Mr. Junkersfeld files this companion dispatch to go along with his latest film:
Nabeguy wrote early this year – “These photos were taken in November 1961 by my father, who, along with other like-minded neighbors, was in opposition to the proposed zoning variance that would allow for construction of the Cadman Towers. He wanted to illustrate the variety and depth of the 19th-century architectural heritage that was at stake. In one of his last-ditch efforts to forestall the wrecking ball, he lobbied to have the building on Cranberry St. in which Walt Whitman set the type for “Leaves of Grass” designated a National Landmark. Obviously, his attempts were in vain, but we do now have the Whitman Townhouses, and these photos, as reminders of what was lost.”
This short subject film was created in response to 11 super photographs taken by nabeguy’s prescient father in 1961. It was the efforts of like-minded individuals who successfully won the designation of landmark status in 1965 for Brooklyn Heights preserving the area’s historical and architectural significance.
These pictures were my first glimpse of what was then Fulton Street and later became Cadman Plaza West. Cadman Plaza’s incongruence with the rest of landmarked Brooklyn Heights always intrigued me.
This short film is about other Cadman Plazas around the North Heights that some may not know about. An example is the demolition at Poplar and Willow, among other sites, some of which are depicted in this short film.
