The Architects of Bedford Stuyvesant

Bed-Stuy Patch has a fun rundown of four of Bedford Stuyvesant’s most prominent architects, as selected by Morgan Munsey, architectural historian and researcher for the Bedford Stuyvesant Society for Historical Preservation. The names are familiar: The prolific Amzi Hill, whose “style grew out of the Italian style of the first, very basic brownstone townhomes. But his designs included flat brownstones carved with two-dimensional designs usually flowers or swirls”; Isaac D. Reynolds, “who also designed in the Neo-Grec style but added French elements to his buildings…His later homes in the neighborhood evolved into the Romanesque Revival style characterized by arched doorways and windows that harken back to castles”; Fredrick B Langston and Magnus Dahlander, who “also specialized in the Romanesque Revival style and then later evolved their work into the Queen Anne style a construction model that later would be used in the development of Crown Heights”; and Montrose Morris, who “did not dabble in brownstone townhouses, but instead, some of the first multi-unit apartment buildings in New York City. And he only designed for the upper class, unlike Reynolds and Hill who designed for everybody.” Munsey has this most excellent quote on the neighborhood’s architecture: Bedford-Stuyvesant I call the antiques road show, but only with houses…It’s like having a Van Gogh in your attic and not know about it.”
Landmarking Bed-Stuy: A Historical Context [Bed-Stuy Patch]
All photos by Suzanne Spellen via Bed-Stuy Patch.