129 Metropolitan Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 129 Metropolitan Avenue by Carter Horsley

Some fine buildings inexplicably slip under the radar.

This is one.

The 6-story building at 129 Metropolitan Avenue in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn is notable for its rich dark blue brick façade and extremely handsome fenestration and balconies.

It was designed by Saverio Tarantino of Tarlan Design Build LLC for Metropolitan Plaza LLC of which Louis Handler is a principle.

What is particularly fascinating about this building's public anonymity is that it stands out dramatically next to a series of one-story buildings to its west, several of which are extremely interesting.

One of the buildings, for example, takes a clue from Jasper Johns and has its large garage door painted to resemble the American flag but the door is heavily textured because it is an articulated garage door and because it has weathered greatly.

Adjacent to it, just to the east, is a spectacular one-story building that apparently is a memorial to "The Wild Ones" and "Easy Rider" for in front of its large garage door is a seriously corroded, rusty motorcycle that must be a work of art, perhaps in protest to the too-chromy Harley-Davidsons that poor people can't acquire.

Perhaps these two buildings explain why some people think Williamsburg has some artists.

Their juxtaposition with 129 Metropolitan Avenue is startling and it should be noted that a slightly smaller, new and well-kept building is just to the east of it at 135 Metropolitan Avenue.

It is intriguing that blue is such a rare building color in New York. One pale blue brick apartment building on Madison Avenue recently decided to opt for a new, dusty red brick façade, and there is one very handsome small new apartment building in Harlem with a lapis lazuli-color brick façade. There are, of course, a few terracotta apartment buildings that have touches of blue in their decorative elements but true blue is a rare commodity and 129's is an exceptionally rich hue.

It would be worthy of note even if it were a blank wall, but this building has superb proportions and delicate white window casements, door enclosures and very thin balconies that are apparently shared by two 2-bedroom condominium apartments with discrete air-conditioners on each floor.

According to city documents, the building has a keyed elevator and a garage.

Hopefully, preservationists will landmark the block.