Building of the Day: 251 12th Street

Sketch originally from Brooklyn Eagle. On nycago.com

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    Brooklyn, one building at a time.

    Name: Built as the Twelfth Street Reformed Church, now the Park Slope Community Church (Baptist)
    Address: 251 12th Street
    Cross Streets: 4th and 5th Avenues
    Neighborhood: South Slope
    Year Built: 1869
    Architectural Style: Rundbogenstil Romanesque Revival
    Architect: Gamaliel King
    Other buildings by architect: Brooklyn City (now Borough) Hall, St. Paul’s Church in Cobble Hill, Kings County Savings Bank, Williamsburg (with Wm H. Willcox). Demolished – Kings County Courthouse
    Landmarked: No

    The story: In 1840, members of the South Reformed Dutch Church, located in Gowanus, at 43rd and 3rd, met to discuss dividing the church into two different churches, with a new church in the northern part of what was then called South Brooklyn. Among those advocating starting the new church were members of the Bergen and Van Nostrand families. There would be 40 new members splitting off, in all, in an amicable division. They called the new congregation The North Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Gowanus. They bought a plot of land on 3rd Avenue, between 20th and 21st Streets, and built a church. For several years, both shared the same pastor, the Rev. S. M. Woodbridge.

    In 1851, the hierarchy of the Reformed Church formally separated the two churches and North Reformed got their own minister. A few years later, in 1856, a yellow fever epidemic struck Brooklyn and decimated the population of the older South Church. Many of them joined North Reformed. They needed a new building. Funds were raised, and the congregation purchased another plot of land, this one on 12th Street, between 3rd and 4th Avenues.

    In 1868, the cornerstone of the new church was laid by G. E. Bergen. The new church was designed by Gamaliel King, the architect of Brooklyn’s City Hall and the Kings County Court House, and Kings County Savings Bank in Williamsburg. King began his career in the early decades of the 19th century as a builder. He and several different partners over the years were responsible for many important mid-19th century buildings, including the Cary Building, an early cast-iron clad building on Chambers Street in lower Manhattan.

    King designed a Rundbogenstil-style Romanesque Revival Church for North Reformed. This was an early German-inspired form of Romanesque Revival architecture which became quite popular in Brooklyn following the arrival of many German, or German-trained architects to the Eastern District after the 1850s. It was especially suited to large buildings like factories, breweries and churches. Examples can be found throughout Brooklyn. Just look for the brick buildings with the blind arches running as cornices or trim, just under the roof line. Those narrow, pointy Gothic towers are also quite common to most Rundbogenstil churches.

    After the building was finished the North Reformed Church changed their name officially to the 12th Street Reformed Church. They were quite active in Brooklyn’s church life, and lasted until 1968, when the church disbanded. The building was sold to the Park Slope Community Church, a Baptist congregation. Gamaliel King did not design very many buildings still standing in Brooklyn and elsewhere. He was a very important early 19th century architect in the New York region. This building should really be landmarked.

    (Photo:Kate Leonova for Property Shark)

    GMAP

    Sketch originally from Brooklyn Eagle. On nycago.com

    Sketch originally from Brooklyn Eagle. On nycago.com

    Photo: Nicholas Strini for Property Shark

    Photo: Nicholas Strini for Property Shark

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