The Amity St. Horror..(Renters find the floors "unusual")

[SoCalDem]

http://www.curbed.com/archives/2005/07/27/the_amity_st_horror.php

The Amity St. Horror
Wednesday, July 27, 2005, by Joshua

Apartment hunting on Amity St. in Brooklyn last weekend, a Curbed reader stepped in something. (No, not that.) Her story: "On Sunday, we traipsed through a large, but run-down and overpriced place in Cobble Hill. While I looked around and pondered how they could seriously ask for $2500 for the place, Alex suddenly yelped. 'What the fuck is THIS?!?' Thank goodness for camera phones:"

After the jump, the landlord suggests a workaround, and we peek at the listing:

Our apartment hunter continues, "I guess when you're building a brownstone in the 1880s, and you're a little short on the darker color wood, you need to improvise. We turned to the landlord guy and said, 'You haven't fixed this?!?!' He suggested that we could just put furniture over them. All four, in every room. And then he told us that there had been a number of Jews who'd looked at the place and 'seemed really bothered by it.' Yes. One would think.

"No, we didn't take the place. But on our way out, I told the guy to think about sanding it down and staining the gaps already. Either that, or try advertising in 'specialty publications.'"

She says she was shown the place by a small-time local broker. Fortunately, Corcoran's got the listing, which, surprisingly, makes no mention of the floors. There are (eerily lit) pics, though, and, yes, it seems as though the furniture is strategically placed:

[Skittles]

1. used to be symbol of good luck

a long, LONG time ago

http://history1900s.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.holocaust-trc.org%2Fwmp14.htm

[SoCalDem]

2. If the floors are original, that's one thing, but....

seeing as how the symbol has come to stand for something else now, I think I would have turned those corners into something else a LONG time ago..like maybe in the 40's :)

[Skittles]

6. correct

I would never stand for it - absolutely not!!!

[Canuckistanian]

3. Considering that the Nazis didn't adopt the swastika until 1920

I doubt that the builders in the 1880's had any Nazi sympathies.

Besides, the swastika has been around for centuries as a symbol of well-being in Asia, particularly in India.

This would have been during the early Art Nouveau period, where experimental designs using cultural or natural patterns were in style.

[Odin2005]

4. ROFLMAO!!!

:rofl:

[NutmegYankee]

5. People that freak out over swastikas from the 1800s are just plain ignorant.

The swastika is still a religious symbol in many parts of the world. The Nazis stole it to create a bullshit link to India (Aryan) remember? The Nazi one has a specific coloring and orientation, always facing right at 45 degrees. The one above is flat on its base, as is the traditional religious use. (the photo is taken at a 45 degree angle)

People get too hyped up on this stuff.

on edit: spelling

[Skittles]

7. ?

I don't care about its history - I would not want it on my floors!!!!

[XemaSab]

8. If that freaks you out, next time you're in the atrium of the Supreme Court building

look UP. :)

[SoCalDem]

9. Okay now I am curious.. what;s up there.. I'll never see DC

spill :)

[XemaSab]

10. The ceiling

is covered with an interlaced swastika pattern.

You should go to DC. It's really cool. Really. :)

How you holding up? :shrug:

[SoCalDem]

11. Just ash & crud in the air..and winds.. no fire here

:)

[XemaSab]

12. Yeah, we had like, a grit storm yesterday.

It was NAAAASTY.

Glad to hear you're okay.

It's sleepy time for me. Night. :)

[SoCalDem]

13. Sleep tight

[QueenOfCalifornia]

14. It isn't an "atrium" (I don't think)

but The Great Hall - here is a photo: http://www.pbase.com/steveyaphotos/image/74914258

[SoCalDem]

15. Aaah.. That's a modified Greek key design

:)

[QueenOfCalifornia]

17. That's

what I thought - it can look like Prescott Bush did the decorating of the ceiling if you look at it long enough though.

[Qanisqineq]

16. Buddhist symbol

it's all over Korea

edit: of course, I don't know their intent when laying that floor, but I'm just pointing out that it isn't necessarily a Nazi symbol