Building of the Day: 1068 Fulton Street

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Originally row houses, then Shoobra Palace Ballroom, then Elks Lodge 32, then Elks Plaza
Address: 1068 Fulton Street
Cross Streets: Classon and Franklin Avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: 1870s, Altered several times in early 20th century
Architectural Style: Originally Italianate, now with 1920s stucco facade
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No

The story: Fulton Street is one of Brooklyn’s premiere streets, stretching from Brooklyn Heights to East New York and beyond. As a major thoroughfare, it was among the first streets to have stage coaches, then horse trolleys, elevated trains, and finally electric trolleys, buses and subways running along it. It also was a street that catered to entertainment and cultural venues, as well as clubs and organizations. Although they are mostly long gone, Fulton Street was home to numerous theaters, clubs and civic organizations, including fraternal organizations like Freemasons, Shriners and the Elks. People like the sense of belonging to fraternal organizations for a lot of reasons, one of which has to be the secrecy of the group’s rites and rituals. What’s better than having a secret handshake, or to be part of an exclusive order of “brothers” or “sisters,” an organization where you have to be chosen, or voted in, you can’t just join up, or walk on in?

As African Americans in the latter part of the 19th century strove to better themselves and become full citizens in a country that had only a generation ago enslaved them, many wanted to join the Masons, or Elks, or Knights of Pythias, and other such groups. Membership in such groups meant the same thing it meant to white members; social activities and friendships, but also financial, economic and spiritual improvement. But the white “brothers” and “sisters” weren’t having it, and barred the doors. So black folks started their own fraternal organizations, parallel to the white ones. Today’s BOTD was for almost 80 years, Lodge 32 of the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks of the World, or as the building says, IBPOEW.

The first African American Elks chapter was started in 1898, in Cincinnati, and is a fascinating story I’d love to tell at another time. Suffice it to say, they were not welcomed into the Elks fold. In 1899, they officially changed their name to the Improved Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks of the World, to distinguish themselves from the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. That still did not make the Elks happy, but by 1918, they IBPOEW changed their insignia, and reached out to the BPOE and peace was made between the two organizations. The IBPOEW are still the largest black fraternal organization in the country.

The houses that form Lodge 32 were part of a group of seven houses that were set much further back from the street than the other houses on the block, and across the street. They probably were all Italianates built in the 1870s, and looked like the only remaining house in the group, number 1074 Fulton. 1068 was purchased around 1910 for use as a social hall, and soon added the buildings on both sides, so that before the end of the ‘teens, it was a social venue called the Shoobra Palace Ballroom. I found references under that name from 1915 to about 1925. In the late 1920s, interior and exterior renovations were made under the direction of architect M. Rothstein, which resulted in the building we see today.

Most of the references I found for this place, even as far back as the ‘teens are from the New York Age, a Brooklyn based African American newspaper, with the black chapters of the Elks, Knights of Pythias and other groups meeting here beginning in the ‘20s. Bedford Stuyvesant’s black population was growing by leaps and bounds, and this building seems to have only been rented or used by black organizations. It was called Castle Hall in 1931, but more often was referred to as the Elks Home, the Elks Crystal Ballroom, and there was also an Elks Grill Room and an Elks Restaurant inside. By the late 1930s, early 1940s, the Elks bought the building. The Lodge was an important part of the social and economic life of Bedford Stuyvesant for many years, and Lodge 32 grew to more than 1,000 members. By the way, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks did not admit black members until 1973.

I don’t know why the Elks eventually sold the building, most likely expenses were too high, and membership in fraternal organizations like the Elks waned in the late 20th century, but in 1991, the building was purchased by Ray Patterson, with plans of making it an entertainment venue. He named it Elks Plaza in tribute to the Elks, and left their initials and lodge number on the building. He made a lot of interior renovations, and rented it out to the growing number of West Indian and African residents in the area, and the place became successful as a venue for dance and birthday parties. He allowed the local chapter of the Eastern Star, the female auxiliary organization of the Elks to meet there with no charge. From what I was able to tell, it was he who built the smaller storefronts in front of the lodge, in order to get added income.

The Elks Plaza was home to lots of parties and events for the next few years, as one of Bed Stuy’s few large venues, but tragedy struck in January of 2009, when the fun of a teen party was shattered by the random gunfire that took the life of 17 year old Nyasia Pryear, a high school honor student who was looking forward to college in the fall. It was stupid gang violence, as members of both the Crips and the Bloods were at the party, and one individual fired at an opposing gang member, with innocent Nyasia in the line of fire. Several other teens were also wounded. I did not find any news reports showing they ever caught the shooter. The Elks Plaza was never the same after that, even though it continued in business, with added security precautions.

Today, the building is empty, with gaping windows, although it looks like something is going on here. A search of records shows a sale in 2012, but also a lis pendens and a lot of liens. There are no building permits yet, but with a new condo building just next door, it would not surprise me if this is torn down for another one. It’s a large lot. One could hope that there could at least be a large plaque on that new building telling the existence and importance of Lodge 32 of the IBPOEW, and of the life of Nyasia Pryear. People should know these things. GMAP

(Photo: Emily Nonko)