Editor’s note: An updated version of this post can be viewed here.

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Row house
Address: 125 Maple Street
Cross Streets: Corner Bedford Avenue
Neighborhood: Lefferts Manor (Prospect Lefferts Gardens)
Year Built: 1909
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Axel Hedman
Other buildings by architect: Other houses in PLG include the Ocean on the Park group on Ocean Ave; row houses and flats buildings in Crown Heights North and South, Stuyvesant Heights, Park Slope, Prospect Heights.
Landmarked: Yes, part of Prospect Lefferts Gardens HD (1979)

The story: This block of houses is Axel Hedman’s finest residential row. He was Brooklyn’s most prolific designer of Renaissance Revival housing, and he designed a lot of residential rows, some of which are very similar to each other, but as the old Southern cooking compliment goes, “he put his elbow in this one.” It is truly different, and truly great row house architecture.

The two corner houses on Bedford Avenue, Nos. 125 and 126, face each other and form a majestic gateway to the row. This one, No. 125, is more impressive, mostly because of the ornate glass and iron entryway. Both houses are limestone clad for the first two stories on the front facade, and pale brick above and all across the ornamented Bedford Avenue facade. The ornament on these houses is pretty restrained for Hedman, who could slather it on, and appears mostly on the side of the house.

The Mediterranean red roof tiles…

…and elaborate bracketed cornices, along with the multitude of windows, topped off by the side bay with its beautiful leaded glass casement windows, are just gorgeous. To top it off, the houses even have garages behind them, also with the same tile roofs. And, as per the Lefferts Manor Covenant, all the houses on this block, including this one, will remain single-family residences forever. GMAP

(Originally posted 06/10/10)

Photograph: Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark, 2007


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