Building of the Day: 9901 Shore Road

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Originally Tom Johnson Mansion, now Fontbonne Hall Academy
Address: 9901 Shore Road
Cross Streets: Corner 99th Street
Neighborhood: Bay Ridge
Year Built: 1890
Architectural Style: Mediterranean /Mission Style
Architect: McNally Brothers
Landmarked: No

The story: The long shoreline of Brooklyn stretches around from the beaches of Coney Island to well past the Promenade of Brooklyn Heights, but with all of the great views to choose from along the way, one would be hard pressed to do better than the view of New York Harbor as seen from along the Shore Road, in Bay Ridge. It was this view, along with the open land and the cooling sea breezes that made the area a summer retreat for many of the city’s wealthiest citizens during the last decades of the 19th century. Even people who weren’t New Yorkers were drawn here. They built large expansive villas along the Shore Road, and enjoyed the best of seaside living while still being in the city.

One of these swells was a former three-term mayor of Cleveland, Ohio named Tom L. Johnson. He was a wealthy businessman, politician and Democratic social reformer who spent his entire career in the Midwest. He came from Kentucky money, and made a lot more, inventing a toll box for streetcars. He invested that wealth in street car lines in several Midwestern cities and eventually owned the Detroit City Railway. He cashed out, went into politics, and at some point decided to build a vacation home in Bay Ridge. This large Mediterranean villa was built in 1890, and joined the other mansions that stretched along the Shore Road.

It must have been an impulse buy, because Johnson didn’t own the house for very long. Five years later, he sold it to James Buchanan Brady, another railroad tycoon. “Diamond Jim” Brady was a New York legend, a larger than life character in more ways than one. He made his fortune in railroads and on the stock market. It was rumored that he was not above a little cheating and wheeling and dealing in either one. He is said to have been the first person in NYC to buy an automobile. He got his nickname because of his love of diamonds and jewels, which he collected with a passion. His other passions were fine dining and actress Lillian Russell.

Lillian Russell was one of the most popular and famous singers and actresses of the day. She starred in 13 Broadway shows between 1883 and 1912. She was best known for musical comedies and operettas, and was known for her beautiful voice, great stage presence, charm and comic timing. She also loved the good things in life and a good party, and it was inevitable that she would meet a mover and shaker like Diamond Jim, and they would become friends.

They shared a love of diamonds and a good meal, but according to most accounts, nothing more. He lavished her with jewels and presents, including the gift of the Shore Road house. Russell lived here from 1905 to 1917, using the home as her summer retreat, where she would have lavish parties, and entertain. Guest would arrive across the road by boat and party the night away. Diamond Jim shared the home and her extravagant life style, which included a lot of lobster and champagne meals, but unlike the four-times married Russell; he never married, and apparently had a wonderful, but platonic relationship with her.

Diamond Jim died in 1917 of a heart attack. He left most of his fortune to Johns Hopkins Hospital, in Baltimore, which had once treated him. They dedicated the James Buchanan Brady Urological Institute in his honor. Lillian left the house she had shared with her best friend of forty years, and moved to Pittsburg with her fourth husband. She retired from the stage in 1919, lectured on women’s rights, and died in 1922.

The house was rumored to have been turned into a casino and speak-easy during Prohibition, but there doesn’t seem to be any concrete proof of that, which may have been why it was successful. It would have been a great place, that’s for sure. Rum running would have been quite easy here. By the beginning of the 1930s, the house had become the Edwards School, a boarding and day school for wealthy children. I saw newspaper articles and announcements for the school from 1931 until 1937, when the mansion became home to the Fontbonne Hall Academy.

Fontbonne Hall Academy is a Catholic girl’s school, run by the Sisters of St. Joseph. They have been there ever since. The school expanded, building new buildings and a chapel, and is still going strong. The mansions around the school have disappeared, one by one. The house is the only mansion from the Shore Road’s Gilded Age to survive. The posh Crescent Athletic Club and boathouse, whose members were among Brooklyn’s elite-gone. All of the mansions that lined the Shore Road-gone. Only the great views of the harbor remain. GMAP

(Photo:private_schools.findthebest.com)