Building of the Day: 188 Montague Street

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Lawyers Title Insurance Company office building
Address: 188 Montague Street
Cross Streets: Court and Clinton Streets
Neighborhood: Brooklyn Heights
Year Built: 1904-1906
Architectural Style: Beaux-Arts
Architect: Helmle, Huberty & Hudswell
Other buildings by architect: Bossert Hotel on Montague Street, Prospect Park Boathouse, St. Barbara’s Catholic church in Bushwick, St. Gregory the Great Church in Crown Heights North, former Jensen Storage/IBM building, Nostrand Avenue at Gates, in Bedford Stuyvesant, and many others.
Landmarked: Yes, designated 2012

The story: This ten story office building sits partially on the site of the original Brooklyn Academy of Music. That building, one of Brooklyn’s premiere concert halls and assembly rooms, was one of the jewels in Brooklyn’s cultural crown. It burned down in a spectacular and horrific fire in 1903. By that time, Brooklyn’s cultural hub had moved towards Flatbush Avenue, and Montague, Court Street, Joralemon and the area surrounding Borough Hall and the court houses had become Brooklyn’s own Wall Street area.

There were a lot of banks here, large banks and smaller local banks; some in spectacular buildings, also on Montague Street. Along with the banks, were private trust companies, insurance companies, and land and title companies, which did a booming business in Brooklyn’s ever expanding real estate market. These businesses, and the lawyers, accountants and other businesses that thrived along with them, needed prime office space, and Brooklyn’s Skyscraper District was built to accommodate them.

The Lawyers Title Insurance Company was already well established in the area when they commissioned this building. They chose the firm of Helmle, Huberty & Hudswell to design a classic early 20th century Beaux-Art office building. Frank Helmle, especially, had an impressive resume, having been educated at Cooper Union, and worked for McKim, Mead & White, early in his career. He was a master of Classicism, and the Beaux-Arts form of the City Beautiful Movement that his early employers did so well. All of his buildings show he knew his stuff, from the simplest park shelters to the exuberance of St. Barbara’s Church. Most of his buildings are in Brooklyn, and most are landmarked. In many ways, especially in the ornament, this is a classic, and unmistakable Helmle building.

If you walk down Broadway, in Manhattan, from Houston Street to Wall Street, you see many buildings in this early 20th century style, where many of these early office buildings are tall, and relatively narrow, and all of the real ornament is high above the ground level, just below the roof. On the one hand, putting all of that detail up there has insured that we can still enjoy the mastery of people like Helmle. One only need see the ground floors of almost all of those buildings; they’ve generally been renovated beyond recognition. On the other hand, we miss so much, because as busy New Yorkers, we just don’t look up. We really should. Our architectural heritage, and the history and prosperity of the city lie up there. Next time you’re on Montague Street, check out the detail on this building, and the others in the new Skyscraper District. Look up in Manhattan, too. It’s really worth a look. GMAP