Building of the Day: 1213-1215 Atlantic Avenue

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Wood-framed row storefront/houses
Address: 1213-1215 Atlantic Avenue
Cross Streets: Nostrand and Bedford Avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: Late 1860s, before 1872
Architectural Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No

The story: If you want a good idea of what a mid-19th century commercial street in Brooklyn may have looked like, you can get a good idea from these buildings. They are among the oldest remaining wood framed buildings in this part of Bedford Stuyvesant. And considering their age, and where they are, they are in remarkable shape. If these buildings could talk, they would have an amazing story to tell.

The oldest detailed map I have access to is from 1880, and these houses are here. There were actually nine wood-framed structures along this stretch of Atlantic, which includes these buildings, their neighbors, and the site of the present-day Post Office. This part of Bedford Stuyvesant was part of the village of Bedford, one of the original villages that made up the larger town of Brooklyn, settled back in the late 1600’s. Atlantic Avenue (then Street) has long been a major thoroughfare between Queens and Long Island and the harbor in Brooklyn Heights.

The Brooklyn and Jamaica Railroad began running along Atlantic Avenue in 1836, between Jamaica and Flatbush Avenue. The Long Island Railroad subsequently leased the line the day it opened. At that time, the trains ran on the surface, along Atlantic. They would do so until the tracks were elevated and/or tunneled under in the first decade of the 20th century. Atlantic Avenue, never the prettiest of streets, began to be commercially developed during the years after the Civil War. I would surmise that these two buildings were built in the late 1860s to early 1870s. The first newspaper entry dates from 1872.

They have classic Italianate cornices and upper window frames, and late Victorian fishscale shingle trim. Those could easily have been added in the 1880s to give the building some modern appeal of the day. The clapboard siding above and below looks older. The building to the right is also a wood-framed storefront, as is the now stuccoed two-story building to the left. The maps from 1880 and 1904 show these houses well. Neither has survived as well. The 1980s tax photo of these structures also shows the building to the left when it still had clapboard siding.

So what was going on here? They were always storefront buildings with apartments above, perfect for a small entrepreneur to have a live/work building, or for an absentee landlord to rent out rooms. A look at the newspapers of the day show that 1213 did not leave as much of a history as 1215. 1213 is mentioned as the location for Mansfield Hunt, a realty company in 1900. There are several mentions of tenants who lived above. One had a child who fell from the pier on Rockaway Beach, and was heroically rescued by a dog.

1215 had a more documentation. In 1872, this was the store of William Birch. It was also a polling and voting location. It was still a registration site for Democratic voters in 1894. In 1889, it was a liquor store belonging to Hugh O’Donnell. In 1913, the shop was a grocery store run by Charles F. Schultz. He was injured when his store was robbed by two men that year.

By 1928, 1215 Atlantic was home to the Metropolitan Engineering Company. They had a mechanic in their employ named Socrates Sandino. He was the younger brother of General Augustine Calderone Sandino, who was at that time, fighting the US Marines in his native Nicaragua. The Sandinistas later took their name from this popular Latin American general. The papers interviewed Socrates to see if he believed stories that his brother had been killed. He did not, and he was right, although Sandino was later killed in 1934.

This was the location of a realtor in 1940 and a restaurant in 1946. During the late 1970s, both buildings were acquired by the city and were boarded up and looked doomed. The presence of the Post Office made this a busy street, as did the proximity to Nostrand Avenue, the LIRR station stop, and the subway at Nostrand and Fulton. The buildings were purchased in 2005, and renovated. A shop called Exotic Homes and Gardens was opened soon afterwards, one of the first home furnishings stores to open in Bedford Stuyvesant/Crown Heights in years. It did very well for a number of years, taking up both storefronts, but finally closed in 2011 or so. Too bad, they were great, and I enjoyed shopping there. Today, it is a realty office, with apartments above.

I very much hope these buildings survive the super development of Brooklyn. Fortunately not too many people want to live on busy and dirty Atlantic Avenue, right where the train comes up from under the ground. Maybe they will survive. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.

(Photograph:Christopher Bride for Property Shark)

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