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Building of the Day: 1700 Fulton Street
(Back of school, from Atlantic Ave. Photo: Googlemaps)
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Boys and Girls High School
Address: 1700 Fulton Street
Cross Streets: Schenectady and Utica Avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 1975
Architectural Style: Modern
Architect: John Louis Wilson, Jr.
Other buildings by architect: 77 New York Ave, Crown Heights, part of team: Harlem River Houses, NYC. Kerbs Memorial Boathouse, Central Park at E. 73rd St.
Landmarked: No
The story: Secondary public education, known as “high school”, is a relatively new phenomenon in American education, and the first one was in Brooklyn, in 1878; the Central Grammar School, on Court and Livingston Street, in Downtown Brooklyn. By 1886, the city of Brooklyn had opened a new and much larger high school, which became Girls High School, on Nostrand Avenue, between Macon and Halsey, in Bedford. That was soon followed by a Boys High School, on nearby Marcy Avenue, between Putnam and Madison. Both were designed by James Naughton, and both today are landmarked buildings. They both educated thousands of students until the 1970’s, at which time education had changed. (more…)
02/15/2012 3:33 PM
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Building of the Day: 143 Kane Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Private House
Address: 143 Kane Street
Cross Streets: Henry and Hicks Streets
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Year Built: 1995
Architectural Style: Eclectic, referencing nearby styles
Architect: Merz Architects
Other buildings by architect: 40-48 Willow Place townhouses
Landmarked: Approved by LPC, in Cobble Hill HD (1969)
The story: What a wonderfully modern, yet appropriate building this is! Proof positive that imagination and historic preservation can go hand in hand, and everyone gets what they want; the neighborhood, the LPC, and the homeowners. It also goes to show that one of Brooklyn’s most important 20th century architectural firms added another great building to their portfolio of important Brooklyn homes. (more…)
02/14/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 53-83 Water Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Empire Stores
Address: 53-83 Water Street
Cross Streets: New Dock Street and Main Street
Neighborhood: DUMBO
Year Built: Western warehouses, 1870, eastern warehouses, 1885
Architectural Style: Classic 19th century Romanesque warehouses
Architect: Western end, unknown; Thomas Stone, eastern end
Landmarked: Yes
The story: The Empire Stores are actually seven brick warehouses that stretch between New Dock Street and Main Street, built in two sections, one fifteen years after the other. In 1856, James Nesmith, a wealthy Brooklyn shipping merchant, purchased most of the land upon which the warehouses stand. There were already warehouses here, built early in the 19th century, but they burned down in a fire in 1869. Nesmith had new four story warehouses built on the Dock Street end of the site, and in 1870, these opened as Nesmith & Sons’ Empire Stores. Fifteen years later, one of the sons, Henry Nesmith, commissioned Thomas Stone to build the other buildings, these at five stories, on the Main St side. (more…)
02/13/2012 3:33 PM
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Building of the Day: 129-135 Cambridge Place
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Row Houses
Address: 129-135 Cambridge Place
Cross Streets: Gates Avenue and Fulton Street
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Year Built: 1894
Architectural Style: Queen Anne/Arts and Crafts
Architect: William B. Tubby
Other buildings by architect: Pratt Institute Library, Scheiren Mansion and Charles Pratt Mansion, Clinton Ave, row houses on Lafayette, Vanderbilt Avenues and St. James Place, in Clinton Hill.
Landmarked: Yes, part of Clinton Hill HD (1981)
The story: When it comes to some of the eclectic, but narrow, row houses scattered throughout Clinton Hill, I can usually identify the ones designed by William Tubby fairly easily. Tubby’s houses stand out, even the plainer ones, because in their simplicity lies genius. This talented architect, who is on the short list of the best of the architects from this period, was a master of form and composition, and use of materials.
It takes a master to make the simple look elegant. These modest row houses were built in 1894, a time when America was still celebrating the new elegance and opulence of the White Cities world depicted at the World’s Fair in Chicago, in 1893. In Brooklyn, in this same neighborhood, the mansions of people like the Pratt Family, the Arbuckle’s, Schieren’s, Hoagland’s, and the other barons of Clinton Avenue, were practically side by side with the growing numbers of worker’s housing, tenements, and more middle class fare all around the area. These houses were a part of that growth. (more…)
02/10/2012 3:00 PM
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Building of the Day: 342-352A Vernon Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Row Houses
Address: 342-352A Vernon Avenue
Cross Streets: Lewis and Stuyvesant Avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 1889
Architectural Style: Neo-Grec/Queen Anne
Architect: Theobald Engelhardt
Other buildings by architect: Arion Hall, Ulmer Mansion and Brewery, and countless homes, tenements and factories in Bushwick, Williamsburg, and this end of Bed Stuy. Also Peaks Mason Mints Building, Bklyn Hts.
Landmarked: No
The story: In certain parts of this borough, if you throw a rock, you’ll probably hit a Theobald Engelhardt designed building. He was an amazingly prolific architect who seems to have single-handedly designed the entire Eastern District, that part of Brooklyn loosely covering Bushwick, the far eastern part of Bedford Stuyvesant, and parts of Williamsburg. It comes as no surprise that these houses are his. And for several good reasons. (more…)
02/09/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 143 Bond Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Wood frame house
Address: 143 Bond Street
Cross Streets: Bergen and Dean Streets
Neighborhood: Boerum Hill
Year Built: Unknown
Architectural Style: Italianate
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No
The story: For many, this little frame Italianate is housing perfection. I tend to agree. It’s in great shape, in a great neighborhood, and has lots of room around it. It’s cozy, and scaled to a comfortable living scale, and for a single person or a couple, would give them room to live, work, and still have a guest over once in a while. What’s not to like? (more…)
02/08/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 26 Court Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Court and Remsen Building
Address: 26 Court Street
Cross Streets: Montague and Remsen Streets
Neighborhood: Downtown Brooklyn
Year Built: 1926-26
Architectural Style: Neo-Romanesque
Architect: Schwartz & Gross
Other buildings by architects: apartment buildings on the Upper East and West Side, as well as Harlem.
Landmarked: Yes, in the new Borough Hall Skyscraper District (2012)
The story: What I like about our new Skyscraper District is that it’s small enough to actually see and appreciate the buildings as individual structures, as well as parts of a whole. Manhattan, which certainly has some amazing buildings, is often so crowded that you can’t see what’s going on, as each building competes for airspace on crammed and crabbed streets. Here, you can approach, as I did in the photo, from Cadman Plaza, and see the Court Street buildings in all of their glory.
I’ve always liked this building. Like many skyscrapers, you have to look up for the real treats, and if you are taking pictures with a zoom lens, the opportunity to see the details in buildings is so much fun. Only the people whose offices are inside get to appreciate the detail on the upper stories, when they look out their windows. (more…)
02/07/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 52 Livingston Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Row house
Address: 52 Livingston Street
Cross Streets: Court and Clinton Streets
Neighborhood: Brooklyn Heights
Year Built: 1846
Architectural Style: Gothic Revival
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: Yes, part of Brooklyn Heights HD (1965)
The story: This delightful Gothic Revival home is one of the joys of Brooklyn Heights. It was originally only two stories and a basement and, according to Clay Lancaster, in his groundbreaking book on Brooklyn Heights, was the home of the widow Matilda Brown, in 1846. Lancaster goes on to note that the very Romantic style Gothic ironwork, cornice, porch, and fencing was probably put on in 1854, to complement the Packer School, which was being built across the street at that time. (more…)
02/06/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 376 Vernon Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Warehouse
Address: 376 Vernon Avenue
Cross Streets: Lewis and Stuyvesant Avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: Unknown, late 19th century
Architectural Style: Classical/Romanesque
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No
The story: Try as I might, I couldn’t find anything out about the history and architectural provenance of this great little warehouse. It sits on the Bedford Stuyvesant/Bushwick border, and appears on city maps in 1898. At the time, it was surrounded by other warehouses, in a mixed industrial/residential neighborhood.
Like the people who toiled in these types of buildings, the structure itself often fails to make a mark on the architectural or social history of a neighborhood. That’s a shame, as the people who built this building and worked in it, as well as the building, are an important part of the history of this city. Their work kept the higher ups in business, while providing a livelihood for themselves and their families. (more…)
02/03/2012 3:00 PM
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Building of the Day: 426 Henry Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Jenny Jerome Birthplace (but not)
Address: 426 Henry Street
Cross Streets: DeGraw and Kane Streets
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Year Built: 1840’s
Architectural Style: Greek Revival
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: Yes, part of Cobble Hill HD (1969)
The story: When’s an historic birthplace not an historic birthplace? When it’s here. For many years, this unassuming four story brick Greek Revival house has been called the Jenny Jerome House, and it has an official plaque to prove it. Jenny Jerome was the American-born mother of Winston Churchill, and Brooklyn has always been proud to point to this house and tell the tale. Winnie even came here and blessed it, with great pomp and circumstance. But it seems, the tale is wrong. (more…)
02/02/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 54-64 Prospect Place
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Row houses
Address: 54-64 Prospect Place
Cross Streets: Fifth and Sixth Avenues
Neighborhood: Park Slope
Year Built: 1887
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Architect: C.P.H. Gilbert
Other buildings by architect: In Park Slope, Adams House, corner of Carroll and 8th Ave, many houses on Montgomery Pl, Carroll St, Garfield, and more. Also David Chauncey House; Joralemon St, Bklyn Hts.
Landmarked: No, but part of proposed Park Slope HD Extension, hopefully designated soon.
The story: Many people are under the impression that most, if not all, of Park Slope was landmarked long ago, and that battle to protect our historic neighborhoods and architectural heritage has been won here. The truth is that a great deal of the neighborhood is not landmarked at all, especially below 7th Avenue, and it is here that some very interesting, as well as overlooked, architecture lies, with buildings designed by some of Brooklyn’s best.
Every great architect started somewhere, and for Charles Pierrepont Henry Gilbert, that place was not Brooklyn, it was a mining town in the wild and wooly West of Colorado and Arizona, in the late 1870’s and early ‘80’s. Didn’t expect that, right? Like a number of other really good architects of this period, we have a frustratingly thin folder of information about him, considering his importance, and his social standing. (more…)
02/01/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 188 Montague Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Lawyers Title Insurance Company office building
Address: 188 Montague Street
Cross Streets: Court and Clinton Streets
Neighborhood: Brooklyn Heights
Year Built: 1904-1906
Architectural Style: Beaux-Arts
Architect: Helmle, Huberty & Hudswell
Other buildings by architect: Bossert Hotel on Montague Street, Prospect Park Boathouse, St. Barbara’s Catholic church in Bushwick, St. Gregory the Great Church in Crown Heights North, former Jensen Storage/IBM building, Nostrand Avenue at Gates, in Bedford Stuyvesant, and many others.
Landmarked: Yes, designated 2012
The story: This ten story office building sits partially on the site of the original Brooklyn Academy of Music. That building, one of Brooklyn’s premiere concert halls and assembly rooms, was one of the jewels in Brooklyn’s cultural crown. It burned down in a spectacular and horrific fire in 1903. By that time, Brooklyn’s cultural hub had moved towards Flatbush Avenue, and Montague, Court Street, Joralemon and the area surrounding Borough Hall and the court houses had become Brooklyn’s own Wall Street area.
There were a lot of banks here, large banks and smaller local banks; some in spectacular buildings, also on Montague Street. Along with the banks, were private trust companies, insurance companies, and land and title companies, which did a booming business in Brooklyn’s ever expanding real estate market. These businesses, and the lawyers, accountants and other businesses that thrived along with them, needed prime office space, and Brooklyn’s Skyscraper District was built to accommodate them. (more…)
01/31/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 93 Court Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Commercial Building
Address: 93 Court Street
Cross Streets: Livingston and Schermerhorn Streets
Neighborhood: Downtown Brooklyn
Year Built: 1927
Architectural Style: Neo-Tudor
Architect: Malkind & Weinstein
Other buildings by architect: Ocean Pkwy Jewish Center, at 550 Ocean Pkwy, Kingsway Jewish Center, in Midwood.
Landmarked: No
The story: Martyn Weinstein and Samuel Malkind were architects active in Brooklyn, beginning in the 1920’s. As chronicled by Christopher Gray in his “Streetscapes” column, the pair designed their offices here at 93 Court Street in this picturesque Tudor style, in 1927. At the time, Tudor styled buildings were still very popular, especially the richly detailed “Banker’s Tudors” of the suburbs, so perhaps they thought this style would attract upwardly mobile strivers, or perhaps they just wanted to be different enough to stand out of a pretty ordinary street of 19th century, 5 story commercial/residential buildings. In any case, they succeeded with this wonderful little Olde English inspired establishment. (more…)
01/30/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 91-93 Midwood Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Semi-detached row houses
Address: 91-93 Midwood Street
Cross Streets: Flatbush and Bedford Avenues
Neighborhood: Lefferts Manor, Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Year Built: 1904
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Axel Hedman
Other buildings by architect: Hundreds of buildings in PLG, Crown Heights North and South, Park Slope, Bedford Stuyvesant, Clinton Hill. In PLG – Maple Street, between Bedford and Rogers
Landmarked: Yes, part of Prospect Lefferts Gardens HD (1979)
The story: Here in Lefferts Manor, much is made of Axel Hedman’s fine limestone row houses on Maple Street, between Bedford and Rogers, and rightly so, they are among the finest houses in the neighborhood. But this interesting group of houses, by the same architect, often gets overlooked. These three groups of twin semi-detached houses, all with garages and shared driveways, sit on the far end of Midwood, just around the corner from Hedman’s famous Maple street row. They were built in 1904, five years before the Maple Street houses, and represent Hedman’s second job in this fast growing neighborhood. (more…)
01/27/2012 3:00 PM
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Building of the Day: 777 Classson Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: St. Teresa of Avila Catholic Church
Address: 777 Classon Avenue
Cross Streets: Corner Sterling Place
Neighborhood: Crow Hill section of Crown Heights North
Year Built: begun 1874, finished 1905
Architectural Style: Romanesque
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No
The story: Brooklyn has a lot of Catholic Churches, pretty much all of them extremely fine buildings, and the story of the Church’s expansion across the borough is the story of immigration to our shores. European Catholics who settled here in the second half of the 19th century were a varied lot, but when it came to building churches, the majority of those in northern and central Brooklyn were built by and for the Germans, in the north, and the Irish, throughout central Brooklyn.
Brooklyn’s most well-known Catholic clergyman was Irish-born Bishop John Laughlin, who became the first Bishop of Brooklyn in 1853, and was head of all of Brooklyn’s Catholics until 1891. In the 38 years that he headed Brooklyn’s church, he authorized the building of 125 churches and chapels. St. Teresa’s came in the middle of his tenure. (more…)
01/26/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 140 Kane Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Former carriage house, now residence
Address: 140 Kane Street
Cross Streets: Henry and Hicks Streets
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Year Built: 1892
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival
Architect/Builder: Owen McShane
Landmarked: Yes, part of Cobble Hill HD (1969)
The story: Perhaps it’s the legacy of too many episodes of “Deadwood”, but the name “Owen McShane” conjures up the image of a hard-scrabble entrepreneur with a bottle of something in front of him, sitting at a rough oaken table. Ironically enough, this Owen McShane probably did that, at one point or another. It turns out that this carriage house was built by Mr. McShane to not only stable his horses, but also to hold inventory or equipment for his bottling company. Who knew? (more…)
01/25/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 97 MacDonough Street
(Photo: Greg Snodgrass for Property Shark, 2006)
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: Charles W. Betts House
Address: 97 MacDonough Street
Cross Streets: Tompkins and Throop Avenues
Neighborhood: Stuyvesant Heights
Year Built: 1861
Architectural Style: Italianate villa
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: Yes, part of the Stuyvesant Heights HD (1971)
The story: This is the oldest remaining house in Bedford Stuyvesant, most definitely the oldest house in Stuyvesant Heights. It is fitting that it lies on the first block of the longest and most significant of Stuyvesant Heights’ streets, MacDonough Street, because it introduces a passer-by to a long and impressive history of fine building that continues down the length of the street. It’s the beginning of the timeline.
Significant, also, is who built it. Charles W. Betts was the Secretary of the Brooklyn Railroad Company, and he was a large landowner in the area, and one of its largest developers. A railroad man would know the importance of land and homes in an area that, even in the mid 1800’s, had good public roads, public transportations, and the nearby railroad line. He was sitting on gold. He had this spacious square Italianate villa built, a typical house for the suburban area that this part of Brooklyn was at the time. The house has a splendid octagonal cupola on top, a wide porch, and large windows. It also sits on a nice big plot of land. (more…)
01/24/2012 3:31 PM
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Building of the Day: 65 Sixth Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: 78th Precinct House
Address: 65 Sixth Avenue
Cross Streets: Bergen Street
Neighborhood: Prospect Heights
Year Built: 1925
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No
The story: In my opinion, older police precinct houses generally look one of two ways; either like castles, such as the 88th Precinct, in Clinton Hill, a recent BOTD, or like a bank. This one looks like a bank. All side issues of class, and law and order abuses aside, architecture really gives a psychological impression in civic buildings such as police stations. Castles give the impression of defense; of the building, and by design, the police themselves being a bulwark against those who would go against the rule of law. A castle is the last defense on the frontier against the barbarian hordes. This is as deliberate as the pattern on the bricks themselves. And it’s a powerful image, and was very popular in the 1880’s and 90’s. (more…)
01/23/2012 3:30 PM
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Building of the Day: 5 Stuyvesant Avenue
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: former Prudential Savings Bank, now Urban Sports and Cultural Center
Address: 5 Stuyvesant Avenue
Cross Streets: Corner Vernon Avenue
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 1909
Architectural Style: Beaux-Arts Classical
Architect: Daus & Otto
Other buildings by architect: Rudolph Daus – Sumner Armory on Jefferson, Bedford Stuyvesant; NY Telephone and Telegraph Building, Willoughby St. Downtown, Lincoln Club, Putnam Ave, Clinton Hill, as well as many other homes, civic and commercial buildings
Landmarked: No
The story: I’ve been curious about this building for a long time, but it wasn’t until I saw the name of this former bank on an old map, that I was able to find out more about it. Researching buildings can lead you on a twisted path sometimes. That’s what makes it both frustrating and fun. This part of Brooklyn, bordering on Bushwick, was very much in the bailiwick of German-American entrepreneurs, so it comes as no surprise that the Prudential Savings Bank was founded by a group of local German-American businessmen in 1908. (more…)
01/20/2012 3:01 PM
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Building of the Day: 491 Henry Street
Brooklyn, one building at a time.
Name: George A. Jarvis House
Address: 491 Henry Street
Cross Streets: Corner of DeGraw Street
Neighborhood: Cobble Hill
Year Built: between 1844 and 1850
Architectural Style: Greek Revival
Architect: Unknown. Recent exterior restoration: Baxt Ingui Architects
Landmarked: Yes, part of Cobble Hill HD (1969)
The story: Talk about your Extreme Makeovers. This house was literally brought back from the dead, where it languished like a cold, white, brickface and stucco-clad husk of its former self. As one of Cobble Hill’s few free-standing houses, this elegant home was built between 1844 and 1850 for George A. Jarvis, a New York based merchant-grocer. He was a self-made success story, who came to New York from Connecticut with $10 in his pocket and worked in the grocery business, eventually running his own wholesaling business from a location on Front Street, in Lower Manhattan. (more…)
01/19/2012 3:30 PM
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jad2k
Feb 15, 2012 | 11:04 AM