HAS YOUR BROWNSTONE BEEN BURGLED? (1881)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** New York City brownstones are veritable repositories of History. For many owners of these august “brownstone-fronts,” their homes are undoubtedly amongst the quintessential vessels within which their collective past has accrued – and has infrequently been recorded (if recalled). Ironically, it is the relatively transient nature of our brownstones’ owners (the median period of ownership of a brownstone is 15 years) that causes this history to become scattered to the ages – as one family moves out and a new family takes title to the home. Thus, with each changing of the guards, a fresh new forward-looking history begins. The “disappearance” of this history, however, serves to shackle any lineage of owners that exists, causing a sort of historical amnesia that allows your home to compare meanly with similar others in your neighborhood (esp. when placing a value on your home – or putting it up for sale). SAVING YOUR BROWNSTONE’S CRIMINAL HISTORY? Most burglaries throughout New York City history, we can be certain, have gone unreported. While most of those that do reach the attention of the police, never make it in into the papers, there are a goodly percentage of burglaries, however, that were not only reported to the police but received vivid and colorful coverage – unwanted as […]
THE TRAIN THAT RAN ABOVE LEXINGTON (1947)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Yes, there not only used to be a streetcar running down Tompkins Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, but Lexington also at one time had sported its very own elevated subway train. Opening in 1885, the Lexington elevated train was in the vanguard of bringing owners and potential homebuyers to the Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights areas. The Lexington Avenue “el,” as it was called, split from the Myrtle Avenue elevated (yes, there was one up there, too) at Grand Avenue, where it headed down to Lexington then turned east and headed in the direction of Broadway. Taken in 1947, this picture shows the confluence of these two avenues and forms of transportation. You can also see automobiles of the period and an anachronism – even for the times – a horse with its cart parked along Tompkins. A few years after this picture was taken, demolition began on the elevated line. Read more about this line (and how long traces of it existed even after it had been demolished) on Forgotten New York. 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 our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History […]
