Building of the Day: 649-651 Myrtle Avenue, Two Storied Store Fronts

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Wood-framed store buildings with apartments above
Address: 649-651 Myrtle Avenue
Cross Streets: Franklin and Skillman Avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: Before 1872, probably late 1860s
Architectural Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No

The story: Although we hold up the Brooklyn brownstone as the building block of our city, in truth, buildings like this built Brooklyn. These were the types of buildings that lined the streets in the 1840s, when Walt Whitman was rhapsodizing about his city.

These simple two story wood-framed buildings, with a store on the ground floor and an apartment above lined our commercial streets until well after the Civil War. The fact that any of them have survived anywhere in this constantly changing city to this date is amazing.

Most of this commercial block probably looked like these two houses when they were built, probably in the 1860s. By the 1880’s the twin wood-frames were surrounded by brick and brownstone buildings. Somehow, they survived, probably because they were constantly in use.

The addresses start to appear in 1872. 649 is listed in a city directory as the location for a grocery store owned by Joseph H. Corliss. He and his family lived upstairs.

In 1873, the 16 year old girl living with her family in 651 placed an ad in the Eagle, looking for work. Four years later, the little girl living here was bitten in the face by a stray dog. The dog was killed by police.

In the early 1880s, 649 was chosen to be a polling place for the 1883 city elections.

In 1889, the building was home to a cigar maker named Isaac Laventhall. He had previously been a shoemaker, and had moved with his wife, three children and mother-in-law to Brooklyn from the crowded Lower East Side.

Isaac Laventhall’s cigar making business and store proved to be quite good for him. He had a good reputation, and prospered. The store became a local gathering spot, and the site of an ongoing neighborhood pinochle game, as mentioned in testimony at the trial of a man accused of bribery in 1890.

In 1902, there was a small fire here, but it was easily put out, thankfully. A store full of tobacco in a wood framed building was a recipe for catastrophe, but fortunately it was a minor blaze. The papers reported that there was minimal damage and no stock was affected.

The store may still have been an official polling place in 1907, when Isaac Laventhall was quoted in the paper regarding voting in his district, the 11th Assembly District. It was also mentioned that he was an ex-Captain of the District.

Isaac Laventhall’s business was good to him. In 1916 in a patent medicine ad, he touted his 25 years in business at this location. The family lived here at 649 Myrtle until sometime past 1920. That year, the census recorded Laventhall’s occupation as “general merchandise store owner.”

Sometime later, the family moved to 406 St. Johns Place, where Isaac died in 1927.

Both storefronts have been used for multiple small businesses. In 1895, 651 was a furniture store called Nevins & Co. There have been general merchandise stores, a newsstand, butcher, tailor, saloon, and in the 1980s; a refrigerator repair company. At some point, the two buildings were joined as one property, as well.

Today, the buildings have been propped, changed, muddled and otherwise patched together so many times; it’s hard to tell much about the original building. It was purchased by an LLC in 2007, and they no doubt are waiting for the right time to tear it down and build an infill apartment building. The way things are going on that side of town, it probably won’t be long.

But before that day, it’s important to know what we are losing. Architecturally important? No. Worth saving? I think we could save others with more going for them. You can’t save everything. But there is still a history here, a worthy one that stretches back to our small town past.

(The Lavanthall information has been gathered from Don Laventhall’s family history, as presented on the “Find a Grave” website.)

Above photo:Christopher Bride for PropertyShark