Carter's Review

This attractive, six-story building at 34 Crooke Avenue near the Parade Ground on the south side of Prospect Park in Brooklyn was erected in 2008 by Boaz Gilad.

It was designed by Robert Scarano and is notable for having a very setback plan on one of its side façades for such a narrow, mid-block building.  There are six setbacks in plan on the north façade.

It has 23 condominium apartments.

It is between Parade Place and St. Paul Place.

According to a 2007 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle by Linda Collins, “its name, Alvora, is an homage to the history of the area. It is named after Dean Alvord, a turn-of-the-century realtor who bought and developed 50 acres with residences near the Parade Ground.”

“In the mid-19th century,” the article continued, the Parade Ground referred to a swath of land used primarily for military drills and as public space for veterans of the Civil War. It was even called "one of the most popular resorts in the country" in a Parks Annual Report of that era.  Later, the area was increasingly used for outdoor athletics. By the late 1930s the Parade Ground's baseball diamonds attracted an average crowd of 20,000 daily to watch soon-to-be-discovered baseball players like Sandy Koufax and Joe Torre - even Manny Ramirez played there in later years. And a young Rudy Giuliani, who lived nearby until he was 7, probably also played on those famous fields.”

Bottom Line

A pleasant mid-block, low-rise, residential building very near Prospect Park with very attractive, shiny metal railed balconies, a smattering of very small windows, a two-tone avenue façade and a six-stepped side plan a la Scarano, Brooklyn’s controversial form-giver.

Description

The building has a two-tone façade on the avenue with red on one side, which is setback a bit, and dark gray on the other, which is one story higher. 

The building also has some very attractive balconies with shiny and curved metal railings.  There are more railings on the rear of the building, which is one story shorter than the middle of the building.

An early rendering of the project published in 2007 indicated that each of the setbacks on the north façade, which really is not visible from the street, had a different color.  An aerial view on Google Earth, however, indicated that the “ragged” plan was uniformly colored a very light white. 

The “ragged” plan, however, was quite distinctive and unusual for a low-rise, mid-block residential building and another indication that Mr. Scarano, despite his publicized controversies over building regulations, was one of the city’s most inventive residential architects. 

Several windows on the building’s avenue frontage are very small rectangles. 

Amenities

The building has a roof deck with outdoor showers, fitness center, a garage, common storage, a central laundry and video security.

Apartments

Apartment 6C is a two-bedroom unit that has an entry foyer that leads past a windowed, 11-foot-long, pass-through kitchen to a 12-foot-square living/dining room that opens onto a large terrace.

Apartment 4A is a two-bedroom unit with a small entry foyer that leads past a open, pass-through kitchen to a 13-foot-long living/dining room with a mall side balcony.  The master bedroom has a larger front balcony.

Apartment 5D is a one-bedroom unit with a long entry foyer that leads past an 8-foot-windowed storage room and an 11-foot-long open, pass-through kitchen to a 14-foot-long living/dining room with a balcony.