Clinton Hill

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Semi-detached house
Address: 78 Cambridge Place
Cross Streets: Gates Avenue and Fulton Street
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Year Built: 1860
Architectural Style: French Second Empire
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: Yes, part of Clinton Hill HD (1981)

The story: What a little surprise this house is. When it was built for Jeremiah Peterson in 1860, it stood alone, a fine shingled Second Empire Mansard-roofed villa in a part of Clinton Hill that was far from the more prosperous “Hill” side of the neighborhood. Yet those who lived here enjoyed close proximity to Fulton Street’s transportation and shops, and were certainly in the comfortable upper middle classes. However, the suburban villa that this house was didn’t stay suburban for very long. By 1864-65, the row of houses attached to it had been built. Too bad Mr. Peterson had his house built right on the lot line. I would bet there are a lot of closed up windows on that side of the house, now under plaster and lathe. (more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Former Charles A. Schieren Mansion
Address: 405 Clinton Avenue
Cross Streets: Gates and Greene Avenues
Neighborhood: Clinton Hill
Year Built: 1889
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival/Queen Anne
Architect: William Tubby
Other Buildings by Architect: 241 Clinton: Chas M. Pratt Mansion, Library: Pratt Institute, other homes and buildings in Clinton Hill and Brooklyn.
Landmarked: Yes, part of Clinton Hill HD (1981)

The story: Here’s the house of a German immigrant who made it to the big time – the Mayor of Brooklyn. He was one of the last mayors of Brooklyn, actually. His name was Charles Adolph Schieren, and this enormous, late Victorian pile was his home. It was built here on Clinton Avenue, at the time, the Gold Coast of Brooklyn, home to wealthy manufacturers, oil men, and financiers.

Charles Schieren came to Brooklyn from Germany as a young man, arriving, like a large number of German immigrants, after the 1848 Revolution. He gained employment at a belt manufacturing plant; the industrial kind, not the ones for your trousers. By 1868, he had his own company, and by 1882, that company, the Charles A. Schieren & Co., held several patents for the manufacture of belts and the machines that made them, for the new, high speed electric dynamos and other modern machinery. His plant was in Brooklyn, and then moved across the river to Manhattan, in 1905. (more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Clinton Hill Houses, now Clinton Hill Co-ops
Address: 345-373 Clinton Avenue
Cross Streets: Lafayette and Greene Avenues
Neighborhood: Clinton Avenue
Year Built: early 1940s
Architectural Style: Modern high rise
Architect: Harrison, Fouilhoux & Abramovitz
Other Buildings by Architect: Lincoln Center, Rockefeller Apartments, Time and Life Building, all Manhattan.
Landmarked: Yes, part of the Clinton Hill HD (1981)

The story: Most people are familiar with the fact that the government tore down several blocks of late 19th century mansions on Clinton Avenue, in order to build the ten buildings in three locations that make up the Clinton Hill Houses, now the Clinton Hill Co-ops. It was during World War II, and housing was desperately needed for the Navy officers and enlisted men who were based at the nearby United States Navy Yard. The four buildings that make up this part of the Houses, were for officers and their families, and therefore were the most upscale of the entire development.

The Houses were designed by Harrison, Fouilhoux, & Abramovitz, modern architects of their day who were responsible for some of New York City’s iconic mid-century buildings. Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz were the architects of Lincoln Center and the Empire State Plaza in Albany. They, and other partners, were also responsible for the Time and Life Building in Midtown, the Rockefeller Apartments, the landmarked Springs Mills Building, as well as the Alcoa Building in Pittsburg, and the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning. (more…)