A Brooklyn legislator is taking a second swing at getting baseball legend Jackie Robinson’s old East Flatbush home designated as a landmark.
Democratic City Councilman Jumaane Williams struck out with the Landmarks Preservation Commission last year after the panel determined that the rental at 5224 Tilden Ave. wasn’t eligible for protection.
But now he’s launched a national petition — one that’s garnered more than 8,500 signatures in a few months — to honor the temporary home of the man who broke Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947.
“This home represents the triumph of racial unity over discrimination, fear and division, and it must be preserved — especially just eight months after anti-black and anti-Jewish racial slurs were scrawled across Robinson’s statue at Brooklyn Cyclones’ stadium,” Williams said.
The two-family house was made a national landmark in 1976 — but Williams said the city’s designation would offer more protection to keep it intact.
The dispute arises from a disagreement over when and for how long Robinson and his wife, Rachel, lived in the home.
The commission insists the Robinsons lived in the house from April 1948 through May 1949.
“It was determined that the building on Tilden Avenue where he and his family rented an apartment for a period of just over one year does not commemorate his life and work as well as his home in Addisleigh Park, where he resided during major milestones of his career,” the commission said.
Robinson lived in Addisleigh Park from June 1949 through 1956, according to the commission.
But Williams says his records and those of the National Historic Landmarks Program show Robinson moved to the Tilden Avenue house in 1947.