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January 25, 2007
Droolworthy: Greenpoint Home for the Aged
This late 19th-century Italianate mansion knocked our socks off when we came across it last weekend. Designed by Theobald Engeldhardt in 1887 as the Greenpoint Home for the Aged, it is now in rather rundown shape and being occupied by a group of "crazy old men", according to one neighbor we spoke to. The building was landmarked in 1983 but appears to have been owned by the city, at least until recently. What a pad! Anyone know the story?
AIA on Greenpoint [Ragette.org] GMAP P*Shark
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Comments
you seem to have become obsessed with Greenpoint
Posted by: loser at January 25, 2007 10:17 AM
We just hadn't had a chance to poke around the neighborhood for a while and were able to spend a couple of hours there last weekend...We did come across some real gems though that contradict the nabe's rep as a vinyl-siding wasteland.
Posted by: brownstoner at January 25, 2007 10:26 AM
It is not really occupied by old crazy people. There are motorcycles on the property and I've seen youngish hipsters coming out.
Posted by: Adam at January 25, 2007 10:31 AM
I live on the block, it is an SRO
Posted by: anon at January 25, 2007 11:22 AM
It used to be an orphanage a LONG time ago. Then an SRO. Sounds like it still is.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 25, 2007 11:23 AM
Oh, I love that building. One day my husband and I were standing in front of it wondering what it used to be (at the time there was an old broken toilet in the front yard, not motorcycles) when a slightly broken man passed by and told us that it had at one time been a convent. But, he said, "before that it was a..whaddaya call it...place for sailors to find girls...whaddaya call it..." "Brothel?" I asked. "No..." "Cathouse?" "Yeah! A cathouse!"
Anyone know if that's true?
Posted by: Leela at January 25, 2007 11:46 AM
Convent, cathouse, old age home, hipster hangout, biker gang pad...you cannot lose with this place!! Love it!
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at January 25, 2007 12:21 PM
Reminds me of the Graham Home for Old Ladies in Clinton Hill (in terms of its history, at least).
Posted by: babs at January 25, 2007 12:46 PM
I'm glad to hear it's landmarked. It's a big piece of land and i could just see it being bulldozed for some POS. We live right down Calyer from it & it looks awesome at Halloween, let me tell you. SUPER creepy :)
Greenpoint is highly underrated. I'd like to keep it that way.
Posted by: jukeboxgraduate at January 25, 2007 1:40 PM
I heard it was a spice factory (J/K) hee hee hee!
Posted by: Anonymous at January 25, 2007 2:10 PM
Am I the only one who finds the juxtaposition of "Droolworthy" and "home for the aged" in this headline to be funny? he he
Posted by: bob999 at January 25, 2007 3:41 PM
It was a home for the aged, and it's a beauty! I lust after it everytime I walk by. It's one of the few buildings I would stay in Greenpoint for if I could turn it into my project.
Interesting to hear that it is (was?) an SRO; I have always wondered who was living in it and why it was kept in such poor, overrun condition. That gives me many answers.
Posted by: Matthew at January 25, 2007 3:41 PM
In the late 50's it was a home for "unwed" mothers. Parents used to tell their daughters that if they had sex they's end up living there.
I believe it was converted to a residence for the aged later on.
Posted by: Lee at January 26, 2007 11:01 AM
Greenpoint has a LOT of beauty - but you have to look under the outer coating of siding. Tons of places have beautiful circa 1900 details just like the Brownstones have.
Now, if we could only get more homeowners to change the siding to wooden shingles....
Posted by: Anonymous at January 26, 2007 5:06 PM
This building was designed by Theobald Engelhardt in 1886-87, who also did the St. John's Evangelical Luthern Church around the corner.
http://www.nyc-architecture.com/GPT/gpt020.htm
Posted by: caleb at January 30, 2007 10:27 AM
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