Building of the Day: 239-247 New York Avenue

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Flats Buildings
Address: 239-247 New York Avenue
Cross Streets: Sterling and St. John’s Places
Neighborhood: Crown Heights North
Year Built: 1906
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: William Van Alen
Other buildings by architect: Chrysler Building
Landmarked: Yes, part of CHN HD, Phase 2 (2011)

The story: The designation report for Phase 2 of the Crown Heights North Historic District confirmed once again, that Crown Heights North has one of the finest collection of buildings in the entire city, designed by not only some of Brooklyn’s finest architects, but some of the finest architects anywhere. These handsome flats buildings are by William Van Alen, who would later design the Chrysler Building, certainly among the modern world’s architectural treasures.

Van Alen was a Brooklyn boy, born in Williamsburg in 1882. After a public school education, at the age of 16, he began working as an office boy for Clarence True, one of the Upper West Side’s more prolific architect/developers. He went to Pratt Institute at night, worked for a few significant architects in NY, including Clinton & Russell, where he worked on the Hotel Astor. He designed this trio of flat buildings during this period, in 1906. He then went to Paris to study at the famous Ecole des Beaux-Arts, after winning the Paris Prize Scholarship in 1908.

He came back to NY in 1911, the classical ideas of his education being re-formed into a totally modern, 20th century style of architecture. Records show him still living at home, at 411 Putnam Avenue, in Bedford. In 1916, he married Elizabeth Bagley, moving to 738 St. Marks Avenue in the St. Marks District, only a couple of blocks from these apartments.

By the 1920’s, Van Alen had made a name for himself as a Modernist architect, with several notable Manhattan office and commercial buildings under his belt. All were prime Manhattan real estate locations, and many still stand. In 1928, Brooklyn developer William Reynolds, who by now was trying to become a Manhattan mover and shaker, had leased the land at 42nd and Lexington from Cooper Union, and hired Van Alen to design the world’s tallest skyscraper for him. Van Alen submitted several drawings, one with a dome on top. That same year, inexplicably, Reynolds gave up on his idea, and sold his lease to Walter Chrysler, who took Van Alen’s ideas, and had him expand them, eventually giving us the iconic building we have today.

William Van Alen never rose again to the heights of the Chrysler Building, design-wise or height-wise. He had to sue Chrysler to get paid for the job. The Great Depression followed, killing many of his projects, and he turned to other pursuits, including designing pre-fab metal houses and teaching sculpture. He died in 1954. His name lives on in the Van Alen Institute, a non-profit founded as the Society of Beaux-Arts Architecture in 1894. He was their largest benefactor, seeking to improve design in the public realm, through exhibitions, workshops and competitions. The group renamed themselves after him in 1996. For more great information on Van Alen’s Manhattan buildings and his life, see Christopher Gray’s Streetscape article here.

These three flats buildings may be nothing more than a minor footnote in Van Alen’s resume, but they represent this talented architect’s skill. They are stand-out buildings in a neighborhood of fine apartment buildings. I’ve seen one of the apartments in the center building. It is a generously appointed space, a large floor-through apartment, (2 on each floor) highlighted by an Arts & Crafts dining room, with tall wainscoting, plate rails, and a hooded fireplace. The rooms were all of a good size and layout, one of the nicest apartments I’ve seen. Of course, it’s a totally before/after for him, designed before Van Alen went to Paris, and became the visionary Modernist of twenty years later. It shows the early talent of a good architect who would become a great architect, who gave us one of this city’s most important buildings. A Brooklyn architect, to boot. GMAP