Architecture

...now browsing by tag

Renovation Report – Behind the Scenes

Written by Janice on January 24th, 2013

Welcome to Renovation Report, the first installment in a monthly series of blog posts to provide progress reports on Brooklyn Historical Society’s (BHS) current renovation and to highlight the fascinating features of our landmark building. Designed by architect George Post and opened in 1881, Brooklyn Historical Society’s building was ahead of its time, and will be once again.

BHS trustees and staff view the ceiling restoration of the ground floor event space

BHS is midway through construction to renovate the first floor and lower level. We are thrilled to see physical changes unfold! We remain OPEN during this construction period, and the new spaces are slated to open in fall 2013 in conjunction with the launch of BHS’s 150^th anniversary celebrations. We want to let you know what’s happening, what to expect, share some of the amazing architectural details of our building, and give you an insider’s view into the behind-the-scenes work that is underway.

The newly configured spaces will include 2,200 square feet of new galleries for exhibitions and create a classroom for student and teacher programs. We are also restoring the historic entrance to the building and will provide an exciting, new welcome desk and Brooklyn specific gift shop. These updates will improve visitor flow through the building with better ADA access. Central to the project is enlivening our main event space for public programs and space rentals by restoring the space to the full breadth of the original auditorium. It will once again accommodate up to 200 people seated, highlight the detailed wood ceiling with updated lighting, and offer a fully equipped audio-visual system. All of these changes to the building modernize the spaces for current and future use while respecting the magnificence of our landmark building. View the new designs here.

Cross-section of the newly designed spaces on BHS’s first floor and lower level

Please check back next month for the latest update. Or view the whole series in our blog category, Landmark Building.

Posted in Landmark Building | No Responses »
Tags: Architecture, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, George B. Post, Historic Landmark, Renovation

The Brooklyn Shore

Written by Patricia Glowinski on June 3rd, 2011

Aerial view of the Brooklyn shore. From the Edward B. Watson photographs and prints collection (ARC.213); Object ID # V1976.2.351

Once described as the “nation’s playground,” (well, at least in the image above) the Brooklyn shore used to be the hot place to holiday. Except, back then, it was less Snooki, and more on par with a holiday Monsieur Hulot would take. As the BHS archives and photograph collection survey project enters its second summer, we’ve uncovered much in our collections, as well as uncovered so much Brooklyn history. The photograph collection tells volumes about Brooklyn. For example, beginning in the 1820s, but largely from the 1880s to the 1930s, people vacationed in Brooklyn–and not just tourists. Locals also took their summer holidays in Brooklyn, where they flocked en masse to the beaches of Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Bath Beach, and Manhattan Beach, among others. In (Brooklyn native!) Phillip Lopate’s excellent anthology of writings about New York, Writing New York: A Literary Anthology, writer and journalist Theodore Dreiser describes the lure of a summer holiday, circa 1890, spent at the Manhattan Beach.

Below are bits of the first two pages of “A Vanished Seaside Resort” (originally published in 1923 in Dreiser’s The Color of a Great City:

At Broadway and Twenty-third Street, where later, on this and some other ground, the once famed Flatiron Building was placed, there stood at one time a smaller building, not more than six stories high, the northward looking blank wall of which was completely covered with a huge electric sign which read:

SWEPT BY OCEAN BREEZES

THE GREAT HOTELS

PAIN’S FIREWORKS

SOUSA’S BAND

SEIDL’S GREAT ORCHESTRA

THE RACES

NOW–MANHATTAN BEACH–NOW

…When Sunday came we made our way, via horse-cars first to the East Thirty-fourth Street ferry and then by ferry and train, eventually reaching the beach by noon.

…Indeed, Thirty-fourth Street near the ferry was packed with people carrying bags and parasols and all but fighting each other to gain access to the dozen or more ticket windows. The boat on which we crossed was packed to suffocation, and all such ferries as led to Manhattan Beach of summer week-ends for years afterward, or until the automobile arrived, were similarly crowded.

…The long, hot, red trains trains leaving Long Island City threaded a devious way past many pretty Long Island villages, until at last, leaving possible home sites behind, the road took to the great meadows on trestles, and transversing miles of bending marsh grass astir with wind, and crossing a half hundred winding and mucky lagoons where lay water as agate in green frames and where were white cranes, their long legs looking like reeds, standing in the water or the grass, and the occasional boat of a fisherman hugging some mucky bank, it arrived finally at the white sands of the sea and this great scene…It was romance, poetry, fairyland.

Here are some of the many images we have of the hotels that were located along the Brooklyn shore. Starting with, of course, the Manhattan Beach Hotel and the Oriental Hotel that stood side-by-side on Manhattan Beach, competing for top honors as to which was the best seaside resort. If you go on to read the rest of what Dreiser wrote about his first journey to Manhattan Beach, you’ll find out who went to which resort…and why.

A panoramic view of Manhattan Beach showing the Marine Railway Station, the Manhattan Beach Hotel, Bathing Pavilion, Restaurant, and the Oriental Hotel. From the Edward B. Watson photographs and prints collection (ARC.213); Object ID # V1976.2.291

Manhattan Beach Hotel, Manhattan Beach. Built by financier Austin Corbin, it opened on July 18, 1877, an addition was added in 1878, and another addition in 1879. From the Eugene L. Armbruster photograph and scrapbook collection; Object ID # V1974.1.985.

Oriental Hotel, Manhattan Beach. Built in 1876, the Oriental was one of the earliest of the grand hotels to be built on this part of the Brooklyn shore. From the Early Brooklyn and Long Island photograph collection (ARC.201); Object ID # V1972.1.916

Brighton Beach, located just west of Manhattan Beach was (and still is) also a summer holiday destination. As described in The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn by Kenneth Jackson and John Manbeck, “Brighton Beach was designed with families in mind. Less rowdy than its sister Coney Island to the west, and not as exclusive as its sibling Manhattan Beach to the East, Brighton Beach is the perfect site for a relaxed summer day at the shore.”

Hotel Brighton (later renamed the Brighton Beach Hotel), Brighton Beach. The hotel opened on July1, 1878. In 1888, the hotel was moved 500 feet further inland. From the From the Eugene L. Armbruster photograph and scrapbook collection; Object ID # V1974.1.956.

As for Coney Island, it was (and is) a summer destination. As the dramatic difference in the three hotels will testify, Coney Island had something for every taste.

Half Moon Hotel, Coney Island. The hotel, named after Henry Hudson's ship, had 300 rooms, a roof garden, grill, restaurant, and an indoor swimming pool. From the Edward B. Watson photographs and prints collection (ARC.213); Object ID # V1976.2.240

Elephant Hotel, Coney Island. Built in 1882, this hotel had seven stories, an observatory on top, and a cigar store in one leg. At one point it was purportedly a brothel. It burned down in 1896. From the Eugene L. Armbruster photograph and scrapbook collection; Object ID # V1972.2.25

The Whitney Hotel, Coney Island. This hotel had 100 rooms, a restaurant, 100 private lockers for rent, a bathing beach, and bathing suits for rent. From the Postcard Collection (V1973.004); Object ID # V1973.4.786

Since we’ve started surveying the BHS Photography Collection, I’ve seen so many images of the Brooklyn that was. When reading Dreiser’s reminiscence describing his journey from Manhattan to Manhattan Beach, I was able to conjure up the scenes he described from actual photographs in our collections. Though the grand hotels that lined the Brooklyn shore have all but vanished today, we luckily have many images of them that will (at least) preserve their place in history. Oh, if only the preservation movement had been around then…

Posted in Brooklyn Past & Present, Hidden Collections, Library & Archives | No Responses »
Tags: Architecture, Beaches, Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Coney Island, Hotels, Manhattan Beach, Phillip Lopate, Photographs, Photography Collection, The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Theodore Dreiser

Church of the Saviour

Written by Craig P. Savino on December 10th, 2010

Patricia had a great post recently discussing Brooklyn architecture and architects materials among the Historical Society’s collections. Brooklyn was once characterized as “the city of homes and churches” and while Patricia’s post certainly pointed out some examples of homes and commercial buildings exemplifying a portion of the range of Brooklyn’s architecture, I wanted to focus on a specific instance of the latter half of that characterization with a great example of Brooklyn’s church architecture in our collections. While working on the records of the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn I was fortunate enough to get a good look at the detailed plans of the Church of the Saviour. Sitting almost directly across the street from Brooklyn Historical Society’s building on Pierrepont Street, the Church of the Saviour was completed in 1844 and is now the oldest church building in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood.

Church of the Saviour exterior, photo by Todd Florio for Historical Marker Database (http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=33726)

The First Unitarian Congregational Society at first tried to secure Richard Upjohn as their architect. Upjohn was already making a name for himself with his work on the new Trinity Church in Manhattan and would go on to be famous for his work, particularly on churches in the Gothic Revival style and in founding the American Institute of Architects. Upjohn, however, required a $1,000 fee for services even before submitting any plans (perhaps due to his bias against the Unitarian faith). The First Church went back to reviewing plans offered by architects and settled on the designs submitted by Minard Lafever. While later known for his pattern books on the Greek Revival style, Lafever deserves to be mentioned alongside Upjohn as one of the hands behind the spread and influence of Gothic Revival architecture in America’s 1840’s-1850’s, particularly in New York and Brooklyn. The design of the Church of the Saviour is proof in itself of Lafever’s fine work in this style.

Design of Church of the Saviour by Minard Lefever. First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, Brooklyn Historical Society

Lafever designed other buildings which were eventually landmarked around New York City including the Church of the Holy Apostles in Manhattan and the Greek Revival styled buildings at Sailors’ Snug Harbor in Staten Island. In Brooklyn (and still remaining within the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood) there are two more buildings that Lafever designed which showcase his work in the Gothic Revival style and its influence on the area. One is the St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church on Montague Street and the other is his final commission, the Packer Collegiate Institute building on Joralemon Street.

St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Church interior, photo by Craig P. Savino

Packer Collegiate Institute, photo by Craig P. Savino

The original plans of the Church of the Saviour show the hand of this important architect at work. I particularly liked how these original plans included notations, variations, and comments on materials. It at once reveals Lefever’s mind at work, suggestions from others, and the involved process of constructing this beautiful church.

detail of design of Church of the Saviour by Minard Lefever. First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, Brooklyn Historical Society

Cross section of design of Church of the Saviour with notations on design and materials by Minard Lefever. First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, Brooklyn Historical Society

Layout of pews from designs of Church of the Saviour by Minard Lefever. First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, Brooklyn Historical Society

By the early 20th Century the congregation had grown to a point that they could further beautify the Church of the Saviour with the addition of stained glass windows designed by Tiffany studios with some of them designed by Louis C. Tiffany himself (alas, I could not get photos of the windows that do them justice, but Brownstoner has a decent shot of the windows from the exterior).

Correspondence from Tiffany Studios for renovation and repair of Tiffany Windows, 1934. First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, Brooklyn Historical Society

Within the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, these plans of Lefever’s and documents on the buildings and renovations exist alongside other documents that fill this architecture with the life and work of the First Unitarian Church in Brooklyn. The collection contains lists and ledgers of the owners and renters of these pews which includes the names of many prominent Brooklynites like Alfred T. White, the Low family, the Pierrepont family, and many others. The collection also contains orders of service and sermons delivered within the church and non-ecumenical work carried on by the congregational outside the walls of the Church of the Saviour.

List of original owners of the pews of the Church of the Saviour, including Brooklyn shipping magnate Abiel Abbott Low. First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, Brooklyn Historical Society

Order of service and handwritten sermon delivered by John Lathrop. First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, Brooklyn Historical Society

Order of service and handwritten sermon delivered by John Lathrop, 1914. First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records, ARC.109, Brooklyn Historical Society

If you’d like to learn more about Brooklyn architecture, I would recommend you follow the suggestions Patricia made in her post. If you would like to learn more about the Church of the Saviour, the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn, and the collection of records we have for Unitarianism at Brooklyn Historical Society, check out the postings on Emma, our catablog, in regards to the First Unitarian Congregational Society of Brooklyn records and the Women’s Alliance of the First Unitarian Church of Brooklyn records both of which also have linked finding aids.

Posted in Brooklyn Past & Present, Library & Archives | No Responses »
Tags: Architecture, Brooklyn Heights, Church of the Saviour, Historic Landmark

Brooklyn Architecture and Architects

Written by Patricia Glowinski on October 22nd, 2010

As part of the CLIR team surveying the archival, manuscript, and photography collections at BHS, we’ve come across several collections that document either iconic Brooklyn architecture or local Brooklyn architects. With the recent conclusion of the 8th annual Open House New York, I’ve been thinking about architecture, the multitude of buildings I encounter everyday, and my relationship with them. From the Hotel St. George where the subway lets me out in the morning, to the George B. Post landmarked building I work in at BHS, to the sprawling Concord Village I walk past everyday on my way to the Manhattan Bridge pedestrian walkway, I am in constant interaction with buildings. Buildings can be destinations, hindrances, or points of reference. They can be beautiful or ugly, memorable or forgettable, historic or everyday.

Not only does Brooklyn have iconic buildings such as the towering Art Deco skyscraper, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank building in Fort Greene or the once grandiose destination, the Hotel St. George in Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn neighborhoods have their own unique architectural styles. If someone tells you they live in Fort Greene or Park Slope, you picture rows and rows of brownstones. If you try to describe Red Hook, you can’t do it justice without including both the waterfront red brick industrial factories-turned-artist spaces and lofts, as well the vast housing project, the Red Hook Houses, that are home to over 75% of all the residents of Red Hook. Greenpoint? Vinyl-sided railroad apartments. Williamsburg? The Domino Sugar Factory. Ditmas Park? Candy-colored Victorians.

Our architectural archival collections here at BHS reflect Brooklyn’s architectural diversity. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, 1 Hanson Place collection (ARC.116) documents one of the most iconic landmarks in Brooklyn. Our photographic collection captures before, during, and post-construction of the second tallest building in Brooklyn, 1927-1929.

Williamsburgh Savings Bank building site, before construction, 1927. Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, 1 Hanson Place collection, ARC.116, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (2006.001.1.02).

Williamsburgh Savings Bank building site, after demolition, 1927. Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, 1 Hanson Place collection, ARC.116, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (2006.001.1.05).

Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, during construction, circa 1927. Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, 1 Hanson Place collection, ARC.116, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (2006.001.1.09).

Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, finishing the tower, 1928. Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, 1 Hanson Place collection, ARC.116, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (2006.001.1.12).

Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, near completion, 1928. Williamsburgh Savings Bank building, 1 Hanson Place collection, ARC.116, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (2006.001.1.15).

The Hotel St. George collection (ARC.100) includes historic picture postcards that make you wish you could have been there when. The hotel, located in Brooklyn Heights, once had the largest indoor salt water swimming pool and the largest banquet room in the world.

Postcard of Hotel St. George, circa 1930. Hotel St. George collection, ARC.100, Brooklyn Historical Society Postcard Collection (V1989.30.11).

Postcard of the natural salt water swimming pool at the Hotel St. George, circa 1940. Hotel St. George collection, ARC.100, Brooklyn Historical Society Postcard Collection (V1989.30.14).

William Thomas McCarthy (d. 1952) was a Brooklyn architect whose designs included large-scale apartment buildings such as the Cathedral Arms Apartments and the Chateau Frontenac Apartments in Flatbush; some of the last single-family homes built in Park Slope; and some of the most iconic housing projects in New York City, all of which are located in Brooklyn. He co-designed four of the seven buildings of Concord Village (1958, finished after McCarthy died), the Red Hook Houses (1939), and the Gowanus Houses (1949). All of the buildings below still stand today.

The Cathedral Arms Apartments and the Chateau Frontenac Apartments are located in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn and were built circa 1930.

Exterior view of the Cathedral Arms Apartments, circa 1930. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.11).

Exterior view of the Chateau Frontenac Apartments, circa 1930. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.15).

McCarthy designed some of the last single-family homes in Park Slope, circa 1920. The homes below are located along Prospect Park West. The driveways were included in the original designs and are still a very unique aspect of Brooklyn architecture.

Exterior view of single-family homes in Park Slope, circa 1920. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.30).

Concord Village is located on the border of the Brooklyn Heights and Downtown Brooklyn neighborhoods. McCarthy co-designed four of the seven buildings with Italian born architect Rosario Candela (1890-1953). The building complex was completed in phases and was finished after McCarthy died.

Aerial view of Concord Village, circa 1930. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.22).

The rendering below shows an idealized vision of Concord Village. The delineator was Arthur Frappier.

Photograph of rendering of Concord Village, circa 1930. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.19).

The Gowanus Houses (1949) and Red Hook Houses (1939) are prominent parts of the Brooklyn architectural landscape and of Brooklyn architectural history. It’s very rare to read about who designed our large-scale housing projects throughout the city. Today, former and current residents of the Gowanus Houses are creating their own archive of the buildings and the people who live in them on a Facebook page Gowanus Houses Forever, Bklyn, NY. Below are images that help tell the story of the original vision for the housing projects.

Photograph of a model of the Gowanus Houses, circa 1950. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.5).

Photograph of a rendering of the Red Hook Houses, circa 1930. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.18 a,b).

Photograph of a rendering of the Red Hook Houses, circa 1930. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.28).

Photograph of the Red Hook Houses, circa 1940. William T. McCarthy collection, ARC.059, Brooklyn Historical Society Photograph Collection (V1990.70.19).

If you’re looking to do architectural research on your house, building, block, or neighborhood, the Library and Archives staff at BHS has made it easy for you with the House and Building Research at BHS. Or, if you want an in-depth guide to Brooklyn architecture, the BHS staff has curated a selection of books that are available through the BHS Virtual Bookstore.

Posted in Hidden Collections, Library & Archives | 10 Responses »
Tags: Architecture, Archives, Built Environment, Historic Landmark, public housing

To Gravesend and Back

Written by Chela on July 31st, 2009

Last week’s guest post was so well received, we thought we’d try it again this week. Today’s post is from Joseph Ditta, BHS friend, Reference Librarian at the New-York Historical Society, and born-and-bred Brooklynite. Joseph has a great new book out through Arcadia Publishing called Then & Now: Gravesend, Brooklyn. The book is packed with cool photographs comparing the same locations in the 19th and early 20th Centuries with modern day. It is really fun to see what familiar buildings looked like in their past, the way that people have attempted to modernize buildings (both to good and bad effect), as well as to realize just how well history blends in to the present and is really all around us. But enough from me; Joseph has been kind enough to walk us through one of these comparisons, so without further delay:

Take any subway bound for Coney Island. Hop off a few stops before the end of the line. You’re in Gravesend, the neighborhood descended from the 17th-century town by that name the City of Brooklyn annexed in 1894. Walk around. Look around. Chances are you’ll come across a scene like this:

Gravesend Neck Road, 2009, courtesy of Joseph Ditta

I know what you’re thinking. “This is Gravesend? What’s the big deal? Can we go home now?” No. Sorry. Not until you see why I’ve brought you here. I promise it won’t take long.

See that girl in the photo? She’s walking east along the south side of Gravesend Neck Road, probably on her way home from school. We can only guess her thoughts are on her homework, but it’s a safe bet they are not on the white house behind her at number 66. She must pass it every day without even noticing it. Why would she? It’s a nondescript building on an unremarkable street in southern Brooklyn. Or is it?

Suppose we pluck that girl out of 2009 and set her down on the same spot in 1879? Would she recognize this stretch of her daily route 130 years before it became her daily route? Here’s how it looked:

Gravesend Neck Road, 1879, courtesy of Joseph Ditta

Amazingly, the white house was standing, though configured a bit differently in its guise of combined post office, grocery, flour, and feed store. The men lolling on the porch were there for no reason more pressing than to share reports of crops and home, of politics and the world beyond. Back then, news spread faster by word of mouth than it did by letter. It seems 66 Gravesend Neck Road was an important social destination for this late-19th-century community.

I should let our schoolgirl continue on her 21st-century way (with my thanks for being such a good, if unwitting, sport). You’d probably like to return to the present, too. Feel free, but take with you the idea that even the most humdrum sites we encounter in our busy lives might once have held significance the way this stucco-covered house was once at the center of Gravesend life. Brooklyn is filled with similar stories waiting to be recovered. Just look around.

The images presented here appear in Joseph Ditta’s new book, Then & Now: Gravesend, Brooklyn (Arcadia Publishing, 2009).

If you want to read more, you can come in to the BHS library to read the full book, or purchase it in our Amazon Store. You can also become a fan of the book on Facebook.

Posted in Brooklyn Past & Present, Library & Archives | 16 Responses »
Tags: Architecture, books, Brooklyn History, gravesend, photography

May 2013
M	T	W	T	F	S	S
« Apr
		1	2	3	4	5
6	7	8	9	10	11	12
13	14	15	16	17	18	19
20	21	22	23	24	25	26
27	28	29	30	31

The Brooklyn Historical Society Blog