Building of the Day: 122 76th Street
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: 122 76th Street, between Ridge Blvd. and Colonial Road Name: Private House Neighborhood: Bay Ridge Year Built: 1900…
The Bay Ridge house at 122 76th Street in 2017. Photo by Susan De Vries
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: 122 76th Street, between Ridge Blvd. and Colonial Road
Name: Private House
Neighborhood: Bay Ridge
Year Built: 1900
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No
Bay Ridge, like much of Brooklyn, was originally settled by the Dutch, who called the area Yellow Hook. In 1853, after a horrible cholera epidemic, the name was changed to Bay Ridge, a much better name all around.
It referenced the beautiful views of the New York Bay, as well as the hills above it. In the late 1800’s, Shore Road became a popular location for the wealthy to build large summer homes with a river view. Today, almost all of those homes are gone, replaced by expensive, but not necessarily attractive homes.
The Shore Road was not the only desirable Bay Ridge street for the wealthy. Ridge Blvd, on the glacial ridge before it drastically slopes towards the bay, affords a fantastic view. The problem of getting to the street below on foot was solved by two of the very few pedestrian roads in Brooklyn, at the ends of 74th and 76th Streets.
Over 60 steep steps lead from the top of Ridge Blvd to Colonial Road below. It is on the end of this street, right before the steps, that this mansion was built, overlooking the bay. It’s a wonderfully theatrical Gothic Revival pile, built in 1900.
Rumor has it that it was first occupied by Justin Ford Kimball, the founder of Blue Cross, but I couldn’t find any reference to him ever living in NY. Whoever designed it, and whoever commissioned it, they had a great sense of drama.
The turrets, towers, peaked windows and copper bays on the stucco body are really well done. Sadly, at some point, someone thought the castle-like crenellated stone entryway and port-cochere would enhance the house. They don’t. Absolutely horrible.
The view from the bottom of the Montmartre style steps, upwards through the trees, shows how large this house is. According to Property Shark, it now has three apartments in it. They must be quite large, as the house measures over 14,000 square feet.
The building was abandoned for a while in the 70’s, 80’s, and local kids, of course, called it the haunted house. Today it is again in use, and while not much is known about its history or provenance, or the present state of the interior, it’s still an intriguing part of the history of Bay Ridge and Brooklyn.
[Photos by Suzanne Spellen]
“I got the date from the AIA Guide.”
I always approach round-number dates, like 1900, with care, especially when not accompanied by some other specific, like owner (Wow, nice job, WBer.) or architect. Unless it is claimed to be Stanford White (like pretty much all of Sea Gate) in which case just skip it.
Christopher
Stick with your instincts, MM! (Willensky & Co. were wrong on the Church of the Annuciation, too.)
I guess one is only as good as the information one finds.
I got the date from the AIA Guide. I did think the house resembled similar houses in Westchester that I’ve seen, which were from the 20’s, but the AIA Guide (the newest edition) is generally reliable, so I went with that. As someone without a degree in architecture, I often don’t trust myself to contradict the experts, unless I have undeniable proof.
Similarly, an on-line history of Bay Ridge said cholera epidemic, sooooo…..
All in all, this thread shows the best of Brownstoner, with experts and neighbors filling in the blanks. Thanks, all.
I think it was yellow fever, not cholera, hence the aversion to ‘yellow hook’ as a name…
The entryway and port-cochere WERE stucco same as the house up until a few years ago. Maybe 3 years ago.
The facade was in disrepair for a long time. Forgotton-ny has a pic of what the facade looked like. Scroll all the way down.
http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%20SCENES/bayridge/bayridge.html
Then (3 years ago +/-) they ‘fixed up” the facade. The shape and size of the entry and port.. is still the same but the stone like finish is new. The window trim is also new. Not as offensive as the “stone” but not neo-gothic in style. You can barely glimpse what the old window trim looked like in the forgotten-ny pic.
MM, how dare you NOT take more pics of this nabe! 🙂
If you’d like to come back to Bay Ridge. I can shuttle you around; but only during the week and during the day. And if you don’t mind an infant in the car spitting up every time he sees a garish renovation, then I’d be happy to be your driver.
Forgot to mention – DOB lists a 1928 New Building application at this site. I don’t have any details, and it is not clear if that is another building on the property (1929 map shows more than one building) or the main building.
Montrose also visit my second favorite house, corner of Ridge and 84th.
I went to Xaverian HS with John Koechley, Jr. He lived at 122-76th Street until at least 1980, when he graduated, and left for Notre Dame. The parents left for Chapel Hill, NC during the mid 1980’s. I presume this is when the house was sold. He told me that the family made their fortune with the x-ray machine; I don’t know if it was for manufacturing patents, or interpreting x-ray readings. His grandfather was Dr. Fred Elliot.
Nice building, but it doesn’t look like 1900. The style and massing (including the porte cochere, which I suspect is original in form if not finish) looks more like late teens or early 20s.
The building does not appear on the 1907 or 1912 atlases, but does show up in 1929.
The address does appear in the 1920 census, so late teens seems to the right date. In that year, the owner is George Andrews, who lived there with his wife and a “friend” (!! – I’ve never seen that as a relation in the census before). The census lists George as a manufacturer of preserves.
The owner in 1930 was Fred Elliot, who lived there with his wife, two daughters and a servant. Elliot is listed in the census for that year as a physician.