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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: 2-4 Nevins Street, corner of Flatbush Avenue and Fulton St.
Name: Smith, Gray and Company Building
Neighborhood: Downtown Brooklyn
Year Built: Original building 1888, rebuilt in 1893
Architectural Style: Italian Renaissance Revival
Architect: Peter J. Lauritzen
Landmarked: No

Why chosen: This odd looking, but obviously once impressive building has always intrigued me. This area was once the heart of Downtown Brooklyn’s shopping and theatre district. In 1888, the Smith, Gray Company was a very successful men’s retail store, housed in a building designed by prominent architect Peter J. Lauritzen, who also designed the landmarked Offerman Building, on Fulton St, (until recently, the home of Conway’s). The store elegantly hugged the awkward corner of Fulton, Nevins and Flatbush, and its most prominent feature was a pair of towers, the tallest of which was 210 feet high, with a large clock tower, a local landmark predating the Williamsburg Savings Bank clocktower by almost fifty years. In 1892, a fire destroyed much of the building, and the clock tower crashed down on Fulton St, destroying the El train station there. Smith and Gray rebuilt, with Lauritzen rehired as architect, and by 1893, a new store and clock tower rose, this one 225 feet high, or 17 stories, with a huge 18 foot wide clock. The building had a distinct Italian flavor, with granite columns, large windows, and the new tower had a definite Tuscan feel, with striped bands of stone reminiscent of Siena. Very few retail stores last forever, and by 1914, Smith, Gray and Company had gone bankrupt. The tower lasted until the 1940’s when it was cut down to the height it is today. Now the seven story tower seems to only house elevators and stairs. A real pity, especially when photos of the original towers show a rich and vibrant building that added much to the retail flavor of Downtown. Thanks to Christopher Gray and his Streetscape Column for the background on this building.

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(Photo: NY Public Library. Photo taken in 1941, where it appears the tower is being dismantled,)


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. Great tale, the lost clock–wonder what genius lopped off the top of the tower? So sad that so many of these once-elegant buildings in the core of downtown Brooklyn are so deeply crap-ified.

  2. Smith Gray had a number of very nice buildings, most of them cast iron. There are two on Broadway in Williamsburg (and (I think) a third just off Broadway which was demolished 10 or 15 years ago), and one in Greenpoint (in the historic district).