constructed during a period of intensive residential development of that section of Bedford-Stuyvesant which included the extension of streetcar lines to the area and the completion of the Brooklyn Bridge.

"The impressive historic row houses which line the blocks of Willoughby and Hart make this newest historic district an architectural highlight within the greater Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood," said LPC Chair Sarah Carroll.

Cawdry said that on testimony day, it was standing room only from all of the residents who showed up: "We filled that room! And I think showing up in person was a really important move, because we mean it. Our hearts were in it!"

Those opposed to the decision-- a group of approximately 50 Orthodox Jewish landlords-- argued that, because of their large families, they often need to expand their properties. Landmark status severely limits owners’ abilities to renovate or expand their homes.

So restricting them from being able to expand would eventually force them to move out of the neighborhood and also limit their ability sell to other Orthodox families, they said through a lawyer. 

Still, local elected leaders supported the move. City Councilmember Chi Osse, whose district includes Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights, as well as Assemblymembers Stefani Zinerman and Jabari Brisport, helped push the designation forward by co-authoring a letter of support for the block association. 

The Orthodox group’s attorney, Adam Leitman Bailey, at the hearing called their actions antisemitic: “This is de facto discrimination against Jews," he said. “By introducing this and being a leader of this, Chi Osse is committing the worst antisemitic act since Oct. 7,” Bailey charged, in a New York Post article.

However, Dr. Charyl Pitts-Howard, president of the Hart-Nostrand-Marcy Block Association, said that the decision to landmark had nothing to do with that: "[The opposing attorney] made some really yucky claims about the people who live on these two blocks, as far as our tolerances for different people and their religion. It was so outrageous and really upsetting, because this is not who we are."

Pitts-Howard added, that after attorney Bailey's testimony, the next person called to testify was an Orthodox Jewish member of the Willoughby-Hart community who talked about the love on the block for people of all backgrounds, religions and ethnicities. He testified that he never felt like he really belonged anywhere until moving to the block. "After he spoke, everything the attorney said just disintegrated into dust," she said, with a huge smile. 

By a unanimous vote, the LPC's decision recognized the district's "distinctive beauty and unique history," ensuring the Willoughby-Hart District of Brooklyn will be preserved for generations to come, Carroll said.

"All of the folks I spoke to said they could feel the ancestors supporting them; they could feel their grandmother, grandfathers, their mothers, that they were with them today, which is why there was so much jubilance and joy and tears," Pitts-Howard said. "When there was nothing here, when this area was redlined and there was no money flowing, these people found a way to maintain."

She continued: "They did everything they had to do, worked multiple jobs so that families could live in these homes and provide. It’s those sacrifices that have been made way before I ever decided to come onto this planet and be a part of this community, those sacrifices were already made. We could feel the people who came before us … I just hope they’re proud of us!"

"These buildings have been here long before me, and I really hope that they’re here long after me," Cawdry said.