81 Fenimore St. PLG, Composite

A look at Brooklyn, then and now.

Like an archeological dig, Brooklyn is made up of layers. In Flatbush, the fields the Canarsee roamed became cultivated farmland under the Dutch. That in turn gave way to freestanding homes on large plots, which were incorporated into the land deed of Lefferts Manor, and turned into smaller row houses.

That’s what happened here on Fenimore Street, as it happened throughout many Brooklyn neighborhoods, but in this rare instance, we have photographs.

Our period photo shows 81 Fenimore Street. The photograph was taken in 1910. It shows a large wood-framed house on the property. The style was Second Empire, with a central tower with an even taller mansard roof and widow’s walk. The view of Brooklyn from the mansard windows must have been fantastic.

The house was very large, with a back extension, as well as a side bump out bay. The maps show that there was another similar bay on the other side of the house, as well.

1910 photo: Ebay
1910 photo: Ebay

A look at the map from 1906 shows us what the property looked like in relationship to the surrounding community.

1906 map. New York Public Library
1906 map. New York Public Library

This house would have been built between the end of the Civil War, around 1865, up to the end of the 1870s, when the style fell out of favor, replaced by the Romanesque Revival and Queen Anne styles.

During this time, Flatbush, which PLG is a part of, began to lose its sleepy country village character and started to become more suburban. Great advances in public transportation, both in horse trolley lines and railroad service, made Flatbush a desirable suburban retreat.

Prospect Park, which is only blocks away, was also a great draw to people wanting to live in this northernmost section of Flatbush. This house would have been the perfect kind of suburban home; a villa on a large plot of land, but steps away from the conveniences of Flatbush Avenue and public transportation.

After the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, the area became more popular than ever. Developers began buying up the remaining farmland and some of the larger estates, clearing it, and began building single family homes like those going up further south in Flatbush, as well as groups of more urban-style row houses and flats buildings.

This house belonged to the Mersereau family by the 1890s. Edgar W. Mersereau was a manufacturer of stamped advertising tin containers. His factory, which was on Pearl Street in Dumbo produced pressed metal advertising tins for other companies.

Envelope from the collection of johnwood1946.files.blogspot
Envelope from the collection of johnwood1946.files.blogspot

All kinds of food and other products were packaged in these containers. Mersereau Manufacturing Company tins are collectables today. The company produced these products from 1887 to 1901, when they were bought out by the American Can Company.

In 1899, Ada Mersereau, Edgar’s second wife, tried to commit suicide here in this house. On November 13th of that year, the 35 year old woman was in a despondent state, and slashed her wrist with her husband’s straight edge razor. She had been under a nurse’s care, but the nurse had stepped out of the bedroom for a moment, and Ada saw her chance.

Drawing (Brooklyn Eagle) from the collection of johnwood1946.files.blogspot
Drawing (Brooklyn Eagle) from the collection of johnwood1946.files.blogspot

When the nurse returned, she found Mrs. Mersereau bleeding to death on the bed. She had sliced the artery so deeply that doctors had to amputate her hand. She did make a complete recovery, but the couple moved soon afterward to a house on Ocean Avenue.

Edgar died in 1906 at the young age of 54. Ada outlived him by many years, dying in 1930. The couple had no children, and their estate went to distant relatives.

After the Mersereau family left this house, it passed on to another owner. That owner also left, so that by 1906, the contents of the house were sold at auction here at the house.

1906 Brooklyn Eagle ad.
1906 Brooklyn Eagle ad.

The house became a high class boarding establishment called “The Fenimore.” Ads for rooms for rent continue until around 1914.

1914 ad. Brooklyn Eagle
1914 ad. Brooklyn Eagle

By this time, the surrounding block and neighborhood had changed substantially. Many of the wood-framed houses which had lined the street were replaced by various groups of row houses and flats buildings.

Records tell us that James Lefferts, heir to the Lefferts family that gave the neighborhood its name, sold 600 plots of the family homestead for the development of Lefferts Manor in 1893. This northern side of the block forms the southern boundary of James Lefferts’ planned development.

Did he still own this land, or had he sold it long ago, and it got caught up in the Manor? More research is needed to determine that.

Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps

Construction of the single family houses that make up the Manor began in the last years of the 19th century and continued sporadically until about 1930. Different developers used different architects and architectural styles to create a unique urban/suburban community.

This group of seven houses; three pairs and a single, were built in 1920. As we can see in the 1916 map, they were built on the empty land next door, and on the site of the Fenimore. They join the back of the flats buildings on Flatbush Avenue, and the row of six limestone houses which also appear in the 1906 map.

1916 map. New York Public Library
1916 map. New York Public Library

The houses were built for the Fenimore Building Company, and were designed by the firm of Slee & Bryson, which was responsible for a great deal of the housing in this neighborhood. They are best known for their red brick Colonial Revival houses, both attached and free-standing, but they were also adept at these English terrace-style row houses.

The houses all have garages in the back, another signal of changing times. Today, these well designed houses are just as desirable as a Second Empire mansion was, fifty years before these houses were built. Different times, different needs, but we all want our own little castles to call our own.

Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps

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