Read More

Contrary to some reports, the wings aren t being clipped. The feathers are just being pruned so the wings can keep flying.
The new Broken Angel, promised Brooklyn developer and resident Shahn Christian Andersen, will be even more incredible, outlandish, and idiosyncratic than it was before.

It will also be up to firecode.
Three months ago, as reported in the Star, the owners of Clinton Hill s most unique penthouse - Arthur and Cynthia Wood, married for over 48 years - were forcibly removed from their home of 27 years on orders from the Department of Buildings. Arthur was led out in handcuffs and booked at the 88th Precinct.

In the heat of the moment, while standing stranded on the sidewalks of
Classon Avenue last October 19, Wood promised a multi-million lawsuit the likes of which the city had never seen before.
Since then, the lobbying efforts of his city councilwoman, Letitia James, and the good counsel of many of his neighbors - including Andersen - have brokered a tentative truce between the Woods and the city. If Arthur and Cynthia can submit solid engineering plans to get their jerry-rigged building up to code, then the Department of Buildings will rescind their vacate order and they will eventually be able to move back in.

Andersen has recently gained a reputation in the neighborhood as a guy who will fix up even the most dilapidated buildings, and it is this fact - among others - which led the Woods to choose him as their development partner for the next phase of Broken Angel s flight path.
I m just about as crazy as he is, smirked Andersen, not even half-joking. That s why Arthur has chosen to let me help him realize his vision.

Two blocks away, Andersen is getting ready to move into his own architectural masterpiece, a formerly dilapidated building, landmarked years ago by the city, that no other developer wanted a part of - unless they could tear it down and rebuild it from scratch. It was this flight of fancy, among others, that endeared him to local real estate watchers.
He s a responsible developer, lauded James last Sunday afternoon, who is sensitive to the character of the community.

The previous day, James had sat down with Andersen, the Woods, and several lawyers, and together they hammered out a deal that was in danger of falling apart just hours before. (James, a lawyer herself, has been representing the Woods pro bono in front of various city agencies.)
After the potential partnership of Andersen and the Woods was leaked to the press last Thursday, the Woods almost backed out when other land speculators suddenly emerged offering nearly $2 million for the property.

But taking such an offer would have involved choosing money over art, not something the frugal and creative Woods are known for.
In the end, every physical detail has meaning for the couple. Cynthia
told the Star, back in September of 2004, that the house had cured her of cancer twice.

Arthur, meanwhile, proudly toured us through every detail - from the rooftop camera obscura to his own paintings displayed on every wall.
The 100-foot-tall former trolley warehouse will be converted into a number of residential condominiums, community facility space, and a penthouse reserved for the Woods to grow old in. We re not calling it the penthouse, though, smiled Andersen.

It s Arthur s greenhouse.
While it is true that the 40-foot-plus tall structure which currently and iconically tops the five-story brick building will be taken down; it will be rebuilt with fireproof materials consistent with Arthur s grandest ideas for the building.
It s been said that some architects consider Broken Angel to be folk art and not architecture, Andersen said of Wood s vision, but this building is going to be landmarked in 20 years because it will be different from anything else in Brooklyn, or any other building in the Western Hemisphere.

PHOTO CAPTION 1: The iconic penthouse, which will be taken down and then rebuilt: new, improved, and fireproof.
PHOTO CAPTION 2: Arthur and Cynthia, back in happier days during the summer of 2004, when the Department of Building didn t care about their house but Dave Chappelle did. He filmed his Block Party concert movie - starring Kanye West, Erika Badu, and a Fugees reunion - there the next day.