Building of the Day: 846 St. Johns Place

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: 846 St. Johns Place, near corner of Nostrand Ave.
Name: Commercial building
Neighborhood: Crown Heights North
Year Built: after 1901
Architectural Style: Neo-Classic
Architects: Unknown
Landmarked: No

Why chosen: This is one of those buildings that always makes me ask, I wonder what that was originally? A bank perhaps, or a very fancy store? Unfortunately, I couldn’t find much of anything on line. This photo was taken more than a year ago, and the for rent sign is now gone, by the way. On Property Shark, there is a city photo from the early 1970’s showing a very elegant curved awning over the front entrance, with draperies in the windows. It looked like a very elegant store of some kind, but the quality of the photograph is so bad that zooming in just turned it into a mass of pixels. The building is a great little anomaly, looking like nothing around it, even on commercial Nostrand Ave. Could it have been someone’s dream of an upscale looking emporium? A financial institution? What about that single apartment, up under the roof? This was once a very wealthy area. Hopefully, I’ll be able to find out someday. I always pass it thinking it would make the perfect cafe, something this community desperately needs. Any takers?