Park Slope Brooklyn -- 376 Union Street History

The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 376-378 Union Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues
Name: Row houses
Neighborhood: Park Slope
Year Built: 1887
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival/Queen Anne
Architects: Van Tuyl and Lincoln
Landmarked: No

This ABA group of three houses pops out of the streetscape, surrounded by earlier and more sedate Neo-Grec and Italianate brownstones on that side of the street.

Because of the numbering (376, 376A, 378), they must have been a plot undeveloped between earlier groups. But what infill! Here’s what makes these especially good houses: the unique double wide arched doorways, found more often in much more upscale houses closer to the Park.

Park Slope Brooklyn -- 376 Union Street History

Look at those great doors! The fine use of materials; the brick, stone and terra-cotta all compliment each other.

The ornamental terra-cotta tiles are balanced by the inventive mixture of smooth and rough faced stone in the parlor story windows of the A houses, and the garden levels of all three, and all are enhanced by the fine brickwork on the upper stories.

The B house in the center is a showpiece, with its top floor turret, and that projecting oriel bay supported by a very fine carved corbel ending at the center of the house.

The entire group is capped off with an ornate cornice with corner caps on the A houses, uniting the group. Van Tuyl and Lincoln really good, landmark-worthy job!

Park Slope Brooklyn -- 376 Union Street History

[Photos by Suzanne Spellen]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. My understanding is that numbers were allocated on the assumption that the lots (and houses) would be 20′ wide.

    But then a developer might buy, say, 200′ of empty land, and squeeze in 11 houses instead of 10. So one of the houses had to have an ‘A’ to make the numbering come out right.

  2. I always admire these three when I’m in the area. I’d love to see the paint stripped from the middle one, and those ruinous white vinyl windows replaced at 378.

    Have I missed your explanation of ___A addresses? Here in BedStuy they’re extremely common, and I have no definitive answer when asked about it.