2549 Church Ave, GoogleMaps

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Originally John T. Gallagher Funeral Home, now Eglise Baptiste
Address: 2549 Church Avenue
Cross Streets: Bedford and Rogers avenues
Neighborhood: Flatbush
Year Built: 1931
Architectural Style: Art Deco
Architect: George J. Lobenstein
Other Buildings by Architect: Masonic Lodges and funeral homes in Brooklyn and Long Island
Landmarked: No

The story: Up until the 20th century, when you died, which was usually at home, you had your funeral in your parlor, and then the undertakers took your coffin to the cemetery, buried you, and that was that. This was the natural order of things for everyone, from the very rich to the working poor. Only the very destitute could not afford a home funeral, and were buried rather unceremoniously in Potter’s Field.

By the end of the 19th century, undertakers had become morticians, and more and more people were being embalmed before burial. This was the direct result of the Civil War, and Abraham Lincoln’s funeral. But unless you were famous or really important, the funeral was still at home. The undertakers took your body to their facilities, embalmed you, and then brought you back home for the viewing and funeral. They stood on hand to take the body to the cemetery later.

It really wasn’t until the 20th century that the modern funeral parlor and the “death industry” gained strength. As more and more people in cities moved from homes with large-ish parlors to smaller homes and apartments, it was more practical for people to have a funeral for a loved on somewhere else. Somewhere with more room, and out of the house. The funeral home was born, a one stop facility where a casket could be picked out, the body embalmed and gussied up for the funeral, a place to have the funeral or the wake, and a convenient area for the funeral directors to load the body into the hearse, and head on out for the funeral.

For Catholics, a Requiem Mass is mandatory for the faithful, with the coffin present in the church. Following the mass, the body is taken to the cemetery for a short burial service. 20th century funeral homes provided not only mortuary facilities for Catholics, but a place for the wake before the funeral, where prayers were said, and friends and family could view the body, and take part in various traditions of saying goodbye.

In 1931, the John T. Gallagher Funeral Home commissioned architect George J. Lobenstein to design a new funeral parlor for their Flatbush business. Lobenstein, a Pratt Institute grad, was well known for his funeral parlors, in fact, much of his business was in designing funeral parlors. Since this was in the middle of the Art Deco period, he designed a simple, yet unmistakably Art Deco Funeral home for this stretch of Church Avenue, surrounded by apartment buildings of a much earlier era.

The design is quite interesting, although a bit uneven. The funeral home part of the building is a symmetrically designed Art Deco little gem. Two towers with triangular embossed designs at the top and entrances at the bottom flank the middle section of the building. That two story part of the structure has two floors of windows in the center, with two story barley twist colonettes between the window frames. The whole thing manages to incorporate Renaissance, Gothic and Egyptian references, all through the lens of Art Deco.

But instead of taking that over to the more utilitarian right side of the building, which houses the garage, Lobenstein leaves it plain, with two windows over the garage doors. It’s still balanced, which is why it works, but that end of the building leaves me wanting more. At any rate, it’s still a really good building.

I’m not the only one to think so, either. In 1932, the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce voted it one of Brooklyn’s best new buildings, along with the Brooklyn Borough Gas Company, which can be seen in today’s Walkabout, as well as the Cranlyn Apartments in Brooklyn Heights, the Telephone Company building on Willoughby Street, downtown, and the St. Peter Claver School in Bedford Stuyvesant. All of them are exemplary Art Deco buildings.

I found references to the Gallagher Funeral Home, which catered to Roman Catholics, from 1932 to 1956. That’s when the on-line record is lost. In 1985 they relocated to 2001 Flatbush Avenue, in Flatlands, where they still are in business today. The building is now the Eglise Baptiste, a French-speaking Baptist Church. Unfortunately, they painted the building, which dulls the effect of the incised ornamentation and the colonettes. But, it is still there, and intact. GMAP

(Photo:Google Maps)

Chamber of Commerce Building Award. Brooklyn Eagle, 1932
Chamber of Commerce Building Award. Brooklyn Eagle, 1932
1980s Tax Photo. Municipal Archives.
1980s tax photo. Municipal Archives
Photo: Nicholas Strini for Property Shark
Photo: Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark

What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I remember that funeral parlor very well. It is across the street from the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church, which I attended as a youngster. It makes sense that a Catholic funeral parlor would be right across the street from a Catholic church. Did they own the building? I wonder why they moved to Flatlands? The church is still there. Perhaps changing demographics meant they had less of a connection to the Catholics (primarily Caribbean in origin) who might have wanted burial services? Did the newer residents not use them for burials?