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January 16, 2009

The Original 135 Willow Street

135-Willow-Street-Bernice-Abbott-0109.jpg
In case you didn't make it through all the comments on yesterday's Co-ops of the Day post about 135 Willow Street, NorthHeights posted a link to a Bernice Abbott photo of the houses that stood on the site before the 112-unit building was constructed in the 1950s. No blogs back then! GMAP




Posted by Brownstoner at 2:30 PM | Comments (20)
Categories: Brooklyn Heights, Historical

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Comments

I love that window jutting through the cornice. I've never seen anything like that.

Posted by: bk14 at January 16, 2009 2:37 PM

Ooh, I love old photos.
I love that the foreground is so dark and the back is light. It almost looks like the houses are a pencil rendering.

Great houses...too bad.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 16, 2009 2:43 PM

The 1950s were a bubble...remember the Levittowns? There may not have been a blog back then but I bet people were saying the same things. I can see a sign being tacked to the telephone pole every Friday with "Horror Show Friday" with pictures of places like these being replaced. There would be a guy that would come along named Polemicist and scrible things on the posts about "medium density" and that crap.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 16, 2009 2:43 PM

Thank god for hi-density eh?

Posted by: dittoburg at January 16, 2009 2:45 PM

I'm glad this photo is in focus and not "artsy." :)

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 16, 2009 2:49 PM

Nice,
but no bathroom or kitchen shots so I'm suspicious.


Posted by: sam at January 16, 2009 2:57 PM

I'd like to know what is going on behind all those drawn lace curtains.

Posted by: daveinbedstuy at January 16, 2009 3:00 PM

im glad these slums were torn down

Posted by: blackstoner at January 16, 2009 3:03 PM

'I'd like to know what is going on behind all those drawn lace curtains.'

Your misspelled word from yesterday ;-)

Posted by: bayridgegirl at January 16, 2009 3:03 PM

A few other pictures of note I like are:

135 Joralemon (that closed this past December for $4,189,000)
http://www.mcny.org/museum-collections/berenice-abbott/a120.htm

222 Columbia Heights - the place next to the Pierrepont Playground by the Promenade - this place renovated not that long ago and now looks completely different
http://www.mcny.org/museum-collections/berenice-abbott/a127.htm

Traveling tin shop - inspiration for those kitchens that have all the hanging pots and pans?
http://www.mcny.org/museum-collections/berenice-abbott/a092.htm

Posted by: Biff Champion at January 16, 2009 3:47 PM

"222 Columbia Heights - the place next to the Pierrepont Playground by the Promenade - this place renovated not that long ago and now looks completely different"

According to the link you posted, Biff, the original in the picture was torn down in 1965: "Although Brooklyn Heights was designated a historic district in 1965, the Cornell mansion was torn down and replaced in 1982 with a small apartment house. To meet landmark regulations, the apartment house conformed to the shape of the original mansion."


Posted by: YngRntr at January 16, 2009 3:56 PM

YngRntr, thank you for the correction! I misspoke. Clearly the building that is there now is not a renovation of the Cornell mansion. While the structure is, in my opinion, fairly attractive as far as "new" structures go, it still doesn't come close to the charm of the Cornell mansion. Thanks again.

Posted by: Biff Champion at January 16, 2009 4:01 PM

Who knows the name of the agency where you can buy old photos of your house? I remember there was a thread a few months back about it but I can't remember where to go.

Posted by: wasder at January 16, 2009 4:13 PM

no prob =p thanks for the links

Posted by: YngRntr at January 16, 2009 4:16 PM

Wasder, it's the city records department - the city took property photos in the 1930s-40s for tax purposes.

Check out http://www.nyc.gov/html/records/html/taxphotos/home.shtml

Posted by: zeebee_in_bklyn at January 16, 2009 4:17 PM


I googled 220 Willow to see and compare the new building to the Cornell mansion, but unfortunately it's covered by a tarp -- guess it was being renovated. I'll have to check it out come spring.

Posted by: YngRntr at January 16, 2009 4:21 PM

Thanks zee-bee. I decided to not be so lazy and search the site here for the original thread. I ordered a print from them months ago and never received anything...

Posted by: wasder at January 16, 2009 4:25 PM

Berenice.

(You get it wrong every time!)

Posted by: WBer at January 16, 2009 5:38 PM

the original 222 Columbia Heights (designed by architect Richard Upjohn) burned down shortly after WWII. This was just before the City demolished the northern blocks of Columbia Heights to make way for the construction of the Expressway. Middagh Street used to run all the way to the waterfront -Abbott took pictures of this vanished block as well. Too bad the street does not connect to the docks any more as it would have made an ideal entry to the future Brooklyn Bridge park, which I fear will be somewhat isolated from the neighborhood.

Posted by: sam at January 16, 2009 6:23 PM

A couple more thoughts since no one is posting today. The design for the new 222 Columbia Heights was approved by the Landmarks Commission in 1982, this incredible site had stood vacant for almost forty years. The house was designed as the residence of a developer -Bruce Eichner perhaps? and was very controversial because it featured a private garage,
At first everyone called it the "tootsie roll building" for obvious reasons. Had the original house survived to 1965 it would of course have been protected from demolition by the landmarks law.
One of the houses torn down in the northern part of Columbia Heights in the late forties/early fifties for the expressway was the home were the Roeblings lived and where the yonger Roebling, incapacitated by the bends, supervised the construction with the aid of a telescope. It is amazing to think that in the 1950's no one cared a bit about any of this remarkable history and the house was torn down like any old worthless slum dwelling.

Posted by: sam at January 16, 2009 6:51 PM

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