Building of the Day: 4701-4721 6th Avenue

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Row houses
Address: 4701-4721 6th Avenue
Cross Streets: 47th and 48th streets
Neighborhood: Sunset Park
Year Built: 1904
Architectural Style: Renaissance Revival
Architect: Henry Pohlman (Pohlman & Patrick)
Other Work by Architect: Several blocks of houses here in Sunset Park, as well as apartment buildings and row houses in Park Slope and other neighborhoods
Landmarked: No, but on the National Register of Historic Places (1988)

The story: It would have been fascinating if someone had placed a wide angle camera high above Sunset Park, and documented the speed in which this neighborhood was built. In 1880 the neighborhood between Green-Wood Cemetery and Bay Ridge was still mostly fields and farmland. By 1915, it was a densely packed neighborhood with two family row houses and apartment buildings lining the side streets and some of the avenues, while other avenues teemed with storefronts, civic and religious buildings. By the early 1930s, it was complete, with the remaining apartment buildings, churches, theaters and recreation centers filling out the neighborhood. Most of the row house building took place between 1890 and 1910. Twenty years! It was amazing.

Many of the row house blocks in Sunset Park are filled with limestone clad two family houses. This style was very popular during between about 1893 and 1910. The use of limestone was one of the popular themes taken from the influential World’s Columbian Exhibition in Chicago, 1893. This world’s fair would prove to be one of the most important in history, bringing us everything from the innovative wonders of electricity to the hot dog. It popularized the White Cities Movement, a social and design philosophy that at its core believed that architecture could uplift and inspire society. The classical period, with its elegant motifs and clean white building materials of marble and limestone could transform our cities and people’s lives.

Back in the streets, that translated into the preference for limestone clad row houses, with simple ornament, rather than the previously popular brownstone, brick and lavish terra-cotta. Architect Axel Hedman was the king of the limestone row house in Brooklyn; he designed hundreds of them in many neighborhoods. Henry Pohlman, who designed this row, as well as many other rows of houses here in Sunset Park, was working at the same time as Hedman and in the same neighborhoods. Pohlman, who was in partnership as Pohlman and Patrick for many years, also worked in Park Slope, where he designed apartment buildings and row houses. He and Hedman, as well as other architects, were certainly influenced by each other.

City law by the turn of the 20th century mandated that an architect sign off on all plans, but evidence shows that that doesn’t mean that an architect sat and planned each building individually. Especially in a lower middle class mass market like this, it would have been expedient to simply go with facades that were popular and could be reproduced down a row quickly and expediently. Henry Pohlman, probably had about three designs, and he did them over and over again. So did many others, some of which were not only similar, but were the exact same plans. If you have to put up an entire neighborhood in twenty years, you might cut some corners.

But hey, that’s not to knock these houses. Over one hundred years later, they look great. They may have been a bit cookie cutter, but they were cut from good dough. Pohlman stirred the pot by having the two end houses done in brownstone, but with the same style and ornament as the others. It’s a nice touch. They’ve held up really well, and even the ornament and trim looks practically new. This row is very handsome, and with the exception of some new replacement doors and windows, looks much as it did in 1904. Their owners then, as now, have great pride of place.

I’ve always enjoyed these early 20th century row houses. There’s something about the ornament and placement of detail that makes me smile. I especially like the variety in the catalog of what I call “dragolions.” Those are the dragon/lions that undulate and snarl across these and other rows in many different neighborhoods. They may have been ordered from a parts catalogue, but they give great personality to the homes. The residents of Sunset Park are beginning to explore the process of landmarking. The neighborhood has been on the National Register since 1988. This block is a fine example of the great housing stock that has been preserved for all these years, and deserves the further protection and recognition of landmarking. GMAP

This Saturday, June 1, the Sunset Park Landmarks Committee is again sponsoring a walking tour of Sunset Park. They meet at 10 am on the corner of 4th Avenue and 43rd Street, by the courthouse. Please see their website, www.preservesunsetpark.org for more details. It’s a great tour, and a wonderful way to spend a morning in Brooklyn.