Editor’s note: An updated version of this post can be viewed here.

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Private House
Address: 232 Hancock Street
Cross Streets: Corner of Marcy Avenue
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 1888
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Architect: Montrose W. Morris
Other buildings by architect: The Alhambra, Nostrand at Macon St., Kelley Mansion: 247 Hancock St., row houses: 236-252 Hancock St., 255-259 Hancock St.
Landmarked: Can you believe it? NO. But working on it.

The story: For the growing number of people who are aware of Montrose Morris’ architecture, this is his house, where he lived with his wife and children. Unfortunately, that’s not true. Yes, it is his house, because he designed it, but the Morris’ actually lived next door, in what is now an empty lot. The Morris manse burned down in a fire in the 1970’s. But this house gives us the greatest hints as to what Morris’ own home looked like, as he built it to look very similar to his, both inside and out.

In 1885, Montrose Morris designed his home at 234 Hancock Street to be both a wedding present to his wife, and a showroom for his work. (I can imagine that conversation.) When it was constructed, he held an open house, allowing thousands to examine his style and tastes. It was a very successful advertisement, and he picked up some of his most important commissions from it, including the Alhambra Apartments.

By 1888, Montrose Morris was well on his way to becoming one of Brooklyn’s busiest upscale architects. He was also his own developer, and owned the row houses he developed on this block, selling them to his high end clients. This house was built in 1888, three years after his own home, but designed to complete and compliment his home, keeping in the Morris style of multiple houses looking like one larger mansion. It’s a wonderfully flamboyant Queen Anne confection, mixing brick, limestone and terra-cotta, towers, turrets, gables, loggias and balconies, stained glass and carved ornament. A period photograph of the two houses shows that this one once sported a fine conical roof, another Morris signature. It’s a big house, with a large kitchen extension. Inside, Morris copied his own home yet again, and this house, like his, has a two story atrium parlor, and once had a top floor billiard room with a stained glass skylight.

Over the years, the home belonged to doctors and judges, and other professional people, keeping with the tradition of fine living in Montrose Morris’ homes. In the 1970’s, the Landmarks Preservation Commission did a survey of Bedford Stuyvesant, intending to create several historic districts in that vast neighborhood. Only one, Stuyvesant Heights Historic District, ever came to pass. At the time of the initial survey, Montrose Morris’ home was still standing. It burned down in a ferocious fire that also partially destroyed this house. Much of the interior was destroyed, and today, there are very few original interior details left. Other external changes have taken place, but the house remains one of Bedford Stuyvesant’s most photographed and memorable homes, still waiting to be properly landmarked. GMAP

Want to hear more? Please join “Amzi Hill” and me on a walking tour of Bedford Stuyvesant, tomorrow, August 13, at 11 AM. The tour is $20, and we meet in front of Girls High School, on Nostrand, between Macon and Halsey, only steps from the Nostrand Ave. A/C train. See www.morrishillandsparrow.com for more details.


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