Illegal Scarano addition at Carroll Gardens “Hell House” finally getting dismantled

The rooftop addition atop Carroll Gardens’ notorious “Hell House” is finally coming down after the city agreed to rezone the neighborhood to prevent out-of-scale development, according to the Brooklyn Paper. The “Hell House,” a 19th-century building, at 333 Carroll Street between Hoyt and Bond streets, belongs to developer Isaac Fischman, who in 2005 had hired controversial architect Robert Scarano to build the 40-foot steel addition. Neighbors were so outraged at the eyesore that they lobbied successfully against the project — Scarano was fired in 2008 after the city found that he had falsely claimed that the addition was legal under the site’s zoning — and ultimately convinced the city to rezone the entire area. Work has been stalled at the site since Scarano was axed, and Fischman subsequently lost his case to get the illegal addition grandfathered in under the previous zoning laws. This week, he began tearing down the two-story addition and said he still plans to convert the building into 37 condominium units, designed by NSC Architecture. [Brooklyn Paper]