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April 6, 2007
Arion Hall: Before the Lofts
Earlier this week, the Waterfront Alliance posted this image of Bushwick's Arion Hall back in its glory days of the early 20th century. Long before it was converted into lofts back in 2004 by Mayer Schwartz (and long before it was a mystery building on Brownstoner), the building was a center of culture and fun for the German population. While Arion Hall survived, its smaller Second Empire neighbor to the left did not. Do any readers currently live here? We'd be curious to hear about it.
Arion Hall [WPA] GMAP
Bushwick Mansions [Forgotten NY]
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Comments
don't live here but pass it on occasion....lovely building. i recall a piece in the Times about it a few years back......
Posted by: gurple at April 6, 2007 10:13 AM
I don't live in the lofts but my husband and I live directly across the street from it. I wish there were still all of those trees on the block!
Posted by: jenblossom at April 6, 2007 11:04 AM
i was just thinking the same thing, what does it take to get trees planted on a city street? that would sure take the edge off a lot of streets around here!
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 6, 2007 11:23 AM
Jimmy, I don't know what it involved but the owner of the place we rent did get a tree planted in front of our place last year. It's still small but it's a nice addition to the block.
Posted by: jenblossom at April 6, 2007 11:27 AM
Jimmy... you can either request a free tree through the parks department, or apply to plant one yourself!
http://www.nycgovparks.org/sub_your_park/trees_greenstreets/street_tree_info.html
Posted by: Rachel at April 6, 2007 11:31 AM
I requested a tree ( for my bushwick property ) from the park's dept . Took a little over a yr but i got it . I'm waiting on them now to come plant one at another property i have in Stuyvesant Height's
Posted by: eletricgreek at April 6, 2007 11:36 AM
thanks for the info! egreek, you're back! i can't believe it took a year to get the tree. actually, i can totally believe it.
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at April 6, 2007 11:45 AM
write or call your community board they can push tree plantings to move a lot faster.
Posted by: knock knock at April 6, 2007 3:20 PM
Tree pointers: Do contact your community board, they can help with the process. Also be aware that the Parks Dept does spring and fall plantings, so the time to get the tree can depend on a) when you order, and b) if you order a tree that is better planted in the spring or the fall.
Posted by: Halden at April 6, 2007 6:01 PM
You can also go out and buy a tree on your own and plant it. If you own the house, why wouldn't you plant yourself. And you don't have to wait one year. Oh yeah, I forgot, the city gives away trees for free, so I guess no one wants to buy on their own and plant them.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 6, 2007 8:56 PM
Fabulous. I live in the neighborhood of Arion Street(on the Bed/Stuy side) and have noticed it from the elevated J line. The big A on the building and the street name gave me some hints, so I did some research, finding plenty on the Brooklyn Daily Eagle's search engine. (www.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/eagle/index.htm). The Arion was not the only choral society in town, but it was a factor of Victorian Brooklyn life, and the news reports are fascinating. They had a hall on Wall Street as well (I think before they located in Brooklyn.) I am increasingly entrigued by the past that is evident in the surviving architecture in Brooklyn. I feel as though I live in an archeological site, with treasures all around me waiting to be understood. And at the same time, reminded of all those forces that exist which created the current conditions although we like not to think about them: racism and class issues. Bed/Stuy seems almost quaint now, but it wasn't that way not so long ago. I understand the 70's were particularly ugly. People did survive and some buildings did too. While I obsess over surviving architecture, the survivors are not so visible but I suspect the stories they have are just as interesting and valuable.
Posted by: Keith G at April 6, 2007 10:28 PM
Keith,
The hall on Wall street is actually this building. The street was originally Wall street, it was renamed Arion Place due to this very building.
BTW, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported the Foundation Stone ceremony of this building. Part of the ceremony was that they inserted a Time Capsule in the Foundation Stone.
Posted by: Anonymous at April 7, 2007 12:29 AM
Thanks, anonymous. It is so easy to misinterpret information and just as easy to spread it. I now wonder how this Brooklyn "Wall Street" got its name. I doubt it has any relation to Wallabout, which as I understand it, had to do with a wall around the swampy Navy yard area.
I walked past the Arion building today to take it in with the new information this site has provided. Sad to see the second set of columns missing but glad to see it as a place with some life happening inside. I wonder if there are any large halls still in existance inside where performances or rehearsals took place, or has the interior changed racically since then? Anyone?
Posted by: Keith G at April 9, 2007 9:29 PM
Wallabout was named for the Walloons, the first European settlers in the area (ca. 1640s, I think). Their settlement was at the north end of Wallabout Bay, north of Divison Avenue (probably somewhere between Schaeffer Landing and the bridge).
I have no idea where the name of this Wall Street came from, but its interesting to note that there is a Beaver Street around the corner - and Wall and Beaver are streets in lower in Manhattan.
Posted by: Halden at April 10, 2007 9:20 AM
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