BROWNSTONE DETECTIVES IN THE “VOICE”
The Village Voice – the oldest and largest newspaper of its kind in the United States – recently wrote an excellent feature news story on Brownstone Detectives. Entitled THIS GUY WROTE A BOOK ABOUT HIS BROWNSTONE AND WANTS TO DO THE SAME FOR YOU, the article spotlights our latest book, “738 Macon Street: The Story of a House,” and zeroes in on the House History Books we write. Describing Brownstone Detectives as “a thriving research service that helps Brooklyn residents uncover the forgotten legacies of their adopted homes,” the article does a great job of detailing the work we do investigating and writing about Brooklyn’s history – one house at a time. To have the history of YOUR house investigated, CONTACT US today ! Follow @BrownstoneDetec ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives The story you just read was composed from historical research performed by The Brownstone Detectives. Allow us to do an in-depth investigation of your house and its former owners and produce your very own House History Book. Your hardbound coffee table book will include an illustrated and colorful narrative timeline that will bring the history of your house to life. Contact us today.
“DETECTIVES” HISTORY AUCTION NETS $1K
Brownstone Detectives created some history of its own last week. At the Prospect Park Alliance’s Party in the Park, the house detectives had the opportunity to join with Chris Bonnell, a brownstone illustrator, to contribute to the green non-profit organization’s annual silent auction. Bonnell donated a brownstone illustration to the auction, while Brownstone Detectives volunteered a House History Report. In the end, the team was the second-to-top auction grosser, raising $1000 for the Alliance’s activities. “It really excited the donors to get to bid on both the history and the illustration in the one offering,” said Brian Hartig, CEO of Brownstone Detectives. Bonnell, who recently received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts, has been drawing brownstones for some time now. A regular feature of the fundraiser’s silent auction every year, he thought that a team effort this year would create a more holistic approach to the documentation of a house. So he contacted Hartig – who agreed. “I’m looking forward to working with Chris on this project and others going forward,” said Hartig. “His drawings and our histories are going to make an excellent combination.” The two are planning to meet the winning bidder soon to start their work on drawing and researching her house. Follow @BrownstoneDetec ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives The story you just read was composed from historical research performed by The Brownstone Detectives. Allow us do an in-depth investigation of your house and its former owners and produce your very own House History Book. Your hardbound […]
“TOMMY” O’TOOLE IN SING SING AGAIN? (1915)
Burglaries took place with great regularity in Brooklyn 100 years ago. Skimming through Brooklyn Daily Eagle archives and reading newspapers from that period, I come across them all the time. They usually involve males, between the ages of a 16 and 24, just about all of whom have previous criminal records, and who end up getting sent “up the river” to Sing Sing. Yesterday, while scanning the papers, a small story on a burglary that took place almost 100 years ago – to the day – caught my eye. Why? I cannot say. It was a rather pedestrian article, but it caused me to wonder at what happened to the subject, one William O’Toole. Being in the detective business, there are always ways of finding out these things. Being a history detective, though, it gets a little tougher and requires some more than usual digging. But I was ready for digging yesterday, and so I decided to follow my leads. THE STORY The offense took place on 18 May 1915, at 864 Nostrand Avenue. O’Toole was the unlucky one to get caught as an accomplice got away. Hailing from Manhattan, according to the piece, he was young man of 22 years at the time, referred to in the article as an “Old Offender.” His record of offenses was three deep, having already served time in Elmira, Sing Sing, and the State Penitentiary. This time he was collared for stealing $46 out of a strong box belonging to “Miss Mary Maddren.” […]
WIN A HOUSE HISTORY @ PROSPECT PARK!
Brownstone Detectives is giving away a free House History Report this week! We’ll be teaming up with architectural illustrator, Chris Bonnell, to help raise funds for the Prospect Park Alliance. The Alliance’s annual fundraiser Party for the Park – will be held at the Prospect Park Boathouse this Thursday, 14 May, at 8-11 p.m. Part of the fundraiser is a silent auction, where attendees can bid on donated products and services. There you will find our combined biddable auction – a House History Report and a House Illustration. HOUSE HISTORY REPORT – THE BROWNSTONE DETECTIVES If you are the lucky highest bidder on our auction, we will create your House History Report by researching and laying out your house’s chain of title, revealing the name of every person who owned your house, when they took ownership of it, and – wherever such information is available – how much they paid for it. In addition to the chain-of-title research, we will also perform historical research on the owners and on the house itelf. Most House History Reports run approximately 15-20 pages, detailing the historical lineage of your home in an engaging narrative. HOME ILLUSTRATION – CHRIS BONNELL Additionally, architectural illustrator, Chris Bonnell, will draw your house, capturing its personality and charming details in a high-quality digital print. Chris is a Brooklyn-based writer and illustrator, holding a BA in English from the University of Florida. Additionally, he is graduating this week from the School of Visual Arts with his MFA. Click HERE […]
REMEMBERING BROOKLYN’S UNDEAD (1922)
“Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.” So reflected Mark Twain to a reporter with William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal in 1897, after the New York Herald had incorrectly reported that the famous writer had passed away while in London. While journalists are taught from their very first story to “trust but verify,” the U.S. military, though, has never fostered suffering compunction from such mistakes made. So it was when reports were being dispatched back to the U.S. during the First World War. While the adjutants of these military units, whence the reports originated, were doing their best to keep track of deaths and injuries, it can be imagined that quite a few names were inadvertently added to one or the other of the lists. After the Great War, accounts of American soldiers often surfaced, of their having previously been added to the list of the war dead, and then having shown up quite healthy – and with plans to continue living for many years to come. Such was the case with one Brooklyn man, Anthony Pentola, who, upon returning to the U.S. after fighting in the Great War, learned that not only had he been reported amongst the war dead, but that, he subsequently realized, his greatest and most substantial proof against the correctness of this report – his appearance one day in the War Department – was woefully insufficient in reversing the departments’s bureaucratic march toward its repeated lionization of him as an American patriot for […]
BOYS HIGH TO MEET WRECKING BALL
Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Boys High School, the oldest public high school in Brooklyn, is slated for demolition later this year. The structure, located at 832 Marcy Avenue, will be replaced with a 300-unit glass and steel affordable and market-rate apartment building. Formerly regarded as an “historic and architecturally notable public school,” the building recently suffered minor structural problems and was regarded by the Department of Buildings as “too-outmoded for any corrections to be made.” A developer has moved in quietly to purchase the building for $33.9 million – a new record for this section of Brooklyn – and will begin the tear-down process, likely in September. The company, Brooklandia Investments, is an investment firm with headquarters in New Zealand which prides itself on its speed of construction. “We are here for the community,” noted Brooklandia’s Thorin Oakenshield, in a statement yesterday. “We have consulted with numerous other development and building firms, as well as city planners, in order to take the pulse, so to speak, for what the locals want in their neighborhood – the consensus was amazing – residents want top-notch modern apartment buildings. “This,” Oakenshield stated, “we are prepared to deliver on.” The speed with which this deal occurred and the cloak of secrecy under which the Department of Buildings declared the 125-year-old structure unstable has amazed some local residents who felt that they were not informed of the future for the building. “It’s been here since I was a kid. I used to go to that school,” said one […]
