A Close Up on Bedford Stuyvesant

We recently discovered an incredible trove of photos and commentary about New York City architecture. Tom Fletcher, an Australian architect who lives with his family in Brooklyn, began this labor of love several years ago. The site combines his own photos with ones he’s pieced together from around the Internet (so we hope he’ll look lightly on our appropriation of the ones above). As far as Brooklyn goes, he has covered three neighborhoods–Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Bed Stuy–so far.

We particularly like his commentary on Bed Stuy:

The southern and western portions comprise masonry row housing of distinguished architectural quality and vigorous churches whose spires contribute to the area’s fre­quently lacy skyline…Where Bedford-Stuyvesant has distinguished architecture, it is very good. Its facades of brownstones and brickfronts create a magnificent townscape as good as-and sometimes better than-many fashionable areas of Brooklyn and Manhattan. Parts of Chauncey, Decatur, MacDonough, and Macon Streets, and the southern end of Stuyvesant Avenue, are superb. Hancock Street, between Nostrand and Tompkins Avenues, was considered a showplace in its time (why not now too?). Alice and Agate Courts, short cul-de-sacs isolated from the macro­cosm of the street system, are particularly special places in the seemingly endless, anonymous grid.

Thanks, Tom!
Bed Stuy Photos [NYC-Architecture.com]