ODDLY, I had known about this beautiful Italianate mansion at #182 South Oxford Street, north of Atlantic Avenue in Fort Greene, for some time. But whenever I had happened over, the foliage on the exterior was so lush that I couldn’t get a good picture, and I didn’t want to risk a trespass charge by crossing the gate onto the lawn. Finally, I got word that demolition was likely imminent, so I headed over in early spring 2026 and got my shot. It’s one of the last photos of the building ever obtained, as it was torn down on July 8, 2026. When I went to high school in the area from 1971-1975, I rode close to it on the B45 bus down Atlantic Ave., but of course, this was a long time before I had an inkling to chronicle NYC with my camera.
Records of the house are slim, but it was likely built in the mid to late 1840s and shows up on an 1850 property map. Brownstoner’s Suzanne Spellen in 2010 urged “there are only a handful of these houses left, and very few in such good shape. Let’s protect them now, rather than when the ‘dozers are rumbling up the street.” That did not happen. The building was under review by the Landmarks Preservation Commission twice , and both times failed consideration as the agency cites numerous alterations. To my nonprofessional eye, it appears ton looks much the same as similar mansions around town built at the same time such as the Allan-Beville House in Douglaston near my home. It must be said the LPC is a creature of NYC bureaucracy and there is a major shift the last few years toward multifamily houses, and this was a site the city must have been licking its chaps for a developer to purchase the property for that purpose. Longtime owner, artist Marc E. Lambrechts, transferred the property to 158 Oxford LLC for $11 million. You can’t argue with profit taking, and the site will soon have multifamily housing of not nearly the visual quality of the mansion. More on the building in Brownstoner.
Sick transit, Gloria!
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7/9/26