A Look at Brooklyn, then and now.

416 Waverly Avenue was built in 1894 as a carriage house for R. Hoagland, who lived behind it, at 398 Washington. The building was designed by George Morse, a prominent Brooklyn architect. By 1978, it was the business of Johnny Redd, who operated the V.I.P. Sewer Cleaning, Plumbing and Heating shop out of that location. Mr. Redd lived upstairs in a very funky bachelor pad, and looked to be quite the player.

We know this because of a photographer named Dinanda H. Nooney, who took over 200 black and white photographs of Brooklyn people and their homes, between 1978 and1979. Ms. Nooney was a Manhattanite, who came to Brooklyn in 1976 to work for George McGovern’s presidential campaign. She came back two years later to photograph Brooklyn’s buildings, but soon became more interested in its people, and began photographing families in their homes.

She covered the borough, showing the diversity of both the people and the housing stock. Since Brooklyn can changes so much in thirty-plus years, her photographs show not only people, many of whom have long passed on, but the interiors and exteriors of their homes. In some cases her photos provide the only records of the interiors of homes which have now been radically changed, or are no longer existent. Also amazing are the homes that have remained almost exactly the same. The collection is an invaluable record, and was exhibited in 1985 at the Long Island Historical Society. Dinanda Nooney donated the collection to the New York Public Library in 1995. She died in 2004.

Today, 416 Waverly is an upscale home, as carriage houses have become some of Brooklyn’s most treasured and expensive homes. The roll up security garage door has been replaced by a slightly more period looking roll up door, and the entryway at the side has a much more period look as well. The building looks good, Johnny Redd would probably have approved. GMAP

Photo: Dinanda Nooney Brooklyn Photograph Collection, 1978,  at NYPL,

Photo: Scott Bintner for Property Shark, 2007

What's Your Take? Leave a Comment