Building of the Day: 35 Snyder Avenue

(Photo: macaulay.columbia.edu)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Flatbush Town Hall
Address: 35 Snyder Avenue, between Flatbush and Bedford Avenues
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: 1875
Architectural Style: Victorian Gothic
Architect: John Y. Cuyler
Landmarked: Individual landmark (1973), also on National Register of Historic Places.

The story: In 1873, the town of Flatbush voted against a proposal that would have annexed them to the City of Brooklyn. Since they had decided to remain an independent town, they needed a proper town hall from which civic business could be conducted, such as court sessions, elections and town meetings. John Y. Cuyler was commissioned to design the town hall, and a site on Grant Street, now Snyder Avenue, was chosen. Cuyler was an engineer, not a trained architect, who had gained a positive reputation from his work with Frederick Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, in creating Prospect Park. Perhaps Vaux helped him with the technical aspects of the design, because the Flatbush Town Hall is reminiscent of Vaux’ own design of Manhattan’s Jefferson Avenue Courthouse on 6th Avenue in Greenwich Village, only vastly simplified. It’s a classic small-town Victorian Gothic town hall. The front of the building has a large central gable with a triple arched entryway. The sides also have large gables, and all of the windows have Gothic-style pointed arched windows. A side tower has a classic Victorian steeply pitched roof, and the entire building is quite attractive with warm brick and rusticated granite, accented by creamy buff stone trim.

The Town Hall was used as police headquarters, and local courthouse. A grand ballroom on the second floor was used for large meetings and social functions. When Flatbush and the rest of Brooklyn became part of New York City in 1894, the Town Hall became a police precinct headquarters and the 7th District Magistrate’s Court. In 1929, an addition was built to house the Homicide Court, until the courts were centralized, and the building was home to the 67th Precinct until they moved out in 1972. The building remained empty for many years, and was empty when it was designated a landmark in 1973. Fortunately, unlike some of the city’s warehoused treasures, today it is again in use, as part of the NYC public school system. In any other small town, this handsome town hall would be front and center on Main Street, but here, it is tucked back on a side street, off Flatbush Avenue, the main thoroughfare of Flatbush, and now one of Brooklyn’s main arteries. That probably saved it. The Flatbush Town Hall is one of Flatbush’s three civic architectural treasures, with the other two very close at hand; the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church and Erasmus Hall High School.

(Photo: Brooklyn Museum)