John Rankin House Ranking High on Our List
The John Rankin House at 440 Clinton Street is one of our faves. Here’s what the New York Community Trust Plaque, mounted in 1971, says: When it was built, about 1840, this mansion was surrounded by farmland and commanded a magnificent view of the Upper Bay. John Rankin, the original owner, was an affluent Brooklyn…
The John Rankin House at 440 Clinton Street is one of our faves. Here’s what the New York Community Trust Plaque, mounted in 1971, says:
When it was built, about 1840, this mansion was surrounded by farmland and commanded a magnificent view of the Upper Bay. John Rankin, the original owner, was an affluent Brooklyn merchant. Little altered since its construction, and retaining its original ironwork, this building is one of the finest Greek Revival residences in the City, with full height brick pilasters, symmetrically placed windows and a handsome central doorway.
Can we all please note why this simple box of a building looks so nice. I don’t believe it’s just the brick that makes it eloquent. It’s the spacing, a simple trim, and tactful revealing of the structure’s supports.
Greg, that article is really fascinating.
“Crazy Joe” Gallo’s funeral was at that funeral home many moons ago. Read this for a look at what the hood once was.
http://www.thelaborers.net/newspapers/time/blood_in_the_street.htm
If you live on the north side of the converted church to the south of this building, you get to see new ‘customers’ arriving in Guido Funeral Home’s large parking lot out back. Fun, fun, fun!
This house is crying out to become an inn. The demand is there…and it would be great if it had a tea salon, a la Inn on Irving Place, so all of us Brownstoners could drop in from time to time and check out the historical goodness.
I walk past it everyday since I moved on that block recently, and it looks like the first two floors are used as the funeral home and the top floor is lived in, presumably by the funeral home owners. Makes me think of Six Feet Under!
It’s a beautiful building.
I’ve been inside this building and it has been maintained true to the era. I knoiw it has also been used in a number of films.
I believe you’re right, 11:49. It is (or at least was) the Guido Funeral Home. Let’s hope the building stays the way it is and doesn’t fall into the hands of a FAR fanatic. An interesting point…I noticed in my office copy of the Daily News today an article about upcoming public forums in all five boroughs to scrutinize the current practices of the DOB…self certification, etc…. the very policies that are being abused by developers/builders in our Bklyn neighborhoods. The first forum will be held in the Bronx, and the other boroughs TBD. Check it out in the Metro Section.
Is this the funeral home on Carroll and Clinton Street?
Didn’t it used to be the rectory for the church next door?