Prospect Lefferts Garden Brooklyn -- 495 Flatbush Avenue History

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Address: 495 Flatbush Avenue, between Empire Blvd and Lefferts Avenue
Name: Bond Bakery, now Phat Albert Warehouse
Neighborhood: Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Year Built: 1925
Architectural Style: Industrial with Classic details
Architects: Unknown
Landmarked: No

For those growing up in Flatbush, and in the shadow of Ebbett’s Field, this was always the Bond Bakery building.

In researching this iconic piece of Brooklyn history, I’ve found that everyone who grew up here from before World War II to at least the Viet Nam era, remembers the tantalizing smell of baking bread emanating from the bakery.

Prospect Lefferts Garden Brooklyn -- 495 Flatbush Avenue HistoryPhoto via Brooklynpix.com.

They also remember the clock tower keeping time for the neighborhood. The Bond Bakery supplied bread to the New York area, and was known for its special rye bread, sold under the Grossinger’s name, which it leased from that famed Catskill’s resort.

I wasn’t able to find out when they stopped baking here, but in 1997, the building was sold by the Denk Baking Corporation to the owners of Phat Albert’s.

It really is a fine building, especially the tower, and serves as the entryway to PLG, and to greater Flatbush. It would be great if the clocks could be restored, and all of the boarded up windows re-glassed.

Prospect Lefferts Garden Brooklyn -- 495 Flatbush Avenue History

The tower would make a great community space/museum/gallery. There is now a day care center and school on the second floor.

There have long been cries to landmark this building, for its architectural merit, place in the streetscape of Flatbush, and its history. I hope that happens, it’s certainly worthy.

[Photos by Suzanne Spellen]


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. From Sept. 1986 – April 1990 I worked for the accounting firm that audited the financial statements for Denk Baking. It was always great to visit because we’d leave with loaves of Grossingers rye, pumpernickel, etc. The controller used to show us around the factory & take hot loaves out of the oven for us to snack on while doing our work!

    My dad grew up nearby and remembers it as the Bond Bakery.

    When we used to go there for the audits, we were told that some of the night security people believed they saw the ghost of Horst Denk walking around. At that time, the building had an indoor parking deck; as 1990 approached, however, we were told not to park on it as it might be unstable.

    As for Grossinger’s Rye, the last I saw it in the store (several years ago) the label said it was baked in Maryland.

  2. The building would make an amazing Brooklyn Dodgers museum with recreated grandstands, exhibits on what the Dodgers meant to Brooklynites of all stripes, the Jackie Robinson story, the L.A. betrayal etc. It would provide a reason for tour buses to stop instead of simply circling around when they get to PLG as they currently do, and the Cyclones could sell tickets to visitors and run a shuttle to games.

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