Building of the Day: 135-137 Jefferson Avenue -- Garages in an Elegant Era

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Former garages, now church
Address: 135-137 Jefferson Avenue
Cross Streets: Bedford and Nostrand avenues
Neighborhood: Bedford Stuyvesant
Year Built: Late 1890s
Architectural Style: Transitional Romanesque – Renaissance Revival
Architect: Unknown
Landmarked: No

The story: We build nice storage facilities for the things we treasure. From Egyptian tombs to banks, to massive storage facilities with climate control and private viewing booths, our prize possessions can be as pampered as our purses allow. Wealthy Victorians had fabulously luxurious stables built for their prize horses and carriages.

This block has always been a mixture of service and residential buildings, and took a long time to develop. Over the course of the late 19th and early 20th century, row houses replaced wood framed stables and homes. Many of them were replaced by later service buildings and tenements. Some of the land just remained empty.

The map of this block from 1880 shows no buildings on this site. Nothing was here on maps dating from 1886 or 1888, either. It wasn’t until the map of 1904 that a building was placed here, and the rest of the lots going east were filled in.

1888 map. New York Public Library

The building here in 1904 is the twin stable/garage building. The “X” across the building indicates that this was first a stable, according to the Sanborn map key. The 1908 map shows the same building outline, but it’s now divided into two separate buildings and addresses.

1904 map. New York Public Library

1908 map. New York Public Library

Stables and garages tended to be designed by fledgling architects and those hard up for work. This building is not indicative of that. It is well designed, and is made of high quality, more expensive light colored brick. The voussoirs around the arched windows are excellent, and the decorative brick cornice is first rate. This was a fine stable.

2015 photo: Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark

It may have been designed as the private stable for a nearby wealthy homeowner, since this was a wealthy area in the early 20th century. The living quarters on the second floor suggest that to be true. In 1898, a coachman seeking new employment put an ad in the Brooklyn Eagle. This was his address.

1898 ad: Brooklyn Eagle

The coachman may have seen his horse and buggy days ending with the arrival of the automobile. Perhaps because of the auto, the building was divided into two addresses by 1908, and was turned into two garages.

In 1917, 137 Jefferson was home to the Nelson Truck Tire and Wheel Shop, Inc. They advertised as a Goodyear truck tire service station. Nelson placed advertisements in the Eagle in 1917 and 1918.

1917 ad in Brooklyn Eagle

The papers reported that there was a minor fire in 135 Jefferson in 1907. By 1924, someone at this garage was selling a swanky Pierce Arrow limousine here. That must have looked cool driving out of these doors.

Pierce Arrow ad in Brooklyn Eagle, 1924

1924 Pierce Arrow touring car. Photo:historicnewengland.org

The paper trail is cold after 1924. No doubt, these building were garages for quite a while. Later maps show extensions were added in the rear. Meanwhile, the twin wood-framed houses in back of them, facing Putnam Avenue, were torn down. A new one story building went up, extending through the block, and connected to these garages.

The buildings remained commercial through 2001, when they were purchased by New Canaan Baptist Church. The main entrance to the church is on Putnam Avenue.

228-230 Putnam Avenue. New Canaan Baptist Church. Photo: Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark

The garages form the back of the church, and fortunately, have not been significantly altered. There is still a tenant upstairs. The original details still shine through — another part of the varied and interesting streetscape of Bedford Stuyvesant.

(Top photograph: Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark)