Building of the Day: 825-833 St. Marks Avenue
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: 825-833 St. Marks Avenue, corner of Brooklyn Avenue Name: Row houses Neighborhood: Crown Heights North (Crown Heights North…
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: 825-833 St. Marks Avenue, corner of Brooklyn Avenue
Name: Row houses
Neighborhood: Crown Heights North (Crown Heights North Historic District)
Year Built: 1884
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: George P. Chappell
Landmarked: Yes
Sometimes the sum of the whole is greater than its individual parts. Such is the case with this group of brownstones designed by Chappell for Mrs. Eliza J. Smith. The group is a classic ABBA (no, not the singing group) pattern, the two houses on the end are the same, as are the two in the middle.
This arrangement makes the group seem like one large house. Today the details are eroded, and the houses have seen better days, but they still have a sturdy elegance. Take a look at the period photo, which shows how much difference a stoop, or four, can make to a streetscape.
[Photos by Suzanne Spellen]
Never stoop to the level of removing a stoop. I say.
stoops were often removed when the houses where converted to multiple apartments. You can get an extra room on the parlor floor if you remove the main entrance and enter through the basement -sorry, garden level.
MM: Those old photos…..to die..
Other than “unfashionable,” DeLepp.
They were uneconomical as Brooklyn’s brownstone beauties were turned into apartments.
By moving the main entrance to the ground floor, landlords opened the parlor floor to an extra room, the houses’ former vestibule.
That way the parlor floor could be divided into “flats” front and back.
Look above the street level entrance of former private brownstones and you’ll often see an apartment’s kitchen or bathroom!
when did stoops become unfashionable?
re, removing stoops in the early 20th century – Andrew Scott Dolkart gave a talk at the Museum of the City of New York on the topic a couple of months ago- partially promoting his book “The Row House Reborn” which looks at the period from 1908 to 1929 when there was a big push to “modernize” the “bleak row houses of old New York” – stoop removal was often one of the first steps.
The book is an interesting read, especially in the context of understanding the swing of architecture in New York.
Please, Montrose. Stop showing “period” photos of Crown Heights!
They’re just too beautiful — and sad!
Mid-20th-century Brooklynites must have been out of their minds to deface buildings as good as these.
Every bit as good Commonwealth Avenue in Boston!
Maybe one day, under the Landmarks Commission’s guidance, the stoops will return.
In the 1920s in Manhattan, they fell out of favor and many buildings were converted to commercial. There was also something going on with the sidewalk — I can’t remember.
What was the rush in the early 20th century to take out the stoops?? You see this all over Brooklyn and especially in Manhattan. In most cases it makes the house look much less grand. Was this a specific architectural movement or did people just want to enter at street level???