Building of the Day: 503-509 Fifth Avenue

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Commercial/office building
Address: 503-509 Fifth Avenue
Cross Streets: 12th and 13th Streets
Neighborhood: Greenwood Heights
Year Built: 1886
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival/Queen Anne
Architect: Robert Dixon
Landmarked: No

The story: Sometimes a building can be quite architecturally and visually arresting, sometimes whoever messed with them should be arrested. This one is a little bit of both. And frustratingly, sometimes the mysteries just can’t be solved.

Well, let’s see what’s on the surface. The group consists of four buildings, built at the same time, same design, and same architect. The original buildings are a handsome red brick, and whoever designed them architect Robert Dixon put care into them, with interesting brickwork as trim, nicely arched window hoods on the top floor, interesting limestone bandcourses for variety, as well as some nice terra-cotta plaques, which were the first thing to catch my attention. I’m sure, when built, the buildings were capped with a heavy wooden cornice, probably sufficiently ornate, a nice finish to four quality buildings.

A look at Brooklyn maps shows me that this neighborhood was developing around the mid 1880’s, and an atlas map of 1886 shows these four buildings there at that time. As per other buildings in the immediate area, these four were probably built with retail or commercial establishments on the first floor, and three floors of housing above.

A marquee, even a newer one, usually means that the building was a theater of some kind, at some point. But this really doesn’t look like your usual Victorian theater, and the marquee is off-center, so if there was a theater there, it wouldn’t have been its original use. Let’s go to the newspapers. The Brooklyn Eagle gives us a hint to one of the buildings only, 509 Fifth Ave.

There, from 1897 to at least 1902, 509 was known as New Century Hall, a lecture hall that seems to have catered to religious meetings and lectures. The hall was a gathering place for those interested in alternatives to Western religions, and hosted the New York visits of East Indian religious leaders, who lectured on Jainism, as well as Hindu and Buddhist practices and cultures.

The address is not listed in any book or database of Brooklyn theaters, past or present, so the marquee remains a mystery. New Century Hall was not listed in any Brooklyn Almanacs either, even during the time they were in the newspapers. Hmmm. Tax photos show the horrible top story addition was put on before the 1980’s, a less than contextual or sympathetic addition to the building. If they had left the cornice and built on top, it would have looked better, although…. And like many a commercial retail space, all across the city, whatever the ground floor storefronts looked like originally, also remains a mystery.

Today, in addition to stores, the tenants of the building include heath care facilities and other offices. I really wasn’t able to find out all that much, in the long run, but these buildings, in spite of what’s been done to then, are still good enough to command attention. Now, that’s good design. GMAP