Heights Casino Uncovered, and Green!

By on June 10, 2010 10:32 pm in Architecture, Brooklyn Heights, News
Photos by Chuck Taylor

Photos by Chuck Taylor

I was considering the Heights Casino, beneath whose sidewalk bridge for what seems like a small eternity I have dodged strollers and racquet wielding members charging down the steps, for a Cheops award, but today the scaffolding and bridge came down, revealing once again the Dutch colonial revival facade (including a row of English sunrises crowning the three large central windows), and, for the first time, solar panels skylights (well, they’re still green: they let in sunlight, which should cut down the need for fossil-fueled heating in winter) on the roof.

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  • nabeguy

    So, is there any explanation behind the perpetual scaffolding?

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    When it first went up, I was told it was expected to be there for about six months. I’ve since heard that the contractor found serious problems with the roof, which required much more extensive work than first anticipated.

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    This is great news indeed. This is a wonderful building and will receive extensive examination in my upcoming film, “Montague Street – Part II”. Hey, if I don’t plug my upcoming film, who will. lol

  • http://bivforbrooklyn.com/index.php/healthcare Doug Biviano

    Way to go Heights Casino!

    But don’t forget where you first saw solar panels on Montague Street:

    http://www.greenpointnews.com/news/on-the-candidates-doug-biviano

  • Bartmann

    Today I saw this blog, did some research and found that it is a squash and tennis club. I called them up and asked them about membership and the person on the phone said “It’s a private club, you have to be sponsored.”

    I belong to two private clubs in Massachusetts because of my family connections and not through any hard work on my own. Think of them as default family memberships. So even though I belong to two, there’s something about private clubs that I find unsavory.

    Both of the clubs I belong to are expensive, so they automatically exclude the middle and lower classes. To become a member you also have to be sponsored, often by many members. This means you have to travel in the same social circles as the members, so this is another layer of exclusion. Both of these clubs have no more openings and there is a waiting list a mile long. So this is a further layer of exclusion.

    The result is that these two clubs are filled with wealthy whites and, so not to be perceived as discriminatory, a few jews, catholics, and blacks.

    I don’t know the Heights Casino’s policies, but I’m sure they run along the same lines: expensive, sponsorship by members, and a waiting list.

    Again I find this all so unsavory.

    What do you think about private clubs?

    Bartmann

  • CharlieS

    So you belong to racist (xenophobic?) clubs in Massachusetts, and assume then that all private clubs are similar? I love how you intelligently came to that conclusion and decided to post it on a public forum.

  • rank outsider

    “What do you think about private clubs?”

    Tired at the thought of them. “Was it ever thus”.

    Yes, Bartmann, they are unsavory. On the other hand, they aren’t going away anytime soon, so I do my best to ignore them.

  • AAR

    New flowering plants and shrubs were planted today for the enjoyment of all who walk on Montague toward the Promenade. The Casino is not so exclusive. If you are interested, I suggest that you ask to speak with the membership chairman or president and/or check around with people you know in the neighborhood — it takes two members to sponsor, interview by membership committee, payment of an initiation fee, payment of annual dues and meeting a monthly dining minimum. It is an excellent community club, especially for families with children who want to play squash and/or tennis. Some members are “Old Brooklyn Heights” and some are new rich, but there are regular folks who belong as well, including many one might characterize as “OBH” and/or rich.

  • ABC

    “What do you think about private clubs?”

    the ones you belong to sound shitty. why one earth do you pay them money?

  • AEB

    By definition, a private club is exclusive. It admits some and refuses membership to others. No one likes to be excluded–and no one should be on the basis of race, religion, and so on.

    Because of the dues (is that the right word?) some private clubs charge, a segment of the population will always be ineligible for membership in them. Otherwise…if one cannot prove bias, private clubs, it seems to me, have the right to select members as they choose.

    Of course, it’s often tricky to decide to what degree overt or covert discrimination enters into the member-vetting process.

  • http://selfabsorbedboomer.blogspot.com Claude Scales

    Groucho Marx had the right idea.

  • Bob

    Did the Casino also lose the Porto-San out front that’s been there for months, or is that part of the green plan too?

  • Karl Junkersfeld

    “PLEASE ACCEPT MY RESIGNATION. I DON’T WANT TO BELONG TO ANY CLUB THAT WILL ACCEPT PEOPLE LIKE ME AS A MEMBER”.

    Groucho Marx in a telegram to the Friar’s Club in beverly Hills

    That said, I agree AAR, this club is not super exclusive as it was back in the early 20th century. If you got the cash and are decent citizen, you are in. That leaves me out on 2 counts.

  • Ben

    I have had dinner a few times over the years at the HC. the Brooklyn Lions Club holds monthly meetings at the HC they let the Lions have meet here free of charge. Several Board members of the Lions are African American. I suspect that the club is made up os mostly WASP blue blood, Mayflower types. I do know that there are a few members of the Jewish faith both families are inter-faith couples, Unitarian Church types. It is a nice place. These are nice people at the HC.

  • bhmom3

    Ben: You are implying that there are a few Jewish HC families and both are inter-faith? There are many Jewish families (not that it matters, but where both partners are Jewish), and by saying this you are just fueling the spread of misinformation about this club.

  • Andrew Porter

    I’m just Really Happy that the sidewalk shed and scaffolding are gone!

  • BHer

    Although I am not a member (but am a Jew), I do know many, many Jewish families that are members. It’s all about the cash. If you have enough, you can get a sponsor to let you they in.