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November 25, 2009

Walkabout: Our Favorite Brooklyn Buildings

For December, I'd like to feature my favorite buildings, and yours. Each column will highlight favorite buildings in mostly Brownstone Brooklyn: row houses, apartment houses, free standing homes, churches, commercial buildings, schools and civic buildings, as well as favorite architectural features or ornament. My Tuesday column will feature some of my choices. I'd like to have people write and tell me your choices, so Thursday's column can show what the readers think are the most interesting buildings. I don't have a car, and can't get to a lot of far-flung locations, so if you have photographs to accompany them, that's even better. I'll feature them in the article, find out what I can about them, and put all of them in my Flickr pages, of course, crediting your screen name for photos and entries.

If not enough people reply, you'll just get my faves. So send in those entries. Leave building names (if any) and addresses, and suggestions in the comments below, as well as links to Flickr or other photo sharing sites. Photos can be sent to my email: montrosemorrisATyahooDOTcom. Buildings don't have to be old, important, or great, just enjoyed by you. I'm looking forward to your participation. Have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving.




Posted by Montrose Morris at 10:30 AM | Comments (23)
Categories: Arch Diary

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Here's one: http://montaukclub.com/

Posted by: DitmasSnark at November 25, 2009 10:36 AM

MM - Most of my fave buildings are ones I've learned about from you & I'd be hard pressed to choose among them. So I don't mind if it's all your taste.

Posted by: Arkady at November 25, 2009 10:45 AM

And Happy Bird-day to you, too.

Posted by: Arkady at November 25, 2009 10:50 AM

Hi folks;

Just like to comment on the photo that Montrose shows in the post above. As you can see, it is a shot of Flatbush Ave from Fulton Ave. to Atlantic Ave. This stretch of Flatbush used to be the "Men's district". All of the local haberdashers had shops there. You can see that one of the great old Brooklyn haberdashers - Buddy Lee - has a billboard advertisement on the side of one of the buildings. Alas, all of these shops closed up during the 50's and to this day that stretch of Flatbush has never recovered.

The corner of Flatbush and Fulton was the heart of the entertainment district, especially the western side, which is not shown in the photo. However, you can see one of the theaters - the Fox - which was one of the great movie palaces of the day.

I would like to learn more about the building shown in the photograph, on the left, the one with the "Pioneer Warehouse" sign on it. I see this building often, and always wonder about its original purpose. It has a strange massing.

Benson

****The moment of truth on Brownstoner****

“..because of the redlining and the disinvestment, whole areas were frozen in time and preserved. Poverty can sometimes be the preservationist's best friend. “
Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 24, 2009 1:12 PM

Posted by: benson at November 25, 2009 11:01 AM

benson, the pioneer warehouse was built as a storage warehouse, and remains one to this day!

Some of my favorite buildings:
- The diagonal house just in from the NE corner of Prospect and Underhill
- The giant mystery building made of huge stone blocks on the block surrounded by Flushing, Taaffe, Kent, and Little Nassau -- would love to see what it once looked like with its cornice
- The haunted-looking mansion at the SE corner of Flushing and Franklin
- The scattered surviving wood-frame houses with porches near Fort Greene Park, e.g. the three on Adelphi just south of Lafayette

Posted by: zinka at November 25, 2009 11:30 AM

There's a huge block-long abandoned school or something in Crown Heights somewhere north of Eastern Parkway, I think--stumbled on it years ago and never forgot it but can't find it again (and seldom get over there to look for it!) It looked like an English boarding school, even had what looked like a chapel with stained-glass windows, and some group like the Seventh-day Adventists had put a little banner up proclaiming that they had a school (clearly only holed up in part of this vast holding). It became my instant Walter Mitty fantasy to own it and start an Oprah-like boarding school for kids from troubled homes...anyone know where/what it is/was?

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at November 25, 2009 11:36 AM

Zinka;

I have trouble believing that building started out life as a warehouse (though I might be wrong). My reason for thinking so is simple: why would they build a warehouse on that stretch of Flatbush Ave???? This was not a manufacturing zone. It was a prime commercial strip, so it doesn't seem to make sense that they would put a warehouse there, just from an economic point of view.

Posted by: benson at November 25, 2009 11:42 AM

The Brooklyn Historical Society is one of the boro's great buildings.
The Jay Street firehouse (one of Frank Freeman's few surviving works) is great.
I love the row of houses on Duffield STreet that were moved across Flatbush Avenue twenty years ago and that are adjacent to the brick church.
The Litchfield Villa is one of the great greats.
The Tower Building and adjacent Warren Street mews in Cobble Hill are just incredibly picturesque.
the Kings County Savings Bank in Williamsburg is the best second empire building in the boro, now it is owned by an arts group I think.
So many wonderful resources in the Boro....
Good luck with your selections!

PS Packer Collegiate School by Minard Lafever is interesting too....

Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 25, 2009 11:44 AM

Brenda, you're thinking of the Hebron school, east side of New York Ave, between Sterling and Park Place. Better viewed from Park Place. It's an amazing building!

benson, the warehouse was marketed to a high-end audience, with wine storage, a giant safe, etc.

There's an excellent history of the warehouse's history, from 1988 (when it was supposed to be demolished for urban renewal!), here:
http://www.nytimes.com/1988/02/07/realestate/streetscapes-pioneer-warehouses-brooklyn-romanesque-revival-repository-complex.html

Posted by: zinka at November 25, 2009 12:09 PM

That is an interesting picture because there must have been such high expecations for that important corner. And yet the property was never fully developed and as a result the taxpayer building is still there to this day (I believe).

What that corner needs is an imposing bank or commercial building with a corner domed tower topped by a gilded angel or goddess celebrating the very important downtown intersection.

It could still happen...I'm placing my hopes on the New Classicism.



Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 25, 2009 12:13 PM

Zinka;

Thanks!

Benson

****The moment of truth on Brownstoner****

“..because of the redlining and the disinvestment, whole areas were frozen in time and preserved. Poverty can sometimes be the preservationist's best friend. “
Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 24, 2009 1:12 PM

Posted by: benson at November 25, 2009 12:17 PM

"Benson

****The moment of truth on Brownstoner****"

Mwaah ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!!!

Posted by: bxgrl at November 25, 2009 12:31 PM

brenda- I was going to nominate the Hebron School too! I live a few blocks from it- come visit and we'll go see it.

Posted by: bxgrl at November 25, 2009 12:32 PM

Thanks, everyone. Keep the suggestions coming!

Posted by: Montrose Morris at November 25, 2009 12:49 PM

Way too many favorite buildings to count, and others that are no more. And you've helped me fill in the blanks on so many I'd long admired but knew nothing about. I am thankful that Brooklyn still preserves so many of these beauties and thankful for the new landmark districts deignated this year -- Prospect Heights, Ocean on the Park, Alice and Agate Courts, Fillmore Place, and looking forward to more in 2010 (CHNII!). Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Posted by: babs at November 25, 2009 1:05 PM

I would love some information on the current state of historic Erasmus Hall (circa 1780) which is a colonial wood clapboard building in the courtyard of the 1890's Erasmus High school building in Flatbush. I hear it is in bad shape but you can't really see it from the sidewalk.

Posted by: Minard Lafever at November 25, 2009 1:13 PM

Montrose, I'd like to hear about the story of some blocks: the gorgeous part of President St, roughly New York Ave to Kingston Ave, which have incredibly gracious mansions. Who laid them out, who set the rules for appearance, who designed the houses? Were they built on spec or individually?

Posted by: zinka at November 25, 2009 2:45 PM

Here's a few "off the beaten path."

1.The Wyckoff-Bennett house - http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Town/dutch/wyckoffben.html

2. Henderick I. Lott House - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendrick_I._Lott_House

3. 1930's Slate Tudors of Marine Park - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BrooklynOldBuilding.JPG

4. Manhattan Beach, Brighton Lines, Marine Park and Flatbush Ave, Ditmas Park, LIRR Brighton Lines. http://who-will-kiss-the-pig.blogspot.com/2008/10/monday-night-in-marine-park-brooklyn.html

Posted by: Joe from Brooklyn at November 25, 2009 2:49 PM

I'd love to know more about some of the mansions still standing on Bushwick Ave...

Posted by: tinarina at November 25, 2009 4:35 PM

Dtimas - thanks for your Montauk Club link. Do you remember when brownstoner had a "condo of the day" in the Montauk?
http://www.brownstoner.com/brownstoner/archives/2009/02/
condo_of_the_da_132.php#comments

Posted by: BklynSoFar at November 25, 2009 9:43 PM

M. Morris, how about the Rosario Candela building on Plaza W., at Union, the one sometimes called the Flatiron of Brooklyn. I have wondered what room is at the pointed triangle part of the building where there is just *one window*, if it is a hallway or closet, etc, :-). Does anyone know anything of the floor plans? This curiosity comes from walking by it almost daily and the quote below. From the top view on Google maps, the building looks like a fleche or an arrowhead.

A very short google search yielded this clue:

"An admirer of cryptology, codes and puzzles, Candela sometimes incorporated these things into his interior blueprints."

Quote from: http://sfctoday.com/features/29-brooklyns-very-own-flatiron-building.html

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted by: BklynSoFar at November 25, 2009 10:26 PM

Joe from Brooklyn: I agree with your selections! I live in the neighborhood and am a big fan :)

Christ Church by Richard Upjohn in Cobble Hill is a beauty. I also am always mystified by the Masonic Temple on Lafayette Avenue and Clermont in Fort Greene...it is an attractive building with such a secretive past.

Posted by: LisaTheCityPlanner at November 25, 2009 11:42 PM

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. I'm glad so many people have questions and show great curiosity about the buildings and places around us. Not to curb your enthusiasm, but some of these requests are going far beyond my poor powers of investigation. Some are worthy of an entire article, and will take a while to investigate, and some, I just don't have the capacity to find out, or the time to do it. Some info is tantalizingly out of reach because of pesky details like you have to be a student, faculty or staff to access a certain university's databases. Other venerable institutions don't have a lot of info on line. The nerve!

However, I will do what I can. I wish I had the staff (and the salary) of Christopher Gray at the Times. Please continue to send in your list of favorite buildings, and your choices will start to appear this coming Thursday.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at November 26, 2009 10:03 AM

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