1148-1150 Pacific Street, SSpellen 1

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Row houses
Address: 1148-1150 Pacific Street
Cross Streets: Bedford and Franklin Avenues
Neighborhood: Crown Heights North
Year Built: 1890s
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No, could possibly be in a Phase 4 of Crown Heights North HD

The story: Many people don’t realize that Pacific Street used to be one of Bedford’s mansion streets. Back even before this area was called the St. Marks District, Pacific Street was lined with large single family houses on very large lots. Most of them were wood-framed, and probably dated back to just after the Civil War, if not just a little bit before. At the time, this area was considered the suburbs, and wealthy people built large homes here; an easy commute to work in Downtown Brooklyn or Lower Manhattan. Pacific Street would have been convenient to the LIRR train, only a block away, as well as to horse-drawn trolley cars called omnibuses, running along Fulton Street.

I say probably, because they are all gone. We’ve still got three later single-family homes on Pacific between Nostrand and Brooklyn still remaining today, but all the rest were long ago replaced by row houses and flats buildings. As you can see on the 1888 map below, the streetscape on Pacific was very different. The 23rd Regiment Armory hadn’t been built yet, and there were five large houses on large plots on this block. One large plot was empty of buildings. The yellow buildings are wood-framed structure, and in the next ten to fifteen years, these houses were all torn down.

Sometime between 1888 and 1904, these two houses and all but one of the flats and apartment buildings on the block were built. From the style, I’d say that the houses were probably built first, and then surrounded by the later buildings. They are classic Queen Anne row houses, with a grand mixture of stone, brick, pressed metal, stained glass and slate. I’d date them from between 1888 and 1894. After ’93, Queen Anne began to be passé, replaced by the limestone Renaissance Revival, after the Columbia World’s Exhibition of 1893. The other buildings on this block were all built after ’93, with the brick a couple of doors down, the last one built.

I was not able to find the architects on this project. My first guess would be Langston and Dahlander; together, or one of them on their own. The houses are very much in a style that they were masters of, and it would be like them to make each house very different and unique. George Chappell is also a contender, style-wise. But I have to say that there are elements to these houses that make me doubt any of them did them.

There are almost too many diverse elements here, crammed into two houses. All three of the above architects could mix it all up with great skill, but they were also all good at knowing when to stop, they did not gild the lily. I have a feeling another hand was at work. But, I’ve been wrong before, so who knows? After searching in my sources for too long, I gave up. I hope I can find the architects before it’s too late.

A look at the people who lived there revealed the usual upscale people. These were fine houses right across the street from one of the neighborhood’s most important and impressive institutions, the 23rd Regiment Armory, which was completed in 1895. The officers of the 23rd were from many of Brooklyn’s finest families, as this was the “rich boy’s regiment,” akin to their rivals, the 7th Regiment, on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.

Living at 1150 Pacific worked out well for Miss Adele Cross, who in 1917, became engaged to Lt. J. Howard Donaldson of the 23rd Regiment. The engagement came soon after her father’s early death, here at home, in January of that year. George Washington Cross was in finance and was a member of the Bedford Presbyterian Church, just a block away. He left behind his mother, a widow, four daughters and a son. A wedding was planned, but was put off by World War I. It did seem that the Lt. survived, and came home to his bride.

Ironically, the armory that made this block so desirable, made it quite undesirable less than a century later. By the 1970s and 80s, this was a very rough block. The armory was not used at all, and then became a large and pretty awful homeless shelter. Another homeless shelter and drug rehab facility was placed in the apartment building next door, going towards Franklin. These houses have suffered from deferred maintenance, and not helped by the presence of the groups of homeless men who are just tossed out of the armory in the mornings, left to wander along the block, use the yards as their facilities, and hang out until the shelter opens again in the evening.

When protests were conducted by Crown Heights North residents objecting to the armory becoming the intake center for the entire city’s male homeless population, back in the Bloomberg ‘Aughts, the concerns of the homeowners of this block were among the most pressing of quality of life issues. The city promised to do something, but, until they start to have treatment and job training programs for the homeless during the day, I don’t see how they can expect anything to change. The city backed away from their plans, even before DeBlasio took office, and the fate of the armory is in limbo, with (unfunded) plans for a community center up in the air. I hope in the process, these interesting buildings are saved.

(Photograph: S.Spellen)

GMAP

This coming Saturday at 2pm, the last walking tour Morgan Munsey and I lead in 2014 will be taking place. We won’t be back on the streets of Central Brooklyn leading tours until next Spring. To end the year, we’re touring my old neighborhood, Crown Heights North, a neighborhood near and dear to my heart. Crown Heights North has some of Brooklyn’s best residential and sacred architecture, and has an important and interesting history, as well. Please join us as we highlight some of the best of the best, all decked out in Christmas finery, too. The tour is part of the Municipal Arts Society’s great program of NYC walking tours. Please check the MAS website for ticket purchase and information. Don’t forget warm hats, gloves and shoes!

1888 map. Houses not yet built. New York Public Library
1888 map. Houses not yet built. New York Public Library
1904 map. Houses are about in the middle. New York Public Library
1904 map. Houses are about in the middle. New York Public Library
Photo: Rohan Lachman for Property Shark
Photo: Rohan Lachman for Property Shark
Photo: S.Spellen
Photo: S.Spellen
Photo: S.Spellen
Photo: S.Spellen
Photo: S.Spellen
Photo: S.Spellen
Photo: Google Maps
Photo: Google Maps

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