Building of the Day: 293-299 Cumberland Street, a Greek Revival Row

Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Wood-framed row houses
Address: 293-299 Cumberland Street
Cross Streets: Lafayette and Greene avenues
Neighborhood: Fort Greene
Year Built: 1853
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, with alterations
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: Yes, part of Fort Greene Historic District (1978)

The story: The Greek Revival style of architecture began to grow in popularity in the United States in the 1820s. By the 1830s and ’40s, the features we most readily associate with the style — the white temple-style buildings, the columns and the pediments — had been blueprinted in architectural style books.

These books became the guides that thousands of American builders, both known and unknown, used as the basis for their own designs. Greek Revival vernacular buildings became common from the Ohio Valley to New England, throughout the Mid-Atlantic states, and throughout the South.

This particular group nestled here on Cumberland Street is actually two pairs of attached row houses. Their presence is quite wonderful and unexpected in a neighborhood predominated by brownstone row houses.

The pairs of houses were built for Fort Greene developer Samuel I. Underhill in 1853. All four houses once looked alike, comprising two mirrored pairs of clapboard houses rising two stories and an attic above high brick basement floors.

Over the years, many alterations changed the appearances of the houses. They all originally had tall front stoops leading to parlor floor entrances. Today, all have basement entrances.

At some point, an addition was added to 295, raising the roof. A full story was added to the top floor, and the cornice was raised to accommodate it.

Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark

Numbers 297 and 299 had mansard roofs added about 20 years after the houses were built. The Second Empire style was in full force by the 1870s, and the mansard roofs added another floor. The original cornice is still sandwiched between the second and third floors.

Sometime after that, 299 had its porch and columns removed, and it was “Colonialized” with weathered shingles and shutters. It doesn’t look bad on its own; it’s just too bad the entire row didn’t keep a unified look.

Scott Bintner for PropertyShark

And what a look that is – a row of pillars stretching high up on the parlor floor, a stately Classical signature across the row. Since the stairs are gone, the suspended porches add an elite touch to the group. These porches are now shared only according to the whims of the occupant.

Too much “sharing” was on the mind of one 19th–century homeowner. Gussie Alexander and her family lived at 295 in 1900. The family was going to their country home for the summer, and took the precaution of having the windows and entrances to the house sealed with wood before they left.

She also charged the local precinct with having someone check the locks when they patrolled. As the summer was ending, on September 25, patrolman John O’Keefe went by to check the doors and locks, as per usual, and got a surprise.

A basement storm window had been broken, and the door to the basement entrance was unlocked. Further examination showed that it had been jimmied open, and the lock broken.

O’Keefe drew his revolver and quietly slipped inside the house. The dining room table was covered with silverware and silver serving pieces, ready to be packed up. O’Keefe could hear voices upstairs.

No one was on the parlor floor, which had been ransacked, but he could hear voices above. He crept up the stairs and came upon the burglars in a bedroom, going through the drawers of a bureau.

He pointed his gun at them and shouted for them to turn around with their hands up. The thieves were so startled they surrendered without trouble, and O’Keefe handcuffed them together.

He then walked them through the streets to the precinct. The thieves were 22 and 18 and well-dressed; both would have been unnoticed in the neighborhood. The police were sure they were also responsible for some similar robberies in the area.

Officer John O’Keefe was given great accolades by his department and by the newspapers. No doubt Mrs. Alexander was grateful as well.

Today, 295 is still a single family house. 297 is also a single-family; 293 now has seven units while 299 is a four-family house.

Except where noted, photos are by Suzanne Spellen