Building of the Day: 405 Gates 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: 405 Gates Avenue, corner of Nostrand Avenue Name: Commercial Building Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant Year Built: around 1888 Architectural…
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: 405 Gates Avenue, corner of Nostrand Avenue
Name: Commercial Building
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: around 1888
Architectural Style: Romanesque Revival
Architects: Unknown
Landmarked: No
Why chosen: Ever look at a building and wonder what it was used for originally? Here’s one of the forgotten, on the corner of Gates and Nostrand Avenues. This was once Arlington Hall, a public hall, home for many fraternal organizations and societies when Bedford was an emerging upper middle class community. Many of these organizations would go on to build their own headquarters, but until they did, this hall was home to Bedford branches of the Royal Arcanum, National Providential Union, Masons, Odd Fellows and Rebekahs, among others. From what scraps of information I’ve gleaned, the building originally had meeting rooms, offices, a dining room and a bowling alley. Picture the windows intact, the double storey windows giving the illusion of a much larger building. Could it have been a two story auditorium? I don’t know when it stopped being a meeting hall, and I’m surprised it wasn’t repurposed as a church. The windows have been boarded up since the 1970’s, and the original entranceway long obscured, the ground floor long ago subdivided into retail. This would be a rehab I’d love to have a part of. Third floor is mine.
Sorry BedStuyGal, not in this lifetime. I know plenty of people who grew up here that I would, and do, collaborate with. People who don’t have a belligerant, misogynistic and warped attitude.
Anyone else would just have added that history, and would have been welcome, especially by me. I love hearing about Bed Stuy, and Brooklyn history, and am fully aware that I don’t even scratch the surface when I write about places and people. I don’t see the need, or reason, for someone telling me that they had to restrain themselves because I wrote a factual couple of sentences about a building. Sentences that are researched and true. The whole story? Of course not, it’s a short paragraph, not a book. But true, nonetheless. He won’t even give me that. Sad, actually.
MM, may be a good idea for you to do some collaborative pieces with The What and/or have The What submit some pieces for BOTD? I’m sure they will be informative and entertaining.
jeez what, of all the people to get mad at in regards to your old neighborhood, mm is not the one.. she’s not telling YOU about your YOUR old neighborhood, she’s sharing information about its past to people who dont know about it’s past and didnt grow up there.
it’s funny how when you calm down a bit you actually have a ton of great history and information to share. it’s sad you get so wound up cuz of the stupid shii* that does go in brooklyn (and yes there is a lot of stupid shi* that i agree with you about)..
this is actually one of my fav. parts of this blog. i could care less about stupid yuppie organic shops opening and stuff, but these kinds of threads about the history of old buildings are fascinating. i dont often comment much on these threads because, well, i dont have a hell of a lot to say.. clearly you do, and you should comment more in the way you did just before when you talked about your mom working in the neighborhood and stuff.
*rob*
I was going to comment on The What- but why waste precious time. It’s not that serious.
I have often walked by this building and thought the same thing- would love to renovate it. create some loft spaces. But the 3rd floor is mine- sorry!
By the way, “It was a Movie theater.. Can we move on to something else..” This was an example of *restraint*?
Montrose Morris takes a lot of effort to learn about an historic building in Bed-Stuy and share it with us…. and you dismiss it. Not just ignore the post, but actively made a comment saying, basically, MM is wrong and wasted our time.
This was restraint? You had planned on *attacking* MM for sharing this information?! What part of this building’s origins do you find particularly offensive?
Get a grip. And calm the fuck down.
“The fulcrum of my anger comes from people telling me about the City I love and grew up in.”
The What — So, MM shares the history of a building dating back to 1888 and that makes you angry?! Because it was a movie theater in 1967?! Are you effing joking?
Also, the fact that this meeting hall was used by a dozen *community groups* is meaningless to you?
What is your point?
“The windows have been boarded up since the 1970’s.”
How much longer until the windows are un-boarded up?
“The Building across the street used to be the IBM Key Punch operations for Brooklyn (Before IBM brought the lot on Dekalb and Nostrand and built that facility.
My mother was a Key Punch operator in 1967 and I remember when my Father and I would pick her up in his white Oldsmoble!”
-The What
Interesting. It’s good to see you sharing some interesting info, The What. Perhaps you can teach us some things?
Thanks so much, MM. I’ve gone by this building many, many times and remain surprised that someone hasn’t developed it–especially 3 or 4 years ago when the economy was better.