Building of the Day: 384-406 9th Street

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Double duplex row houses
Address: 384-406 9th Street
Cross Streets: 6th and 7th Avenues
Neighborhood: Park Slope
Year Built: 1910
Architectural Style: Colonial Revival
Architect: J. Constantine Schubert
Other Buildings by Architect: Standalone, row, and semi-detached houses in Bay Ridge, Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, Gravesend and other southern Brooklyn neighborhoods
Landmarked: No

The story: When I daydream about having a Brooklyn pied-a-terre, I’ve gone through the list of all of the kinds of houses I would ideally want. What style, what era would be best? An entire house, or just an apartment? A loft, maybe, or a studio apartment? Since anything is possible in fantasyland, I’ve come to the conclusion that the ideal house for me would be one of these kinds of homes; the double duplex. They were built as two family homes, and lost nothing in conversion, as far as layout and detail. They each have two floors, and private garden space. One could live in one unit, rent out the other, and have the luxury of someone there while you are not, but the privacy of your own entrance. It would be perfect. It’s a great way to live full time, too, and that’s what the developer of these houses thought, when he and others began building double duplexes in the early part of the 20th century.

The first double duplex houses were built in Crown Heights North. The Kings and Westchester Land Company hired architects Mann & MacNeill to design two family houses for the great number of potential clients who wanted a full sized home with the added income that a tenant could give. But they didn’t want the tenant in their space.

So the architects came up with their signature Kinko houses, a pun on Kings and Westchester Company. They were double duplexes with separate entrances to the upper and lower apartments. Each apartment was complete, with living, dining and kitchen space on the first level, bedroom and bathroom space on the second. Each apartment also had a garden. The upper apartment’s garden was on the roof, reached by a wide staircase.

The Kinko houses were so popular that Mann & MacNeill built several different styles, even bringing a group to 3rd Street in Park Slope. Other developers jumped on the bandwagon, and double duplexes were constructed in Crown Heights and elsewhere, designed by fine architects like William Debus, George P. Chappell, Louis Berger and J. Constantine Schubert.

Constantine Schubert worked very closely with his friend and client Walter L. Johnson. They are the topic of the last three Walkabouts, the last of which was posted today. They developed most of Dyker Heights and much of Bay Ridge in the late 19th and early 20th century. Johnson also developed and marketed this row of twelve houses. Like all of his projects, after they were completed, he marketed them aggressively, running ads in the Brooklyn papers almost every day until they all sold or were rented.

The Brooklyn Eagle ran a short article when they debuted, and a couple of days later, so did the New York Times. Both called the houses “unusual” in style. They also said that the houses all had extra-large living and dining rooms, and large bedrooms with outside air and light. Each apartment had seven rooms and a bath. They all had fine parquet floors, richly decorated with fine light fixtures for both gas and electricity. The houses were near the new elevated train, the subway, and several trolley lines.

From a streetscape point of view, these are great houses. Schubert had a thing about mixing different styles that one may not necessarily put together, but he made it work. The houses are tied together by the entryways. He alternates a limestone Neo-Georgian classical pedimented entrance with a plain round arched brick voussoir entryway. Some of the classical pediments are arched, others are broken, and others are classic pyramids. It depends on the style of the house.

The group is arranged in this manner: ABCBDDBCBCBA. Schubert definitely was a borrower. The middle “D” houses are very reminiscent of Mann & MacNeill’s Park Slope houses on 3rd Street, and a group in Crown Heights. The “B” houses have a distinct medieval and Tudor flare, reminiscent of some of the other Kinko houses on Brooklyn Avenue in Crown Heights. Hmmm. They all make a great showing, nonetheless, and are one of the more interesting groups of houses on this end of Park Slope. The ads show that in 1910 the houses were selling for $15,500, and the apartments were renting for $65 and $70 each. Those were the days!

(Photo:Nicholas Strini for PropertyShark)

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