Building of the Day: 978 Bushwick Avenue, a Standout Stand-Alone Town House

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Freestanding house
Address: 978 Bushwick Avenue
Cross Streets: Greene and Grove streets
Neighborhood: Bushwick
Year Built: 1887
Architectural Style: Queen Anne
Architect: Theobald Engelhardt
Other works by architect: Ulmer Brewery office, Cook Mansion, Arion Hall, and numerous freestanding and row houses, tenements, factories, breweries, churches and other buildings in Bushwick, eastern Bedford Stuyvesant and Williamsburg
Landmarked: No

The story: Theobald Engelhardt designed this family home for Ernst Schlueter in 1887. At the time, it was an ideal suburban retreat for this wealthy Manhattan grocer. Schlueter had come to New York from Germany in the early 1850s, along with so many of his countrymen, everyone fleeing Germany’s civil war.

He established a grocery at 28 Chrystie Street in Manhattan in 1855, and became very successful. In 1887 he retired, and he and his wife moved to the German community of Bushwick to relax after their years of hard work and saving.

Schlueter retained Engelhardt, the go-to architect for Bushwick’s German community. He designed a handsome, stand-alone four-story townhouse in the Queen Anne style. The house is made of brick and brownstone, with a shingled mansard roof, a beautiful cornice beneath that, and a solid, no-frills home below.

There is a bump-out oriel on the left side of the house, which now has a garage that was built in the 20th century.

As a piece of architecture, it’s certainly not Engelhardt’s most elaborate or largest home, but it does have a very Lutheran, sober, upright kind of solidity that seems well suited to a self-made man who didn’t need to advertise his success with a lot of ostentatious frou-frou.

In 1907, Mr. and Mrs. Schlueter celebrated their golden anniversary here at the house. Seven of their nine children were still alive, and they came from all over the country to celebrate their parents’ 50 years of marriage.

Over the years, the neighborhood grew up around the house, with the Brooklyn German Presbyterian Church going up across the street, and another church, Calvary Episcopal, rising just a couple of doors away. Right next door was a two-story service building of some kind. Row houses filled in all around, although as late as the Sanborn map of 1904, the lots next door on the other side remained empty.

1904 map, New York Public Library

The next large gathering in the house would be Ernst Schlueter’s funeral. He died in 1911, at the age of 80. He’s buried in Lutheran Cemetery, as are his wife and other members of the family.

The next homeowner of note was Dr. Christian Janson. He, his wife Clara and their three children are all listed in the 1920 census, along with a brother-in-law.

Janson was also of German heritage; his father had been born in Germany. He was a successful gastroenterologist, educated at Cornell. He was associated with the nearby Wyckoff Heights Hospital, and was a member of the Kings County Medical Society and the Kismet Temple of the Mystic Shrine, both in Bedford.

The Janson family lived here for over 30 years, until after Dr. Janson’s death in 1950. He died where he worked and lived, here in his home office.

Photo: Google Maps

Most recently, the house made the news in 2014. It had been sold for $1,255,000, a record for Bushwick at the time. It was marketed as having many intact period details inside, including stained glass windows, original parquet floors and fireplaces. It also has a two-car garage and a large back yard.

The new owner is Giles Cooper, of Eurostruct, a Brooklyn-based construction company. He plans to make two duplex apartments, according to the Wyckoff Heights blog. Let’s hope he leaves the details in the house. Somewhere, Mr. Schlueter will be watching.

Top photo: Christopher Bride for PropertyShark

Photos via Wyckoff Heights Blog