Walkabout: The Architect, the Baseball Stadium, and a Really Bad Couple of Years, Part 3
In Part 1, we met Clarence R. Van Buskirk, the eldest son of Rev. Peter Van Buskirk, a well-known pastor of one of Brooklyn’s oldest churches. After getting his degree at NYU, he landed a plum job with the City in the Department of Highways. But this architect and engineer became mired in a corruption…
In Part 1, we met Clarence R. Van Buskirk, the eldest son of Rev. Peter Van Buskirk, a well-known pastor of one of Brooklyn’s oldest churches. After getting his degree at NYU, he landed a plum job with the City in the Department of Highways. But this architect and engineer became mired in a corruption scandal in Part 2 and lost his job. Undeterred, he went into partnership with architect Alexander F.W. Leslie. Somehow, the firm was chosen by Charles Ebbetts to design the new baseball stadium for the Brooklyn Dodgers. Sounds like the job of a lifetime, doesn’t it? You know what they say about getting what you wish for? Next, read Part 4 of this story.
In early January, 1912, Brooklyn Dodger owner Charles Ebbets announced at a sportswriter’s dinner at the Brooklyn Club on Pierrepont Street that he was going to build a new stadium for Brooklyn’s beloved team, the Dodgers.
The news was met with great applause, and became the front page story in the Brooklyn papers the next day.
What was an even greater surprise was the news that the site of the stadium and its design had been in the works for over a year, and had somehow managed to remain top secret from everyone inside and outside of both baseball and government.
Charlie Ebbets was in secret negotiations to buy the land near Bedford and Montgomery Streets in what is now Crown Heights South, and his architect, Clarence R. Van Buskirk, had already completed the plans.
Brooklyn Eagle, 1914
How Ebbets and Van Buskirk connected remains a mystery. But between the timeVan Buskirk was fired by the city in 1907, and the time he partnered with Alexander F. W Leslie in 1911, he’d been busy as an architect with several projects. He also had a thriving business in Coney Island as an electrical engineer.
Van Buskirk had grown up nearby, in Gravesend, and was one of that community’s favorite sons. He married Lillian Van Siclen, the daughter of one of Gravesend’s oldest and most prominent families (and members of his father’s congregation). They had one child, a son named Bertram, born in 1903.
Van Buskirk and Leslie were partners when Charlie Ebbets chose them to design the stadium, but from the day the announcement was made; only Van Buskirk was ever mentioned. He is credited for the design, the drawings, overseeing the project until its completion – everything.
Blueprints from the collection of Brooklyn College
And what a design it was. Charles Ebbets was a smart man. He wanted the best stadium in baseball, but also knew that he needed to do some recon, taking a tour of other stadiums across the country.
He, Van Buskirk, and their steel construction engineer went on a long field trip a year before the announcement, gathering information from other parks on what worked, what didn’t work, and what could be improved upon. All of that info would be funneled into the Ebbets Field design.
Their whirlwind one-week tour hit-up Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, St. Louis, and ended at the Polo Grounds in Manhattan — the original home of the NY Giants.
The team took something away from each ballpark. Some of it was obvious and important, like the size and placement of exits and entrances. They also noted the little things, like armrests on stadium seating (bad) and nearby parking (good), and made copious notes for Ebbets Field.
Thought it was all a bit much for Van Buskirk. He had to take to his bed when it was over. But Charlie Ebbets was elated. His stadium would have the best of the other major stadiums, and would be better than all of them.
Site of Ebbets Field, Brooklyn Eagle, 1912
At the time that Ebbets, Van Buskirk and the unnamed engineer went on their trip, no one except Ebbets knew that this was research for a new stadium in a new location. Even Van Buskirk was under the impression that Ebbets was going to remake Washington Field, on the Gowanus/Park Slope border, not build a new stadium at a new location.
Everyone was sworn to secrecy on the project. Van Buskirk was said to have the drawings on his person at all times. Whenever anyone came to his office or to Ebbett’s office, Clarence whisked the plans away, and carried them around.
No one was going to find out about this until Charles Ebbets made his announcement.
As can be imagined, when he did make the big reveal, Brooklyn went bonkers. The Brooklyn Standard Union printed a map showing the location, as well as a rendering of the elevation of the new structure.
Ebbets Field, 1940s via Ebay
Details started to come out about all of the new innovations. Brooklynites were treated to a page full of stats about the stadium’s capacity and square footage, as well as how many feet the outfield would have, how many seats there were, how many fans could squeeze in, and other building details.
One modern innovation — the new stadium would be built with dedicated parking garages nearby. They realized that the car was as important to attending fans as the nearby public transportation.
The location of Ebbets Field would greatly aid the growing popularity of Automobile Row, already established on nearby Bedford Avenue.
The stadium was built to hold 30,000 people. Opening day was scheduled for Flag Day, July 14th, 1912. If the stadium was delayed, August 12th was the back-up date.
The paper also printed all of the trolleys and other methods of public transportation available from every corner of Brooklyn. They printed the numbers and names of the lines, and how long it would take to get there.
It was a 17-minute trip from Coney Island, 45 minutes from Greenpoint, and 24 minutes from Kensington.
Rev. Peter Van Buskirk, from his Brooklyn Eagle obituary, 1912
On March 9, 1912, Clarence Van Buskirk’s father, the Reverend Peter V. Van Buskirk died of heart disease at the age of 67. He died exactly 25 years to the day from when he had taken over the helm of the Gravesend Reformed Church.
Rev. Van Buskirk did not see his son’s completed masterpiece. Even if he had lived until the planned opening day, he still wouldn’t have seen it. The opening date, of course, came and went, as did the back-up date. This is New York, and nothing has ever been built on time here.
The ground breaking ceremony took place on March 4, 1912. The cornerstone wasn’t laid until July 6, 1912. There are all kinds of interesting stats on the stadium that will be shared at another time, but one is that over 87,000 pieces of material went into the building, with 50,000 rivets holding it all together.
A Brooklyn Eagle article from April 9, 1913 said that Van Buskirk was there every day, usually late into the night. According to the paper, “The park as it stands today is the best tribute to Mr. Van Buskirk’s tireless endeavor. He stuck on the job as if he were building the place for his very own, and stuck around so much that when he went home, he felt as if he were visiting and reached for a card to hand to whoever opened the door for him.”
It seems that his wife Lillian thought he was a visitor, as well. She filed for divorce.
Next time: Ebbets Field opens to great acclaim. Clarence Van Buskirk should be a household name. But here’s where the story really gets odd, as everything and everyone goes totally off the rails. Get ready for a really bad couple of years, as the story of Clarence Van Buskirk’s career concludes.
Top photo taken in 1914 during Ebbets Field’s first year, via Ebay
Undated Ebbetts Field postcard via Ebay
If it really was a 45 minute trip from Greenpoint then we’ve regressed since 1912.