Building of the Day: 632 Throop Avenue

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Flats building
Address: 632 Throop Avenue, corner of MacDonough Street
Neighborhood: Stuyvesant Heights
Year Built: 1889
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival
Architect: Amzi Hill & Son
Other buildings by architect: much of the immediate neighborhood, especially on MacDonough St.
Landmarked: Yes, part of Stuyvesant Heights HD

The story: By the late 1880’s Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights were both up and coming upper middle-class neighborhoods, filled with rows upon rows of handsome single family brownstone and brick homes. But land is a finite commodity, and the demand for more homes within a specific neighborhood helped to establish the need for apartment buildings for the middle and upper classes. The same architects who had designed the rowhouses on the side streets were suddenly quite busy designing flats buildings, especially on the long avenues. Two of the best of Stuyvesant Heights’ architects were the father-son team of Amzi and Henry Hill. Their rowhouses and flats buildings can be found on just about every block of Stuyvesant Heights’ streets. This building is one of their best 8 family flats buildings, and shows why they were so good.

It was built for developer John Fraser, a familiar name in the development of the Heights. The building is quite a commanding presence on the corner, with a projecting center bay flanked by twin polygonal bays, creating a very angular and three dimensional facade. The impressive arched entryway is further accented by the magnificent wrought iron railing, making climbing the stairs an enjoyable experience. The brick surface is highlighted by terra-cotta panels, arched and various sized windows and rich stained glass accents. Many of Amzi and Henry Hill’s buildings can be identified by their decorative brickwork, especially on their chimney flues, and this building is a fine example, showing that brick can be as expressive a building medium as any carved or gleaming marble
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The final touch is the side of the apartments facing MacDonough St. The Hills could have wrapped their brick building around the corner, and it would have looked fine. But they wanted it to meld unobtrusively with the Neo-Grec brownstones next door, which they also designed, so they faced the side of the flats building with the same materials and façade as the rowhouses. Would that this attention to detail and context was followed by many of today’s architects and builders.

(Photo: Property Shark)

(Photo: Property Shark)