Victorian Flatbush

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: G. Gale House
Address: 1305 Albemarle Road, corner of Argyle Road
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South
Year Built: 1905
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival on steroids
Architect: H.B. Moore
Landmarked: Yes, part of PPS HD (1979)

The story: City records tell us that Mr. G. Gale moved to this house from a row house on Bainbridge Avenue in Stuyvesant Heights. He, or his family members, must have spent at least a couple of moments dancing around in this behemoth of a house, reveling in the sheer amount of space, exclaiming, “It’s mine, it’s mine!” I’m also sure his servants were not as thrilled. However, this house represents the kind of home that Dean Alvord, the developer and father of Prospect Park South had in mind; large, impressive and unusual.
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Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Originally the Harry Moul House
Address: 160 Marlborough Road, between Albemarle and Beverley Roads
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South
Year Built: 1905
Architectural Style: Mediterranean/Four-Square hybrid
Architect: Robert Bryson and Carroll Pratt
Other buildings by architect: Bryson (with John Slee) Albemarle-Kenmore Terrace, Flatbush. Also homes in PPS, PLG, CHN (North & South), and Park Slope. Pratt other homes in PPS, Post Office buildings, NYC, suburban homes in tri-state area.
Landmarked: Yes, part of Prospect Park South HD.

The story: When Prospect Park South was being developed, so too was one of the most enduring residential styles, the Colonial Revival house, based on the designs of the clapboard and stone homes of our New England and Colonial past. Prospect Park South is full of Colonial Revivals in some way, shape, or form. But not all of the early settlers in this country came to New England, some explored and colonized in warmer climates, and the designs they used for homes in the South and West, designs derived from warm Mediterranean countries, found their way into the American home vernacular, as well. Part of what makes Prospect Park so interesting as an architectural collection, is the variety of inspiration, sometimes mixing in the same house.

The first building to stand on this lot was actually the original sales office for Dean Alvord’s project. That small building was moved in 1902, and this lot was sold to Harry Moul, who commissioned Robert Bryson and Carroll Pratt to design a new home. Robert Bryson had been working with John Petit, the chief designer of PPS from the beginning. It was during this time that he met John Slee, with whom he would partner in 1905, the team going on to design houses in Prospect Park South, as well as in other neighborhoods. Interestingly enough, they are known for their Colonial Revival work, so this house, at the beginning of Bryson’s career, is an interesting detour from that later work. (more…)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Minton-McAllister House
Address: 1510 Albemarle Road, between Marlborough Rd. and the railroad cut.
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South
Year Built: 1900
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival, combining Greek Revival, Georgian, and Federal elements
Architect: John J. Petit
Other buildings by architect: many houses in PPS, including 131 Buckingham Rd, the Japanese House
Landmarked: Yes, part of PPS Historic District (1979)

The story: The development of the exclusive neighborhood of Prospect Park South was rooted in the idea that successful people who worked in the city wanted to come home to the country, without actually having to commute to the country. Dean Alvord, the developer of PPS, based his suburban community on ideas manifested in the planned communities of Tuxedo Park, in Orange County, NY, and Riverside, near Chicago. Here, the urban and the rural meet with planned precision, creating a perfect living environment, so different from the row house blocks only a mile or so away. Within this structure, much is possible, architecturally, so we have the great variety of styles present throughout PPS. John J. Petit, Alvord’s first chief architect, was responsible for much of the variety seen on these blocks.

1510 Albemarle is one of the most impressive houses in the area, as much for its size as for its architecture. It is one of a handful of Greek Temple fronted houses in PPS, and is in excellent condition. The LPC designation report calls the house the grandest of the Colonial Revival houses in PPS. Petit, was a master of taking the elements of period and regional design, and re-combining them into a new modern form. Here, he took Greek Revival, Federal and Georgian elements, all late 18th and early 19th century styles, and created a thoroughly 20th century (he just made it) grand mansion for a grand boulevard. It stands next door to where Dean Alvord’s own home once stood.
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Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Francis E. Delbon House
Address: 109 Rugby Road, between Church Ave. and Albemarle Rd.
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South
Year Built: 1919-24
Architectural Style: Prairie School, with Neo-Georgian details
Architect: J. Sarsfield Kennedy
Other buildings by architect: Bay Ridge’s Gingerbread House, Prospect Park Picnic House
Landmarked: Yes, part of the PPS Historic District (1979)

The story: In a neighborhood largely made up of massive East Coast style Queen Anne, Tudor and neo-Colonial houses, this house embraces a very different aesthetic. The house was built for Francis E. Delbon, who invented a shoe last, and was the founder of Delman Shoes. He wanted a 14th century Italian villa, but what he got was a Prairie School house, with extras, influenced by early Frank Lloyd Wright, Purcell & Elmslie, and other Midwestern architects. It’s got the low, horizontal massing, the multiple windows, the roof with deep eaves, the general shape and materials often used in Prairie School domestic architecture. Then it’s got all that neo-Classical detail, in the Roman brick construction of the pathways, the terrace and its columns, and the large portico with the broken pediment. It’s really quite unusual, and one’s idea of what it will look like when you are coming down the street from one direction, is absolutely turned around, when approaching from the other. J. Sarsfield Kennedy is another of those architects who left behind interesting and enduring work, but no personal information. He had a practice in Brooklyn between 1909 and 1925, and his buildings pop up in Manhattan, in Brooklyn, and on Long Island, where he designed a large rambling home in Westhampton. He also designed a comfort station and the Picnic House in Prospect Park, as well as the bases of some park statuary. The Picnic House utilizes the same Flemish bond brick design as the house. Kennedy would have been unknown to all but architectural historians, but for his most famous house. He is best remembered for his iconic and totally fantastical Arts and Crafts Gingerbread House in Bay Ridge, built in 1916. That building put him on the map, and was his most highly regarded building. He obviously enjoyed playing with conventional form and giving a client what they asked for with a twist. It would be interesting to find more work from this intriguing architect.
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Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: former Alfred Pagelow House
Address: 184 Marlborough Road, between Albemarle and Beverley Roads
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South
Year Built: 1899
Architectural Style: Eclectic, inspired by Medieval French architecture
Architect: John J. Petit
Other buildings by architect: In PPS 131 Buckingham Rd, aka the Japanese House, 1306 Albemarle, 1510 Albemarle, 94 Rugby Rd, and many others.
Landmarked: Yes, PPS Historic District, designated in 1979.

The story: This neighborhood can be an embarrassment of riches, with one interesting house after another for encompassing the entire neighborhood. Some homes are larger and more ornate, some more modest in size and design, but all add up to a beautiful neighborhood, creating a living experience quite unlike very many others in New York City. The architects in PPS had to adhere to some basic rules that Dean Alford, the developer devised, but outside of those, the imagination was the limit to the design of the houses. Because of that, a Stockbroker Tudor can sit next to a classic Shingle Style Queen Anne, down the road from a Mediterranean villa. The LPC designation reports calls this house among the most interesting structures on Marlborough Road. It’s lost a lot of detail over the century, losing much of what made it Medieval French. The porch has been totally redesigned, eliminating much of the charm it had when the bays were supported by corbels that became the supports for the arched openings that made up the veranda. The candle-snuffer roofs once had finials with weather vanes, and the double windows on the second floor originally had a balcony similar to the one on the top floor. This beautiful arched window has been shortened to accommodate an air conditioner. But in spite of the many changes, there is a lot of great stuff still remaining, enough so that the house still catches the eye, when one is walking down the street. It was designed by Petit, Dean Alvord’s chief architect of PPS for a time, one of his many designs borrowed from different cultures and times. The first owner was Alfred Pagelow, a lawyer, who moved in in 1900. He, in turn, sold it in 1904 to George P. Glover, another lawyer. The most well-known person to call the house home was Nelly Bly, the most famous female journalist of the late 19th, early 20th century, whose record-breaking trip around the world, and famous expose of the horrors of NYC’s insane asylum at Blackwell’s Island, made her a household word.
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Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Herbert F. Krantz House
Address: 183 Argyle Road, between Beverley and Albemarle Roads
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South in larger Victorian Flatbush
Year Built: 1907
Architectural Style: Neo-Tudor Revival
Architect: John J. Petit
Other buildings by architect: in PPS – 131 Buckingham Rd, the Japanese House (Petit and Green) 1510 Albemarle Rd, other 375 Stuyvesant Ave, Stuyvesant Hts.
Landmarked: Yes, as part of the Prospect Park South Historic District.

The story: Architect John J. Petit was a partner in the firm of Kirby, Petit & Green, responsible for many fine residential and commercial buildings in Brooklyn, designed in the last decade of the 19th century, on into the 20th. Their largest commission, however, was not a building, but an amusement park, Dreamland, in Coney Island, which opened in 1904, built by former Senator and mega-real estate developer, William Reynolds. There, they designed all kinds of fantasy attractions, borrowing from the architecture of the world, to create international style buildings and recreate places that most of the paying customers would never see in real life. Petit would also work with Reynolds in the development of Laurelton, Queens, another designed suburban enclave much like Prospect Park South. When Dean Alvord, the developer and creator of this community, hired John Petit as his chief architect, it should come as no surprise that Petit would enjoy creating houses that borrowed from various cultures, periods and styles. His houses in PPS are a delightful mixture of whatever must have crossed his mind; Japanese traditional architecture, Colonial Revival, Mediterranean/Spanish Revival and more. This house channels the half-timbered Tudor style houses, popular in British Arts and Crafts architecture of the day, making a comeback there, as well as the new Banker’s Tudors catching on in the affluent suburbs of New York. Although there are several other Tudors in Prospect Park South, this is Petit’s only house in this style, and it is considered the best example of Tudoresque architecture in PPS. The house was built for Herbert F. Krantz, a wealthy inventor, whose Krantz Manufacturing Company would be associated with Westinghouse Electric and Western Electric. He moved here from Park Slope, and he also dabbled in real estate, establishing his own suburban enclave in NJ, a suburb of Paterson called, appropriately, Prospect Park, NJ. This is one of the larger houses in a neighborhood of large houses, and is a beautifully detailed modern Tudor. Only here, the half timbering and stucco finish is purely decorative, not structural; all of the details, like a Dreamland attraction, merely added to what is a large post-Victorian wood frame or wooden house. But what fakery! The beautiful carved strapwork, foliage and geometric details, the stained glass and diamond shaped windows, the brackets on the porch, and the roof lines of the dormers, this is all great stuff, making this one of PPS’s most beautiful homes.
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The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 143 Buckingham Road, corner of Albemarle Rd.
Name: William and Lulu Norwood House
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South
Year Built: 1906
Architectural Style: Northern Italian Villa with Colonial Revival bones
Architect: Walter S. Cassin
Landmarked: Yes, part of the Prospect Park South HD, designated in 1979.

Why chosen: The historic district report for PPS calls this house one of the most impressive houses in the district. Apparently, it is also one of the few single family homes in the area to be entirely constructed of brick. And construct it, they did. At 49 x33 feet, with almost 5,000 square feet of house, this is some home. The eye is first drawn to that magnificent tower, with recessed loggia, peaked roof and jaunty finial. How great would it be to have that outside your bedroom window? The strong Mediterranean feel of the house is due in the most part to the bracketed porch, tower, hipped roof and deep bracketed eaves which surround the house. Underneath all of that is really a very large Colonial Revival house, with classic details such as splayed stone lintels, dormers, and a Palladian-like window on a second story bay. It is said that Dean Alvord, who developed Prospect Park South, had a special regard for Buckingham Road, the shortest road in his development. All of the houses are unique, some are architectural masterpieces, and this one would have been visible from his own mansion, just across the way, on Albemarle. The house was built for successful real estate broker William Norwood, and his wife Lulu. Inside, the house boasts an impressive living room, dining room, kitchen, billiard room, music room, eight bedrooms, and three bathrooms. Walter Cassin seems to be an unknown, I was not able to find any information on him, although there were a number of Cassins who were involved with architecture, but I don’t know if they were relatives. If this was his only major house, he certainly did himself proud, designing an impressive, yet attractive house in a wealthy suburban neighborhood of impressive houses.
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The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: 131 Buckingham Road, between Church Ave and Albemarle Rd.
Name: Frederick and Loretto Kolle House, aka the Japanese House
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South
Year Built: 1902-1903
Architectural Style: Japanese ornamented Queen Anne
Architects: Petit and Greene
Landmarked: Yes, Prospect Park South Historic District (1979)

Why chosen: In 1899, developer Dean Alvord purchased 50 acres of Flatbush land for residential development. Prospect Park South was designed to be a high class suburban enclave, a rural park for the rich. He re-named the numbered streets with English sounding names, like Albemarle, Buckingham and Marlborough, laid out park malls, planted lots of trees and put up brick gateposts at the entrance to PPS. There were restrictions and rules regarding the prices, sizes and setbacks of homes, and buyers could use his architects, or bring in their own. Alvord’s main architect was John J. Petit, of Kirby, Petit & Green. They may be best known for their designs for the buildings of Dreamland, the huge amusement park in Coney Island, although they also had other impressive buildings in their portfolio. Petit and Alvord had worked together before, and PPS would be Petit’s greatest legacy. Along with architects Carroll Pratt and Slee & Bryson and others, Petit designed PPS over a period of years, in a potpourri of building styles, mixing Colonial Revival, Craftsman, Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, Spanish Mission, Italian Villas, a Swiss Chalet, and this Japanese house, probably the most photographed and famous house in Victorian Flatbush. Petit built this house on spec for Alvord, with no specific buyer in mind. He researched Japanese architecture, and was aided by three Japanese artisan/builders who oversaw the building, interior and garden. The house ended up costing more than any other house in the development, and Alvord wanted to play up the novelty and the uniqueness of the house as an advertising tool. It was a successful campaign. The house is a large stucco covered box with Japanese brackets, bargeboards and an upturned roof. Chrysanthemums decorate the façade, and today the house is quite striking in the colors chosen to highlight the Japanese details, although period postcards show a more subdued use of color. The interior carried the Japanese theme further, with hand painted Japanese designs and carvings on the fireplaces and ceilings. The dining room had leaded glass windows with a dragon design. The first owner of the house was Dr. Frederick Kolle, a prominent radiologist and plastic surgeon, and his wife Loretto, a motion picture script writer and novelist. The house has been faithfully cared for over 100 years, and is still one of the most striking and beautiful houses in an area of very impressive houses.
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The BOTD is a no-frills look at interesting structures of all types and from all neighborhoods. There will be old, new, important, forgotten, public, private, good and bad. Whatever strikes our fancy. We hope you enjoy.

Address: Beverley Road and East 16th St.
Name: Beverley Road BMT Subway Station
Neighborhood: Victorian Flatbush
Year Built: 1907, with extensive restoration in 1990′s
Architectural Style: Mission/Spanish Revival
Architects: Unknown
Landmarked: No, but on National Register of Historic Places since 2004.

Why chosen: I wish my subway stop looked like this. This Spanish Mission train station always makes me think for just a couple of seconds, that I’m not in New York City. The station is part of the old BMT Brighton line, and has the distinction of being half of the 2 closest subway stops in the entire subway system, with the Cortelyou station only 600′ away. Both stations were built because of the influence of TB Akerson, the developer of Beverly Square East and West. This station was built to deliver people to their homes, the Cortelyou stop, to the commercial sector. The original 1900 station was a road level stop, followed by this station built in 1907 when the line was cut below grade. It was restored in the 1990′s and now features glass art by Patsy Norvell, called Garden Stops,as well as a bright new paint job and tiled roof. It’s a beautiful station, and suits the neighborhood well.