Building of the Day: 88 Buckingham Road

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Former Eusobio Ghelardi House
Address: 88 Buckingham Road
Cross Streets: Church Avenue and Albemarle Road
Neighborhood: Prospect Park South
Year Built: 1927
Architectural Style: Tudor Revival (Picturesque English Country Tudor)
Architect: Slee & Bryson
Other works by architect: many other houses in PPS, Albemarle-Kenmore Terrace, in Flatbush, houses in Lefferts Manor, Park Slope, Crown Heights North and South.
Landmarked: Yes, part of PPS HD (1979)

The story: Not all of the homes in Prospect Park South are hulking Victorian behemoths, and not all are Colonial Revival or Queen Anne. This particular home is a delightful Tudor style house that is quite deceptive in its own way. It’s one of the later homes in the district, built in 1927. Most of the houses in PPS were built between 1899 and 1915. It was designed by the firm of Slee & Bryson, who, twenty years before, were responsible for many of the aforementioned Colonial Revival houses.

First of all, it’s great that these guys were still around in 1927, and could continue their excellent work in the neighborhood. Because they had been there almost from the beginning, they were familiar with developer Dean Alvord’s initial ideas for the neighborhood: to provide high class, high quality homes for discerning customers in this suburban enclave. Most of Slee & Bryson’s work is in the Colonial Revival milieu, that very American amalgam of Federal, Georgian, Dutch, Flemish and English Colonial design that mixed and matched the best of American and European 18th century elements to create the most enduringly popular style of homes that this country has ever had. Some of their best homes were in Prospect Park South.

They were talented enough to design this house to blend in with the rest of the eclectic architecture on Buckingham Road, and the rest of PPS. “Banker’s Tudors” and “storybook cottages” were all the rage in upscale suburbs at this point in American architecture, and this house fills the bill in both categories. But we’re still talking Prospect Park South, here. I mentioned deception. Although it doesn’t loom large on the streetscape in the same way some of its neighbors do, this is still a huge house of 3820 square feet. It was built for Eusobio Ghelardi, an Italian bridge builder, whose family owned the house until 1997. There is an interesting story about the house, with interior shots, in this NY Times piece.

Slee & Bryson put all kinds of interesting details in the house, both outside and in. They used many different materials on the outside, including clapboard, stucco, slate, and several kinds of brick, laid in different patterns. It’s a wonderful storybook house, with all kinds of storybook details. Side by side with some serious houses, this one is pure fun. (GMAP not registering correct address)