Building of the Day: 392-408 Douglass Street

Photo: Google Maps

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Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Row houses
Address: 392-408 Douglass Street
Cross Streets: 4th and 5th avenues
Neighborhood: Park Slope
Year Built: 1885
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Architect: Frederick L. Hine
Other Buildings by Architect: Row houses in Crown Heights North on New York Avenue, St. Johns Place and Lincoln Place
Landmarked: No

The story: The November 21, 1885 edition of the Brooklyn Eagle had a long front page article describing the enormous amounts of building going on in the 9th, 10th and 22nd wards of Brooklyn. The 9th Ward makes up part of today’s Prospect Heights, but the 10th and 22nd are now part of Park Slope. Today’s BOTDs are part of the old 10th Ward.

The group of 10 houses was developed by W. H. Jackson, a familiar name in the neighborhood. His company was building in various parts of the Slope during this time. He employed an architect named Frederick L. Hine to design these modest houses aimed at a middle class market. Mr. Hine was just starting out as an architect and would go on to also be a developer in later years, paired with his wife, who was much more than a figurehead in his business.

We don’t know all that much about him personally, but in the late 1890s and early 1900s, F. L. Hine was a great contributor to the architectural fabric of Crown Heights North. He was responsible for 135 row houses on St. Johns and Lincoln Places between New York and Nostrand Avenues. He also designed several fine groups of houses on the western side of New York Avenue, between St. Johns and Eastern Parkway. They are all in Phase II of the Crown Heights North Historic District. When the LPC designated that area, they did not realize that Hine was responsible for anything other than those houses in that neighborhood. And here he is, at a much earlier date.

These houses are much simpler than his later work. They are classified as Queen Anne mostly because of his mixing of the elements of several different styles here. The houses were built as one-family houses, built in brick with brownstone trim, with simple Greek Revival row house lines. The lintels are incised with neo-Grec patterns, and the buildings have individual pressed metal cornices, consistent with the contemporary Queen Anne houses of the day.

Inside, as the Brooklyn Eagle article describes, the houses were well set up for a single family. The ground floor, or cellar level, had a laundry and water closet in the back, with storage and furnace, coal storage etc. on that level. The parlor floor, which had an extension, was taken up by a front parlor measuring 20×11 feet, a 13×15 foot dining room in the back, and the kitchen in the extension. It measured 10×12 feet. There were two closets on this floor, as well.

Upstairs, the houses had one large bedroom in the front and one in the back, with dressing rooms and closets taking up half of the middle portion of the house. The other half of the middle was a trunk room or small bedroom, lit with a skylight only. A full bathroom and a small back bedroom with a closet were in the extension.

The article stated that the parlor, dining room and larger bedrooms had marble fireplaces mantels, and the woodwork on the parlor floor was an imitation walnut. The houses also had fine back yards, 50 feet deep, with flagstone pathways. “These houses are of a kind that are in great request just now,” the article concluded, “provided they can be a reasonable distance from the bridges and ferries.” That remains as true a statement now, as it was then.

The row is largely intact, with the exception of 400, which was replaced by a four story infill house in 2005. The taller height of that house inspired the owners of 396 to build a large two story modern white extension on top of their house that resembles a diving platform. The row all lost their original front doors, but many still have their original ironwork, in the form of fencing and railings. Most, if not all of them are now two family houses.

Note: Finding this information would have been a lot harder without the fine work of the researchers of the Park Slope Civic Council. Their blog “Save the Slope,” is a treasure trove of information, as well as a reliable source of detailed research on the not-yet landmarked blocks of Park Slope. They always get their props from me, because they were volunteers, and I know how long it took to do this. Thank you, David et al.

(Photograph: Kate Leonova for PropertyShark)

GMAP

Photo: Google Maps

Photo: Google Maps

Photo: Kate Leonova for Property Shark

Photo: Kate Leonova for PropertyShark

Photo: Kate Leonova for Property Shark

Photo: Kate Leonova for PropertyShark

Photo: Google Maps

Photo: Google Maps

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