Late Broken Angel House Gets A Great Mural
Three months ago, we said goodbye to the Broken Angel House, a massive installation/eyesore built atop a home in Clinton Hill by artist and self-taught architect Arthur Wood. It a bittersweet farewell, but it seems that something equally significant has gone up in its place.
To assuage those who are chalking the destruction of the Broken Angel house up as a total loss, developers Barrett Design and Development recruited Pratt graduate Misha Tyutyunik and a group of local 6th and 7th graders to paint a mural tracing the history of 4 Downing Street (the house’s address).
As it turns out, the site of the Broken Angel has a very interesting history. In the 19th century, it was a farm before becoming a tenement house and trolley car office in the ensuing years. Next, the building became residential and fell into disrepair until Arthur Wood purchased it in 1979 for $2,000. And many of us know what happened after that: Wood began constructing a massive glass and reclaimed wood structure atop the house much to the chagrin of his neighbors. That stood until 2006 when a fire broke out and the Department of Buildings condemned the building. The property was sold to the aforementioned Barrett Design and Development in 2012 for $4.1 million.
Eight condos will go up on the site by 2015, but on the other side of construction wall, there’s now a 32-foot-long mural depicting the site’s storied history—including an image of a large blue angel statue. The work is called “The Seasons of 4 Downing.”
To check out more images of the mural, head to DNAinfo, or just, you know, drop by. We’re sure the trip will be worth it.
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