WOMAN ON A LEDGE AT No. 97 MACON ST (1953)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** All houses have a history. Those of a certain age clearly have it in spades. One part of any house’s history are those incidents that occur without planning or preordination. They can be unpleasant to know. One of those unplanned incidents, is the housefire of unknown origin that spreads uncontrollably through a residence. One such fire which spread throughout a building, took place on a cold January day in 1953 in a rooming house on Bedford-Stuyvesant’s No. 97 Macon Street. FROM A SINGLE-FAMILY TO A ROOMING HOUSE By 1953, Bedford-Stuyvesant’s brownstone stock was ageing – and it was not doing so gracefully. A large percentage of this section of Brooklyn’s brownstones had passed their semicentennial and were still wired and plumbed as they had been when they were constructed. While many of them had been maintained through the first 30-40 years, as earlier owners moved out and were acquired by owners who began to rent out rooms, however, these newer owners put little money into their maintenance, preferring to squeeze as much profit as possible out of their rent rolls. The Depression-era programs of redlining and blockbusting brought many unsavory characters into the business of making money through the purchase and management of brownstones in black-majority sections – as well as […]
THE PLAN TO SEGREGATE BED-STUY (1937)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** In 1937, much of Brooklyn’s brownstone stock was reaching its limits. Its townhouses were, on average, approximately 50 years old and, in the eyes of many residents and brokers, outmoded of interior and unattractive of exterior. In fact, residents of certain sections of Brooklyn were beginning to move out of the older sections with the ancient brownstones, in favor of the newly constructed apartment buildings – or simply to other outlying sections of the borough. There were those residents, however, who felt that they saw a bigger problem, an over-arching trend that, unchecked, had the potential to destroy investment, send house values spiraling downward, and force them to move out of a community where they – and their families – had lived for generations. For these residents, the problem fell less into the category of an ageing housing stock than into that of the lot of outsiders – those of a different economic class, certainly those of a different race – who were already beginning to move into them. The problem of the outdated housing stock, while real, was not the sole impetus to modernize. Rather, that incentive came from a fear of an undesirable population that must, at all costs, be kept at bay. It was, thus, that a move […]
ROMEO & JULIET “COME TO” BROOKLYN (1866)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** The City of Brooklyn’s street grid system was still in its infancy in 1860, some 25 years after it had originally been laid out in Brooklyn maps in 1835. As builders began to buy up land, and as city elders watched the progress of speculative construction move continuously eastwards, it became apparent that some adjustments to the street grid were going to be necessary. SHAKESPEARE TO THE RESCUE Throughout the early 1860s, various New York State legislators from Kings County – likely in consultation with builders, land owners, and lawyers – began to plan these adjustments. These adjustments would come into being in two ways: 1) as extensions of certain streets through land that had originally been planned for building purposes, as well as 2) the closures of certain other portions of streets that had made other parcels of land unusable for building purposes. Thus, a legislative amendment to the Commissioners’ Map of the City of Brooklyn was in the works, and Brooklyn senators, having consulted professionals on the proposed changes, got to work on the wording to make the needed adjustments. In the end, six adjustments would be proposed – one of which was the creation of the very Shakespearean street moniker, Verona Place. “WHAT’S IN A NAME?” Considering the […]
SO, A TROLLEY WALKS INTO A BODEGA…. (1931)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** We’ve all heard the famous opening line to the joke. But this one really happened. Rather, the streetcar “rolled” into the business, but only after jumping its tracks. This incident took place on 7 July 1931, at the corner of Putnam and Nostrand avenues in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn. Fortunately, no one was killed, although six people were injured. Unfortunately, though, streetcar accidents had become a common occurrence in the days after streetcars stopped using horses for propulsion. And this was all too evident in Brooklyn, for within the past week, alone, four other streetcar crashes had occurred, injuring a total of 31 people. As a matter of fact, this was the final straw for Brooklyn’s D.A., who ordered an investigation into the “six B.M.T. trolley car accidents in the past few weeks.” His intention was “to determine whether or not there is cause for criminal proceedings.” It would have been understandable among many Brooklynites of the period if there were talk about returning the streetcar to the horse. For another story we’ve written about streetcars jumping their tracks, click HERE. Follow @BrownstoneDetec Share ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From […]
SPRING BRINGS THE BEAN SHOOTERS (1863)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** There were a LOT of bad little boys in Brooklyn in the 19th century. Sifting through old issues of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the Standard Union, and other Brooklyn papers, I come across evidence of this on a daily basis. Of all the crimes that I see having been committed, one of the most common – and interesting – is the work of the “bean shooters.” When I was a kid I had a bean-shooter myself – and I did the same thing. There were a lot of broken window panes in my neighborhood – some I was found guilty of breaking – and most others of which I got away scot free of any blame whatsoever. (There was always the suspicion, though, that I was the culprit.) But I digress. Let’s rewind, though – further back to the mid- to late-1800s, and take a look at the work of my fierce little boy predecessors. BEAN-SHOOTING IN 19TH CENTURY BROOKLYN While sling shots (or often called “slung shots”) were a constant presence in the hands of gang members and criminals (they were outlawed by the New York State Legislature in 1849), it seems that the use of such a device by boys, with any degree of consistency, did not come until […]
ANALYZING A QUINCY STREET VICTORIAN (1902)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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. ******************************************************************************************************************************** In 1902, Quincy Street, between Bedford and Nostrand avenues, had become a leader in the Bedford District in block beautification initiatives. A forerunner to the Greenest Block campaign that would come 70 years later, the campaign in 1902 would be called “Block Beautiful.” Because the campaign had become so popular that year, this block of Quincy Street would have a number of pictures of its houses published in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Here we have three shots of 186 Quincy Street – the home of Daniel Winant (a dealer in hotel and steamship food supplies) – which the Eagle called “the old Joseph C. Hoagland residence.” It was, they noted, a “double mansion of red brick, with a large lawn on one side, one of the finest of Hill residences.” So apparently, even back then, Clinton Hill was encroaching upon the Bedford section. 😉 The first picture, above, is a Google Maps northwest facing view of the house is from 2014; that is followed below by two more shots – a newspaper photograph from 1902, and then, another Google Maps shot from 2016. WHAT DIFFERENCES DO YOU NOTICE BETWEEN THE FOLLOWING TWO PICS!?!? Follow @brownstonedetec Share ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our […]
THE DAY BED-STUY WAS BORN (1895)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Bedford-Stuyvesant, known coloquially as “Bed-Stuy,” is a section of Brooklyn that conjures as many mental images as there are residents of the district. With a past as colorful and storied as any other section of the borough, its ups and downs, though, seem to have been much more extreme. One only need consider the district’s unofficial slogan for much of the past 30 years, “Bed-Stuy: Do or Die,” to dredge up a very recent period sadly associated with images of guns, drugs, and gang violence. But this more recent history is not the point of this story. We want to go further back to try and understand how Bedford, which was formerly a village built up around the intersection of Bedford Avenue and what would become Fulton Street, joined with the developing neighborhood of Stuyvesant Heights. The official birthdate of Bedford-Stuyvesant has always been a moving target depending on the reference made or its actual source. Any discussion of its original designation would need to consider the fact that the term “Bedford-Stuyvesant” came about colloquially, and so unofficially, at first, but later took on the mantel of authority. WAS BED-STUY BORN IN THE ’30S? The majority of designations have placed Bed-Stuy’s birthday squarely within the 1930s. The New York Times, in […]
BOYS HIGH GRADUATING CLASS (1907)
The inset black & white photograph is from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of Wed., 19 June 1907, showing a portrait of the 1907 graduating class of Boys High School – 112 years ago! It has been superimposed over a Google Maps image of the exact same location today. Follow @BrownstoneDetec ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives The story you have just read was composed from extensive historical research conducted by The Brownstone Detectives. We perform in-depth investigations on the historic homes of our clients, and produce for them their very own House History Books. Our hardbound books contain an illustrated and colorful narrative timeline that will bring the history of any house to life. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
ARRESTED FOR SELLING BICYCLE OIL (1896)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** In 1896, bicycling was so enormously popular that Brooklynites were being arrested for it. So much so that “wheel” shops made it a practice on Bedford Avenue to stay open on Sundays in open violation of the “Sunday law” which prevented businesses from operating on that day. In April of that year, Detective Brady of the Fourth Precinct was sent on a mission to do something about this infringement upon decent society. Churchgoers living in the Bedford Avenue section – the primary bicycling route back then – were the most vocal complainers, informing the police that, at 1082 Bedford Avenue in particular, not only “are goods disposed of, but that the repairing department of some of these establishments are in full blast all day Sunday, and workmen are kept busy fixing up disabled wheels.” Armed with this information, Brady took a Sunday trip down the busy avenue – perhaps on his bicycle, to ensure he played well the part of the wheelman – to investigate. Arriving at the address in question, he “found the store of H.L. Wilkens & Co., at 1082 Bedford avenue, open and business being carried on.” Approaching a worker at the store, in order to have evidence against the establishment, Brady purchased a bottle of bicycle oil. […]
INSIDE SUMNER ARMORY – BASEBALL! (1895)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Back in the day, in addition to drilling the troops, our national guard reserve units used to utilize our armories the way we all hope they’ll be used again one day – for exercise and fitness. Here at the 13th Regiment Armory (formerly known as the Sumner Armory on Sumner Avenue [now known as Marcus Garvey Boulevard] between Jefferson and Putnam Avenues), a number of the men chose up sides and played a game of baseball – inside. By the mid 1870s, “baseball already was popular in most big eastern cities and remained so throughout the nineteenth century,” noted “The Great Encyclopedia of Nineteenth-Century Major League Baseball” By David Nemec. “The ball was softer, the fielders never wore gloves, the bases were closer together and sliding was taboo–otherwise spectators saw much the same display of skills they did during the outdoor season.” Views of the armory (which was built in 1891, according to Save Bedford-Stuyvesant, in order to replace an armory in Flatbush) from the outside are all too easy to come by. But shots like these (drawings, rather), depicting the layout of the structure from the inside, appear much less often. Originally, according to the New York Times, “(i)nside the headhouse, the administrative section at the front of the armory, […]
