STRAIGHTENING A CROOKED CHURCH (1904)
******************************************************************************************************************************* Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************* “You can’t drive straight down a crooked road.” So goes the old saying which implies the difficulty of staying the course in precarious surroundings. And the saying proved to be of true portent in the center of Flatbush in 1904. BUT TO BEGIN AT THE BEGINNING… Before the Town of Flatbush was unceremoniously subsumed into the City of Brooklyn, it was still a rustic expanse of farmland, dirt roads, and farmers. When that great event happened in 1894, one of the challenges Brooklyn faced – which Brooklyn had taken on some 50 years earlier itself – was making the Flatbush roadways congruent with the rest of Brooklyn’s streets and avenues. This challenge would prove to be even more decidedly troublesome as the Department of Streets began to study the lay of the farmlines which made up the old town. Nearly all of them – in the 1600s – were set at an angle. CROOKED CHURCH One of the roadways which ran alongside several of these farms was Church Avenue. Church was named after the Flatbush Reformed Protestant Dutch Church, which sat at the corner of Church and Flatbush avenues. As Church Avenue (formerly East Broadway) passed Flatbush and moved in an easterly direction, the avenue, according to a current newspaper article, […]
TIMEWARP TUESDAY! FULTON ST. FERRY TERMINAL (1900 v. 2014)
“Fulton Street, north side, at Water Street, showing the old Fulton Street Ferry Terminal and the Brooklyn Bridge tower. This is also a street car line terminal.” So reads the back of this ca. 1900 photograph. At that time, the ferries would land at the foot of Fulton Street and the streetcars – then horse-drawn – would take passengers to various parts of the borough. Here is a picture of this spot today: And the picture from 1900: Follow @BrownstoneDetec ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives This story was composed from research performed by The Brownstone Detectives. Let us 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.
Brownstone Detectives on TV
OK, all you house history fans! A certain TV network will be at Brownstone Detective H.Q. in May to begin filming an episode of a television series. The show will focus on the first family that lived in the house, The Corletts, and the “unfortunate occurrences” that seemed to emanate from the house in its early days. BAD LUCK? YOU DECIDE… It all started when the initial architect/builders of 738 Macon Street purchased the lot for the house and began building. About halfway through its construction, though, the house would go into foreclosure. About a year later, the man who would eventually finish building the house, Wilfred Burr, A.K.A. “Lucky 13,” would buy the foreclosure property in a tax sale. After the sale was completed, Burr had saved enough money in the purchase that he was able to add an additional floor to the home, increasing its number of rooms from 9 – to 13. Finally, after Burr completed the house, it would become the 13th house on the block. But the the odd luck didn’t end there. When the Corletts moved into 738 Macon Street, all seemed to be smooth sailing until the family matriarch, Margaret, passed away. Like dominoes, every year thereafter, until 1900, a Corlett would die – Margaret’s son, John; her son-in-law, Robert; and her daughter, Eleanor. At this point, Margaret’s remaining child, Robert, decided presumably to get his family away from the house. He sold the property to a flipper and moved the family to […]
