Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Semi-detached house
Address: 809 Prospect Place
Cross Streets: Nostrand and New York Avenues
Neighborhood: Crown Heights North
Year Built: 1898
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Frederick L. Hine
Other Buildings by Architect: Most of the houses on Lincoln Place, St. Johns Place, between Nostrand and NY Ave and 258-298 New York Avenue
Landmarked: Yes, part of Crown Heights North Historic District, Phase 2 (2011)

The story: The Brooklyn Eagle ran an ad for this speculative house in 1900. It read, “An up to date house in an up to date neighborhood. Semi-detached. Parlors, dining room and kitchen on first floor, hardwood throughout, extra-large rooms.” Apparently, no one bought right away, because ads ran in the Eagle for another year. In 1901, an ad read, “Furnished rooms- St. Marks section, in detached house. Large bay window room, strictly private family, very select neighborhood. Heat, gas, bath, and every convenience. Gentleman preferred references.”

This house has always been the odd one out. Frederick and Carrie Hine, husband and wife architect and developers, appeared quite suddenly on the scene in the mid-1880s, trading properties and building houses in Bedford and elsewhere in Brooklyn. By the mid-90s, they were quite busy building up the St. Marks District. The pair built speculative housing on the entire block of St. Johns and Lincoln Places, between Nostrand and New York Avenues, as well as two blocks of houses on New York Avenue, between Eastern Parkway and St. Johns, bumping them up past Axel Hedman and George Chappell for having designed the most houses in this area.

Their houses may have been speculative, but they were quite good, all in the Renaissance Revival style, in limestone and light colored brick, with fanciful ornament. There were variations, too, with some houses bold in a Flemish Revival look, others channeling the French Gothic period. This house, not part of any group, must have been an odd lot that they picked up, and put a house on. It’s semi-detached, with a driveway and garage behind the large lot. The house is quite attractive, with a corner bay, nice decorative stained glass windows, and a fine entryway.

I’ve always liked this house, which has been empty since the day I moved to Crown Heights, in 2000. For a hot minute, it was for sale, and I inquired about it, trying to arrange an appointment to see inside. The realtor, who was with a very small independent firm, told me the house was still a one family, which she posed as one of its “faults” at the time. She said the owner, who didn’t live there, was very limiting in the times he wanted to show it, and had to be there whenever anyone went in. We tried a couple of times to arrange an appointment, but I never got in, and then the broker told me the owner had changed his mind and took it off the market.

The house continued to deteriorate, an eyesore on one of the most beautiful blocks in Crown Heights. The block association of that block tried to get information, and there were people clamoring to buy it. But nothing. Last year, there was a horrific fire, as squatters found their way in. Today, the upper windows are even more broken out, with scorch marks from the fire on the façade. Who knows what happened on the inside of this once gorgeous building. What a shame.GMAP

House is attached at far right.
Photo: 1980s tax photo, via Property Shark


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