john thatcher, map, franklincourt, 1904, NYPL

Most of us hope to leave our mark on this world in some small way, so that others can remember that we were here. Some of us leave larger footprints than others, and if you are in the building trades, it is possible to leave quite a large footprint, in the form of a building, that people use, or pass, or notice every day. Of course, most of us don’t know who built, or designed that building, so we may not be on everyone’s lips after we are gone, but that’s why I’m here – to shine a little light, if only for a few minutes, on people who made an impact on the city we live in.

It happens quite often that people in the private sector are called to office in the public sector. We can all come up with a few names of those who were minding their own business, doing what they do, and they are tapped to become cabinet members, superintendents, ambassadors, or even heads of state. The best of them take up these jobs with the same dedication they gave to their private sector jobs, and become the most ideal of public servants – those who are dedicated not to politics or ideology, but to getting the job done well. Sadly, most appointments are laden with political payback or indebitness; this is true today, and has been true since there has been politics. But every once in a while, a truly great public servant comes along, and this is the story of such a man – a builder whose life was more than just about bricks and mortar, or profit and loss. This is John Thatcher’s story.

John Thatcher was born in England in 1853, and was ten years old when he and his parents immigrated to the United States. As a young man, he entered the building trades, and is listed in various Brooklyn directories as a mason, carpenter and builder. He soon had a reputation for fast, honest and good work, and was in demand. He went into business as John Thatcher & Sons, with at least two of his sons going into the business, and continuing long after his death.

From the 1880s, though the turn of the 20th century, he had a solid reputation as a builder and contractor. He worked for many of the biggies in Brooklyn’s busy architectural and building world: the Parfitt Brothers, William Tubby, George L. Morse, Frank Helmle, Rudolf Daus and many others. His company bid on public and private projects, and was involved with a lot of public projects like schools. After the consolidation of New York City in 1898, the Board of Education began a huge building project all across the city, building new schools and adding additions on older buildings. Here in Brooklyn, Thatcher bid on dozens of school projects, and like in any competition, he won some, like PS 131, PS 134 and PS 27. He lost many, many more. Since all of the bids had to be public record and were printed in the newspapers, we can easily track this part of his career.

Sometime in the 1880s, Thatcher became friends with Alfred Tredway White, the Brooklyn Heights business man, reformer and philanthropist. John Thatcher & Sons had built the Riverside Apartments for White, in 1890. This was the third, and the best of White’s development of new tenements for the poor, with adequate lighting and ventilation, indoor toilets, bath facilities, and public gathering space. White had showed the city that it was possible to build low income housing that was fit for people to live in, provide the basics, and still be beautiful. It was also possible for that housing to be profitable and advantageous for developers and owners, an issue that still haunts our housing market today.

Thatcher had certainly seen a lot of horrible run down and overcrowded tenements in his time, and White’s efforts and cause resonated deeply within him. Through his association with White, he also met with Charles Pratt, another wealthy businessman who was interested in better housing. Pratt’s Astral Apartments in Greenpoint were also a fine example of the new tenements that could better the lives of the people living there. Both men had done their research by traveling to England and Scotland, where similar housing reform was further along in being developed and experimented with, and whether with Alfred White, or alone, John Thatcher also went back to England, for the first time since childhood, to study, tour, and learn more about the advances in housing there. These advances would help him in building Riverside, and advance some projects of his own.

In 1898, Thatcher unveiled his new building, the first that belonged to him, not clients. He had purchased a large lot on Kent Avenue, between Willoughby and Myrtle in Clinton Hill. This area was mixed use, with factories surrounding it, as well as the convent, school and church complex of the Sisters of Mercy, only a block away. The area was filled with old frame housing and tenements, and many of the people there worked in the surrounding factories, or at the Wallabout Market or the Navy Yards. It was a busy place, very much in need of good housing.

Thatcher called his new housing the Franklin Court Building. He had enlisted the well-known architect William Tubby to design it, using the reform ideas he had picked up from England, as well as from Alfred White and Charles Pratt’s buildings. Tubby had been working closely with Charles Pratt and his Morris Building Company to develop small and affordable row houses throughout the Clinton Hill area. He was quite good at it.

This meeting of the minds produced a large building that was quite different from the tenements being built at the time. Instead of stretching lengthwise down the block, Franklin Court extended back though the length of the lot. It was huge; 57 feet wide and 190 feet long and six stories high. It consisted of four double sized buildings joined by connecting sections, and looked like a rectangular chain. This chain of buildings sat on its lot with a courtyard in front, and ample space in back. All of the buildings had plenty of natural light and ventilation, front back and sides. Each of the four buildings held sixteen families on each floor, with a total of 96 units in the building.

There were other unique features as well. Instead of the long dark corridors, “dismal and jail like,” as the Brooklyn Eagle described them, Franklin Court’s hallways were light filled, thanks to large skylights at the top of the building. They were also open to the outside, like Alfred Tredway’s Riverside and other apartment buildings. The stairs themselves were cast iron, with slate treads, not bulky wooden staircases. The apartments were designed for small families, and had only three rooms each; a dining/kitchen/parlor room, and two bedrooms. They were designed with ample closet space, and there was a side area for the sink and a water closet. All of the rooms had windows that looked out over courtyards; there were no shaftways and no windowless rooms. The hallways were all lit by electricity.

Instead of dumb-waiters, which Thatcher considered a hazard in a building that would house many small children; he had a system of ash chutes built. Refuse, including ashes from the cooking stoves would be conveyed to a tramway in the basement, where garbage could be sorted, while ashes travelled along towards a separate disposal area. This tram ran the length of the building in the basement, and also carried coal. This was quite new and unprecedented in tenement housing. The building was equipped with its own hot water plant, and hot and cold running water was available in every apartment. The building was heated by central hot water heating.

The most radical departure from the norm was an innovation Mr. Thatcher had picked up from the housing in England and Scotland. Tenements did not have bathing facilities, on the whole. Alfred White and Charles Pratt had revolutionized their tenement houses with bathing rooms in the basements of their buildings. Through his research, Thatcher found that what they called spray baths were even better. Franklin Court was equipped with the latest in spray bath facilities; all housed in a special area of the basement, available for general use. Today, spray baths, or showers, are the least of what a bathroom in an apartment can offer. These rooms in the basement of Franklin Court may have been the first showers in pre-20th century tenement housing.

Tubby designed well, and Thatcher made sure the building was built to his usual exacting standards. The plumbing, as was popular in even the wealthiest homes, was open, not enclosed, and the floors were tight, making them impervious to roaches and other vermin. The building also had an innovative system of drying racks on the roof for clothing, so tenants did not hang their clothing out of the windows. To top it off, the rent for the tenants would be cheap. Rent was a modest $2.40 to $2.60 a month.

John Thatcher held a grand tour of his new building before renting it out. Attending were some of the most important people in the city of Brooklyn, all interested in his affordable housing. Men who were active in charitable and philanthropic activities were invited, as well as architect and builders, politicians and priests. It must have been quite the affair. Invited were Albert T. White, William A. White, George L. Morse, Walter Parfitt, General C.T. Christiansen, A.A. Low, Rev. Sylvester Malone, Father Taafe, Charles Pratt, Frederick Pratt, William Tubby, Buildings Commissioner Ryan, former Buildings Commissioner Bush, and several other clergymen, architects and private citizens.

Thatcher explained that his building was not just a marvel of low income housing, but it had been built to be profitable, as well. It was not a charity; it was a well built, well run building that could be used as a model for others to follow. It was quite an accomplishment. Built several years before laws regarding tenement design were re-written, it anticipated those changes, and was even more advanced than buildings of its type would need to be for at least a generation. A block away from Franklin Court, tenements did not have hot running water, hot water heat, and most did not have toilets, let alone bathing facilities. It was a model of superior low income housing. John Thatcher should have been proud.

I wish I could state that the building is still here, so we can see this innovative structure for ourselves, but it is gone. The space is part of a large empty lot. I was not able to even find a photograph. All I do have are two maps, dating from 1904 and 1918, both showing where Franklin Court was, and giving a tantalizing indication of the building’s footprint. According to the newspapers, John Thatcher built and owned other tenements. I was able to find one more – a smaller building he built on Tillary and Pearl Streets, in 1907. This building is also gone.

John Thatcher’s successful career as a builder and contractor for other architects and developers continued. His company was responsible for an amazing number of familiar and important buildings that we know and recognize today. I’ll have that list in the next chapter. We’ll also look at his career as a civil servant. He was plucked from his lucrative business, and asked to serve the city as Superintendent of two different and very important departments. Yet, unlike many in his position, he managed to stay out of politics, to an amazing degree. I’ll have the rest of his story, next time. GMAP

(Above – 1904 map showing Franklin Court, New York Public Library. Myrtle Avenue is the heavy grey line at top, Kent Avenue is to the far left. )

1918 map, New York Public Library.
1918 map, New York Public Library
Site of the Franklin Court Apartments. 885 Kent Avenue. Photo: Googlemaps
Site of the Franklin Court Apartments, 885 Kent Avenue. Photo: Google Maps

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