Admirals' Row, a collection of historic buildings at the southwestern edge of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, housed high-ranking officers from the 1840s until the early 1970s.

The city wants the Army National Guard, which owns the property, to transfer the land so that the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation can demolish the houses and replace them with a supermarket and a large industrial building. Residents of nearby public housing projects would be given preference in hiring.

But preservation groups like the New York Landmarks Conservancy and the Historic Districts Council want to save the ruined buildings -- 10 houses, built between the 1840s and 1901, and a timber shed from about the 1830s.

The shed, which is 33 feet tall, 60 feet wide and 103 feet long, was used to store new wooden ship masts as they cured, and it is believed to be the only such surviving shed at a naval yard in the country. Preservationists think the shed is prime for ''adaptive reuse'' as, say, a farmers' market or even light manufacturing.

On Wednesday, the Municipal Art Society presented six alternative plans to the Army National Guard, arguing that the historic buildings could be incorporated into the new retail and industrial space planned at the six-acre site slated for redevelopment.

Lisa Kersavage, director of advocacy and policy at the Municipal Art Society, said its plan would not imperil any of the economic development for the site, or the job creation that would accompany such development.

''Creative site planning with involvement of the community enabled us to create alternative plans that meet the Navy Yard's program for a grocery store and retail and industrial space while allowing for the restoration and reuse of the historic buildings,'' she said in a statement.

Convincing the development corporation, however, could be a tall order.

Andrew Kimball, president of the corporation, said in a statement that saving the buildings would not be economically feasible.

The corporation's plan calls for more than 300 parking spaces around a 65,000-square-foot supermarket, about the size of the Fairway in Red Hook.

Ms. Kersavage said that the parking could be reconfigured or reduced, producing ''a greener and more pedestrian-friendly site.''

The Army National Guard is expected to draft a memorandum of agreement with the city to govern the future use of the land, perhaps by late fall, according to a consultant for the Guard.


PHOTOS (PHOTOGRAPH BY GABRIELE STABILE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES) The 11 buildings of Admirals' Row, top, are in considerable decay. In one proposal, houses along Flushing Avenue in Brooklyn would be preserved, with stores and a space for pedestrians. (PHOTOGRAPH BY ANDREW BURDICK/ARCHITECTURE FOR HUMANITY NEW YORK)