Ironic, isn’t it, that in a neighborhood committed by inclination as well as by law to the preservation of its architectural heritage, some Brooklyn Heights properties have been allowed to decay, unoccupied, neglected, and, it would seem, unloved.

For example, the 1855 brick one-family 25 Willow Place is an unwelcome touch of urban blight on this otherwise lovely street where it has stood empty for over forty years, still owned by the same absentee family and still not for sale. The house may soon be candidate for Demolition by Neglect, a provision of the NYC Landmarks Law that allows the Commission to take an owner to court in order to save a landmarked building from irreparable deterioration.

Then there’s the majestic brownstone at 194 Columbia Heights – the harbor side of the street, no less. This imposing residence has been vacant and padlocked for decades. Many of the windows facing the Promenade are boarded or bricked up, blind to the glorious harbor views. And the street-side areaway looks like an archeological dig. Now word comes of tens of thousands of dollars owed in back property taxes. One couldn’t imagine a more desirable location, or a house with greater potential, yet it has never been renovated nor offered for sale. It just continues to decay.

At 1 Monroe Place/100 Clark Street a major disaster was barely averted in 2004, when the then landlord allowed the outside retaining wall to destabilize, not only endangering neighbors and pedestrians, but forcing the 2 and 3 trains that run underneath the building to slow down in its vicinity. Rescued by a new owner who received the Landmarks Preservation Commission’s approval for a historically accurate renovation of the building, that project has been abandoned because of other non - structural problems, although, there is presently a substantial bulge in the façade wall facing Clark Street. This building is once more on the market.

Often there are intractable circumstances that prevent the sale of a property. But even where legal entanglements or family disputes make a sale difficult, the owners should accept their responsibility for the safety and visual integrity of the neighborhood.