FORT GREENE — The "Great Wall of Brooklyn" mural may be blocked from the public view if a proposed six-story building rises in front of it, the creator fears.
The mural, which shows a Depression-era family in front of a rusty blue car with the caption "Achtung Baby… Here Comes the Next Great Depression," can be seen from both Myrtle and Vanderbilt avenues and has become a fixture in the neighborhood since it was created in 2009.
The property next to the mural was home to a Gulf Gas Station, leaving the majority of the lot wide open and providing a clear view of the artwork for onlookers.
But if developers get their plans approved, an 80-foot building with 45 residential units would likely rise directly in front of the mural, artist Charlotta Janssen said.
It was not clear what the building's footprint will be.
Janssen, who owns Lola Bklyn restaurant where the mural is displayed, said she has attempted to contact the developers several times but they have been unresponsive.
"There is a lot of emotion around the rise of this building and its potential to block the mural," she said. "And it would be nice if they commmunicated at all — which they don't."
Developers All Year Management and architects Oda Office Of Design & Architect did not respond to a request for comment.
Janssen created the mural as the first step in a plan to provide the wall for a rotating roster of Brooklyn artists interested in creating large-scale art. The project never quite made it off the ground and Janssen's mural remained, she said.
Janssen said that if the new building brings tenants who embrace the neighborhood as it is — then losing the mural would not be so bad.
"If it makes way for something positive then maybe it's a good thing," she said.
All Year Management's initial plans for the building, filed last spring, were disapproved by the Department of Buildings because the application was not complete, a spokesman for the agency said. A complete application has not yet been refiled. The plans are also pending zoning approval.
The Gulf Gas Station moved to 46 Clinton Ave. — between Flushing and Park Avenues — last year.
