Building of the Day: 703-719 Carroll Street

Photo: Kate Leonova for Property Shark, 2006

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Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Flats buildings
Address: 703-719 Carroll Street
Cross Streets: Sixth and Seventh Avenues
Neighborhood: Park Slope
Year Built: 1898
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Jeremiah (John) J. Gilligan
Other works by architect: Other Park Slope and Prospect Heights rowhouses and flats buildings.
Landmarked: No, but on the Park Slope Civic Council’s list for expansion of the historic district.

The story: Park Slope, in the last third of the 19th century, was a hotbed of construction and development. The top of the Slope, near Prospect Park, saw the construction of homes for the very wealthy, and as one moved down the avenues, the income levels moved as well, with the upper-middle class, middle class and working class occupying the rest of the neighborhood. This description, of course, has exceptions all over the place, but in general, that was the rule of thumb. But even then, one soon runs out of land, but the people keep coming. It was inevitable that multiple-unit dwellings would soon be as popular a building project as a single-family home.

An interesting phenomenon of Park Slope building was the preponderance of Irish-American developers and builders in the area. This would be an interesting dissertation subject. Of all the historic districts in what we call Brownstone Brooklyn, only Park Slope has such high percentage of Irish surnames in their lists of builders and architect/builders. This series of flats was built by one of those successful Irishmen.

Jeremiah J. Gilligan was doing quite well. His office was in Park Slope, at 188 Park Place. He was a one-man powerhouse; the owner of the properties he developed, as well as their architect and builder. He’s on record for a number of rowhouses in Park Slope and adjoining Prospect Heights. In 1898, he designed and built this row of eight four-story flats buildings, each with eight apartments. His total cost was $80,000 for all of them.

They are nice buildings, and form a very noticeable and pleasing streetscape on this block. Each end of the block is capped by a prominent church, making these buildings like chicks under the wings of two very large mother hens. St. Francis Xavier is on the 6th Avenue side, and the Old First Dutch Reformed Church is on the 7th Avenue side. The round bays of each row of flats undulate and flow down the row. The effect is the same from both ends of the block.

Mr. Gilligan only seemed to work between 1884 and 1900. By the turn of the 20th century, apartment buildings in Brooklyn began to get larger, with more people, higher buildings and, often, less beauty. Gilligan’s flats are a delightful vision of what small-scale multiple-unit buildings can be when one has space to work with, and talent to design and build a complete picture. As the Save the Slope blog stated in an article on this very subject, the block is “beautiful from either direction.” GMAP

Photo: Kate Leonova for Property Shark, 2006

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