Building of the Day: 1094 Park Place, a Storied Crown Heights Mansion

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Freestanding house
Address: 1094 Park Place
Cross Streets: Kingston and Albany avenues
Neighborhood: Crown Heights North
Year Built: 1901
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Architect: Henry B. Moore
Other works by architect: Row of Kinkos houses on Sterling Place, row houses in Clinton Hill and other brownstone neighborhoods, plus 1305 Albemarle Road in Prospect Park South
Landmarked: Yes, as part of Phase III of Crown Heights North Historic District (2015)

The story: This house has been written about here on Brownstoner several times over the years, so it may come as a surprise that it’s never been a Building of the Day.

Our story begins with George V. Brower, who was Parks Commissioner of Brooklyn twice, the first time between 1889 and 1894. In 1892 the city purchased a four-acre plot of land for a new park, called Bedford Park. It was located between Park and Prospect places and Kingston and Brooklyn avenues.

That just happened to be across the street from George Brower’s home, at the corner of Park Place and Kingston Avenue.

Before becoming Parks Commissioner, Brower had been a very successful lawyer. His home had been built when this part of Bedford was still very suburban, with large houses on large lots. The Brower estate was large enough to have been surrounded by trees, and even had a small pond, where the four Brower children ice skated in winter.

But in the 1880s Bedford began developing very quickly, so the new park was soon surrounded by fine upper-middle-class housing. The area also gained a new name: the St. Marks District.

In 1897, Brower’s older daughter Genevieve married Clarence Phipps at the house. The Brooklyn Eagle announced that the large estate was going to be made even bigger by the addition of a large temporary shed that would seat the hundred or so guests.

The paper marveled that the shed would be heated and lit with electricity. The lines were to be specially laid from blocks away. The shed was draped with fabric and decorated with flowers, and the wedding was quite the affair.

In 1901, Genevieve and Clarence moved into their new home, next door to her parents. This house, 1094 Park Place, was designed by Henry B. Moore, a Brooklyn architect who lived nearby on St. Marks Avenue. His best known design is 1305 Albemarle Road, the huge Colonial Revival mansion in Prospect Park South with enormous front pillars and spider web-mullioned windows.

The Phipps family lived here for only a few years. Around them, the row houses in the neighborhood went up, a group at a time. The St. Marks District and the park remained fashionable, although the Brower estate shrank considerably. In 1921, George V. Brower died.

Two years later, Congregation Shaare Zedek purchased the old Brower mansion, tore it down, and built their magnificent synagogue and community house right up next to the Phipps’ former home.

The synagogue was a reflection of a significant change in the demographics of the neighborhood. A great number of wealthy German Jewish families moved into this part of Crown Heights in the first decades of the 20th century. The synagogue was at the center of their community.

They were joined by Eastern European Jews moving out of the Lower East Side. They moved into the new middle-class apartment buildings that were quickly replacing the old mansions of the St. Marks District.

A look at the listings in the papers for 1094 Park Place shows that the homeowners spent a lot of time looking for domestic help. There were many ads seeking housekeeping help off and on between 1908 and 1937. During that time, the homeowners kept a low profile, with no other publicity.

The owner in 1945 was a man named Tannenbaum. He sold the house that year to Dr. Melvin W. Mason.

Mason was an influential and important doctor in a community that was becoming increasingly Caribbean and African American. He was born in Monserrat, and attended Lincoln University, a traditionally black college. His classmates there included Langston Hughes and Thurgood Marshall.

Mason received his medical degree from the Howard University School of Medicine. There he also met his wife, Sarah Martineau. Like many black New Yorkers of his day, Mason came to Brooklyn from Harlem, where he had a successful practice. He kept his practice there, and also opened a small office in the house.

Over the years, the home saw many prominent guests, including Nobel Prize-winning economist W. Arthur Lewis and Jamaican Prime Minister Norman Manley. According to past owners of the house, a stained glass window of an island scene, set into a fireplace mantle, was a gift to Mason from Manley. A photo of that panel can be seen here.

Several years ago, when this house was for sale, it was at the center of long, often acrimonious discussions about the surrounding neighborhood. The opinion of many was that yes, it was a great house, but too bad it was sitting smack in the middle of Crown Heights, a dangerous, ugly ghetto that would never improve or offer any value to anyone with an ounce of sense. So many Internet pundits were so wrong.

After years of local advocacy for landmark protection for this part of Crown Heights North, the Landmarks Preservation Commission awarded landmark status to this house and its neighbors this spring, on March 24, 2015.

The efforts of the Crown Heights North Association, of which this writer is a board member, and area homeowners, some of whom have been here for generations, have come to fruition. The beauty and the architectural and historical significance of the neighborhood have been officially recognized. George Brower and his family would be quite happy.

Above photo: Suzanne Spellen