M. H. Renken Dairy Building And The Henry And Susan McDonald House Get OK From Landmarks Preservation Commission

The Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted unanimously to grant landmark status to two area buildings: the mid-19th century Henry and Susan McDonald House at 128 Clinton Avenue in Wallabout and the M.H. Renken Dairy Company building at 580 and 582-584 Myrtle Avenue in Clinton Hill.

The Renken building is the first on Myrtle Avenue to be declared landmarks, noted the Myrtle Avenue Brooklyn Partnership on their Facebook page. Built in 1932 and 1937 in the Art Moderne style by Koch & Wagner, it has been on the LPC calendar since late 2012. The Renken Dairy Company moved its offices in 1962 to Middlebury, Connecticut.

As noted over at ForgottenNY, the LPC describes the unique architecture thusly:

The Renken Dairy, like others from this period, originally consisted of a group of buildings where the milk was delivered, cleaned and pasteurized, and bottled, all while being kept cool by its own ice plants. This office structure and a nearby utilitarian garage are the only surviving sections of what was once a bustling complex.

. . . This style was a simplified version of the earlier Art Deco style, featuring light colors and straight lines to provide a sense of dynamism related to machines and their speed, seen as emblematic of the 20th century. The building design is expressed through horizontal bands of red brick against a light brick background and projecting or recessed planes on the building’s facades. The firm of Koch & Wagner designed numerous industrial, commercial and residential properties, primarily in Brooklyn and Queens, from 1910 until 1951. This building serves as a reminder of an earlier, more pastoral time in Brooklyn’s history, when most neighborhoods had a local milk processor for local distribution to insure the product’s freshness and quality.

The McDonald House was built in 1853-54 and is described by LPC as “an Italianate frame house with Greek Revival style elements.”

LPC Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan noted in a statement that the group’s vote is an acknowledgment that the “very rare and well-preserved frame house is an important reminder of a time when the Wallabout area of Brooklyn was undergoing rapid development” — one that should “remain a part of the City’s historic fabric for generations to come.”

Landmark designation means any attempt to alter the building’s exterior or wholesale demolish the building must be presented to LPC for approval.