Building of the Day: 516-522 Third Street

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Row Houses
Address: 516-522 Third Street
Cross Streets: Seventh and Eighth Avenue
Neighborhood: Park Slope
Year Built: 1929
Architectural Style: Neo-Tudor
Architect: Slee & Bryson
Other Buildings by Architect: Albemarle and Kenmore Terrace, Flatbush, houses in Prospect Park South, Crown Heights North and South, Prospect Lefferts Gardens
Landmarked: Yes, part of Park Slope HD (1973)

The story: These are very attractive houses on one of Park Slope’s finest blocks, but I’m sure the first thing most people think when passing by is “I HATE them, they have GARAGES!” And you would be correct. In fact, I would bet that a survey of all of the houses that Slee & Bryson built in Brooklyn would show that 80%, of them, in all the neighborhoods listed above, have garages. Slee & Bryson were the heralds of the 20th century, and the car was their chariot.

By 1929, when these houses were built, America was a place of immense opportunity and prosperity. Who knew the crash was at the door? World War I was over, we were victorious, of course, and the world was full of the new things made available to the middle class for the first time, including the automobile. Prohibition may have taken some of the surface sass out of the Flapper Age, but for a home buyer in Park Slope, seeking the good life in the city, these houses were the height of modernity and class, and even then, parking was at a premium.

Third Street is the widest street in Park Slope, created from the driveway that led super-rich railroad and real estate mogul Edwin Litchfield to and from his palatial villa in Prospect Park. He owned all of the land on both sides of the street, all the way to the river. He began selling off the lots for the development that took place mostly between the late 1870s, on through to the early 1900s, as Park Slope became one of Brooklyn’s newest and most desirable neighborhoods. The more upper class homes, between 7th Avenue and Prospect Park West were all built between 1890 and 1915. These groups, built in 1929, are the newcomers on the block.

What’s not to like here? Slee & Bryson were masters of Colonial Revival and Tudor Revival homes, and knew their way around brick, their favorite building material. The homes are obviously not the Renaissance or Romanesque Revival brownstones and limestones surrounding them, but are matched in materials to blend in quite well on the block. The limestone doorways, trim and keystones are the same materials as the Axel Hedman limestones next door. They share the same deep setback, with lush front gardens, albeit with brick and iron fences. The gates on the garages are quite nice, and the houses themselves are just classy, with ample windows, bays and deep arched recesses channeling the older houses across the street. Even the drainpipes are elegant.

This is an example of how modern architects can design something new, thirty years after the main wave of house construction, and make it relate to the past, yet be quite in the present. Learn from them, people. Slee & Bryson were good! I really like these quite wonderful houses, and yeah, even though I don’t own a car, I’m jealous too. GMAP