Building of the Day: 1 Old Fulton Street
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: 1 Old Fulton Street, corner of Water Street Name: The Franklin House Hotel, now Pete’s Downtown Restaurant Neighborhood:…
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: 1 Old Fulton Street, corner of Water Street
Name: The Franklin House Hotel, now Pete’s Downtown Restaurant
Neighborhood: DUMBO
Year Built: 1835
Architectural Style: Greek Revival, with later Italianate details added in the 1860’s
Architects: Unknown
Landmarked: Yes
Why chosen: While most people would consider Brownstone Brooklyn, and other parts of Brooklyn as old, to me, there’s no place that evokes the historic, and the real old Brooklyn like the Fulton Ferry District of DUMBO. This is where Brooklyn began, where the money that made Brooklyn Heights possible was made, and where the ferry service that made the rest of Brooklyn a city, launched from. Like the more well-known South Street Seaport area, just across the river, the Brooklyn piers and adjacent streets were alive with commerce and trade. Fulton Street stretched from the harbor to Jamaica, establishing a vital road for farmers to bring their produce and livestock to markets. The visiting merchants, clerks, seamen and farmers all needed somewhere decent to stay and places to eat and drink, so a wealth of establishments once stood in this area. The Franklin House Hotel was the most important of these establishments in the 19th century. It was built on the site of another hotel and inn, and was first run by Gerardus C. Langdon. The hotel always had a restaurant/tavern, and once had a ballroom on the second floor, and was modernized several times in the 1800’s, with cast metal Italianate window frames and a metal cornice added to the original Greek Revival building in the 1860’s. Some of that detail has disappeared over the years. Franklin House remained in business until the beginning of the 1900’s. Today, the ground floor is home to Pete’s Downtown restaurant, a popular local and tourist attraction, and apartments, some with their original marble fireplaces, are above. The building is wonderfully highlighted by the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.
Didn’t know that, bkre. Ha. Just talked to my mom, who lived, at the same time on Sydney Place, where Capote also lived in that beautiful yellow house. What does she remember about my father’s apartment? Cleaning it! She says it was just the old hotel room divided into a couple of small rooms, and with a bathroom added.
This building is also explicitly mentioned in “A House in the Heights” by Truman Capote. He says that neighbors say the building is haunted…
You know, I was about to say they couldn’t possibly be new windows, that nothing’s been touched for decades up there. But looking closer at the photo — I mean blowing it up — I’d say they have to be new windows; they’re too even, too sharp, and no sign of paint coming off. “New,” of course, could mean 20 years ago, but if they were the wooden ones from god knows when, they’d be absolutely decrepit now.
Anyway, I drive by this spot nearly everyday on my way home. I imagine my father there when it was the dusty half forgotten spot it would have already become by then, but still with all the beauty. Next time I’ll look at the windows.
I like the buildings, it would be nice if they sand blasted it to restore the brick to its original form. Not sure if they are new windows or not.
Yes, people are living on the upper floors. I have been to visit. The apartments need work but are spacious and have incredible views. I doubt that current tenants have any intention of moving. You couldn’t rent anything comparable today, and to buy something equivalent in square footage and river views, 6 digits wouldn’t cut it.
My father lived in the top corner apartment of this building in the late 50s, early 60s. In the attic there were old pieces of furniture obscured by layers and layers of paint. The landlady thought they were junk and him have them. He stripped them all and they were lovely. My mother still has those pieces. He died in 1974. My mother took us by this building in 76, when I was nine and I still have my Instamatic photo of it. Same grey paint! just more of it.
ML, you are right. For some reason I don’t know, I always forget about ZR 74-711. I tend to only think of this when there is some extenuating circumstance (e.g.: inability to meet rear yard requirement) other than just zoning.
A use variance from BSA is probably still the way to go. I think the owner could prove the “five findings” pretty easily. However, it is my understanding that the owner plans to do nothing until (a) the remaining tenants move out, or (b) the building falls down.
Coolest thing down here is the Whitman on the railing (and the Asian bridal couples posing on the dock)!
there are apartments upstairs, building was residential for centuries