Michael Williams has watched over the past six decades as brownstones just outside his tree-lined block in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, were razed or fell apart.

Some of the building facades were replaced with stucco. Other properties were demolished to make way for high-rises.

Now that his stretch of Willoughby Avenue is part of a new historic district, Williams said he hopes fewer homes will suffer the same fate as those that faded.

“My history that I remember is gone,” said Williams, 67. “This is Bed-Stuy. Why destroy it?”

The city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission on Tuesday approved the creation of the Willoughby-Hart Historic District, which residents and historians say comprises two of the last remaining full rows of intact brownstones in the northwestern corner of Bed-Stuy.

The distinction is warranted because of the brownstones’ architectural integrity and the strong, unique “sense of place” in keeping with other historic districts, according to the commission’s research team. The designation also preserves a stretch of Black history in a neighborhood and city where the number of Black residents has been declining.

Landmark status represents official recognition of the buildings’ architectural, historical or cultural significance and worthiness of preservation. It requires any future renovation or demolition of the properties to receive the commission’s prior approval.

The rowhouses were built in the late 19th century and were initially occupied by Jewish immigrants from Russia, before the neighborhood’s African American population grew in the mid-20th century. By 1969, 80% of Bed-Stuy’s population of 250,000 was Black, according to the commission’s research.

Since then, Bed-Stuy has gentrified and its former Black majority has eroded. According to an NYU Furman Center analysis of census data, 41.2% of the neighborhood’s residents identified as Black in 2022.

Suzanne Spellen, an architectural historian who focuses on Central Brooklyn, said the integrity of the brownstones along the two blocks is also a testament to Black homeowners who toiled to maintain the properties in the face of redlining and disinvestment.

“The [commission’s] report may reflect more the architectural details and the architects or the developers,” Spellen said. “But they wouldn’t still be here if it wasn’t for the Black community.”

While the historic designation passed the commission, the movement to landmark the blocks met some resistance.

Adam Leitman Bailey, an attorney representing some Orthodox Jewish homeowners opposed to the change, has said it would mean extra red tape and higher costs for building repairs and renovations needed to accommodate large families.

In an article in the New York Post, Bailey was quoted as decrying the move as antisemitic. He also alleged that his clients weren’t invited to meetings on the landmarking decision and were harassed by neighbors.

“Never in the history of the United States of America has a body voted to remove this many Jews from streets,” Bailey testified at a public hearing on the proposed district a few weeks ago. The commission said he represents 33 homeowners.

He did not respond to a request for an interview.

Judy Schwimmer, who identified herself as a homeowner, spoke against the landmarking at the hearing.

“They are trying to prevent specific groups from moving into the blocks,” she said. “I hope that you will all stand on the right side of history.”

Ahead of their vote, several commissioners rejected the charge that the action was antisemitic or aimed at excluding anyone from the neighborhood. The commissioners noted that the rules for historic districts only govern alterations affecting the exterior of a property and the commission regularly approves home extensions.

In a statement, Commissioner Michael Goldblum called the antisemitism charge “weak.”

“To misuse the claim is to diminish its power,” wrote Goldblum, who added that he is a practicing Jew. “When the time comes that we urgently need to rally against true racists and antisemites, those who have worn the phrase out by overplaying it may find that it is more easily dismissed by the broader public.”

“We’re not preventing change,” Commissioner Mark Ginsberg said. “We’re just preserving the historic character and historic importance of these buildings.”

Historians, preservationists, residents and local state Sen. Jabari Brisport and Assemblymember Stefani Zinerman were among the 54 mostly supportive attendees who testified at the public hearing on June 11. The commission has also received 117 letters in support of landmarking the blocks, including from local City Councilmember Chi Ossé, and 115 in opposition.

The commission identified the two blocks as an “area of interest” in a survey of Bed-Stuy in 1992. But it wasn’t until 2021 that the area was “prioritized for further consideration,” and then residents applied for consideration, said Sarah Eccles, a researcher for the commission.

Residents of historic districts in New York City tend to be whiter, wealthier and more educated than the rest of the city, according to a 2016 analysis by the Furman Center.

Claudette Brady, director of Save Harlem Now!, a local preservation group, testified that historically Black neighborhoods like Harlem and Bed-Stuy have lost “vast swaths” of architecturally significant buildings and relics of Black history due to government redlining, neglect and the landmarks commission’s lack of attention.

Brady pointed out that at a previous hearing on the proposed Bed-Stuy district, Commission Vice Chair Frederick Bland asked about such inaction: “Why does it take so long to get to us [commissioners] as a potential designation?”

The landmarking of the blocks took on new urgency for some residents after the demolition of a 120-year-old French Gothic mansion turned community center that some locals had petitioned to preserve. It’s where Michael Williams had Cub Scout meetings and Joanne Joyner-Wells, who’s lived in the neighborhood for more than 65 years, hosted her wedding.

“Each of these buildings, they have a story to tell,” said Charyl Pitts-Howard, 49, president of the Hart-Nostrand-Marcy Block Association. “And landmarking will ensure that their story gets passed on, that they don’t become demolished or destroyed or forgotten. It ensures their worth.”

Williams said it’s no coincidence that the block is so well-maintained. He said the residents have worked hard to maintain their properties and beautify the area.

After one of the nearby brownstones caught fire, Williams said his father urged the city’s fire department not to tear it down, and the owners later repaired the facade. The local block association bought a gas street lamp for every property and he installed cement planters along the sidewalk.

Several brownstones on the blocks are currently wrapped in tarps for renovations or taped with work notices from the city Department of Buildings. Williams said some neighbors raced to alter their houses in advance of the landmark changes.

Any renovations with a valid DOB permit can proceed without the commission’s review, according to the commission. All other renovations will require its input.

“We will continue to monitor any work that may impact the integrity of the proposed district, and staff continues to be available to meet with property owners,” Eccles, the researcher for the commission, said at the public hearing earlier this month.