Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: New York & New Jersey Telephone Co. Building, now Verizon
Address: 547 Clinton Avenue
Cross Streets: Atlantic Avenue and Fulton Street
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Year Built: 1902
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: William. B. Claflin
Other Buildings by Architect: other telephone stations in Brooklyn, homes in Briarcliff Manor and Fieldston.
Landmarked: No

The story: The New York and New Jersey Telephone Company was founded way back in 1883. In 1897, architect Rudolph Daus designed a beautiful and large, new company headquarters for the phone company on the corner of Lawrence and Willoughby, in downtown Brooklyn. Little did the phone company expect that in only a couple of years, usage and demand for phone service would require many more transfer stations, as well as more large office and equipment buildings. In 1902, the company had hired an in-house architect to design and build these much needed structures. He was William B. Claflin, and this building is his largest for the phone company.

William B. Claflin, or W.B. Claflin, his professional listing name, was an M.I.T. graduate, class of 1895. He was a civil engineer, as well as an architect, and was a lifelong member of the American Society of Civil Engineers. We really don’t have very much information on him, except that he was of means, and did well enough to be included in the Social Register of New York City. He and his wife and daughter are often mentioned in the society pages in both the Times and the Eagle. For much of his career, he lived in Manhattan, at 9 E. 69th Street, before building himself a house in Briarcliff Manor, in 1905. He wrote and lectured on architecture and engineering issues, and was an expert on concrete construction.

By at least 1902, he became the house architect for the phone company. All of his phone exchanges can be found in Brooklyn, and of the four listed in the Builder’s Guide, three are still standing; in Greenpoint, Sunset Park, and East New York. None are phone company buildings any longer. Claflin also did extensive interior alterations in Daus’ Willoughby Street building.

But without a doubt, his phone company masterpiece is this building at the corner of Atlantic Avenue, on Clinton Avenue. Clinton Avenue was still a very fashionable area, and this building, when it was constructed, sat next to the old mansion of General Alfred P. Barnes, which probably didn’t last too much longer after that. The building is a large 100×110 structure, six stories with elevators. The basement held a power plant and storage. The first floor was a supply department, second floor; a repair shop, third and fourth floor; offices, fifth floor a terminal room and operator’s quarters, and the top floor; an operating room. This was the second largest building that the phone company had. This is the only one of his phone company buildings still used by the same company, now called Verizon.

Claflin did not build a beautiful building like Rudolph Daus’ downtown headquarters. He built a massive and functional monument to the power of technology. The best part of the building is the cornice and the gargantuan brackets holding it up. The Brooklyn Eagle said that William Claflin had “harmonized strength with architectural effect.” That’s actually a great description. GMAP

Thanks to Francis Morrone for giving me William B. Claflin’s name and the citing of this building, without which I could not have found the other information. It’s good to have friends in high places!

Brooklyn Eagle, 1902


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