Building of the Day: 187 Hancock Street

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Private house
Address: 187 Hancock Street, between Nostrand and Marcy Avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 1891
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Architect: Frederick B. Langston and Magnus Dahlander
Other buildings by architect: Langston 209-215 Hancock, L&D- north side of Bainbridge, between Lewis and Stuyvesant
Landmarked: No, not yet.

The story: Frederick B. Langston and his sometimes partner, Magnus Dahlander, were responsible for some of the most beautiful and eclectic rowhouses in Brooklyn, especially in Bedford Stuyvesant and Stuyvesant Heights. They built ‘em big, beautiful, and lavish on the inside. All were spec houses built for the upper middle class buyers who were flocking to these neighborhoods in the latter part of the 19th century. When you know you do good work, it’s time to do a great house for yourself. This block of Hancock Street is pretty impressive, with some of the area’s best architecture, in styles and dates ranging from the mid 1880’s through the early 1890’s, from Neo-Grec through Queen Anne, from brownstone to brick to combinations of the two, with a little terra-cotta, carved stone ornament, and pressed metal tossed in. For the north side of this block, Langston designed some enormous 5 story brownstones, numbers 209-215, in 1890. A year later, he built one for himself, this one, number 187, down the street. Langston, alone or with his partner, did not build shy, unobtrusive houses, and for himself, he went all out with a slate tiled mansard roofed 5th story that rises above its neighbors in all of its ornamented glory, a mixture of many design elements. A dull monochromatic paint job masks concentric circles, fleur de lis, cartouches, and amazingly intact stone pennons. The house itself is a bit worse for wear, but must have been incredibly grand, a great way for a very talented architect to show off while housing himself in baronial splendor.