Architectural History

President Street between Smith and Hoyt Streets

Carroll Gardens is a quiet residential community that has retained its nineteenth century atmosphere. As with most Victorian neighborhoods, brownstone and brick houses were built on a hill, saving twentieth-century residents from pollution that borders on the east in the Gowanus Canal and on the west and south by the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. On Bergen Hill, the gaslight era is preserved in cobblestone streets, trolley tracks, slate sidewalks, ornamental iron fences and stoop railings, as well as the stately brownstone homes themselves.

Most of the major development begin in the late 1860s with the construction of rows of brownstones and was completed by the early 1880s. The housing reflects the general method employed for urban residential development during that time. The Carroll Gardens brownstones are a form of terrace house that evolved in England toward the end of the seventeenth century. By building an entire street of row houses and treating them as an architectural whole, comparatively small homes could be given the dignity of a palace. Architecturally, the buildings reflect the high standards of builder of a century ago. The older houses were custom-designed for prosperous merchants; however, the post-Civil War row houses were produced on a mass production basis for those of more modest means. It was, and still is today, a representative, solidly middle-class community.

Draining of the swampland by the Gowanus Canal in the late 1860s stimulated land speculation east of Smith Street, and the pattern set by the Places was followed. On Smith and Court Streets, stores at street level with living quarters above provide the neighborhood with the shops and service that is required.

The sense of remoteness and the feeling of sunny, airy openness, on the Place Streets, and Carroll and Presidents Streets, is the result of the foresighted, mid-19th century planning of Richard Butts, a surveyor. In his map of 1846, he provided blocks of unusual depth, resulting in lots with houses set back behind front yards 33.5 feet deep. The success of Butts’ plan is that the east-west streets jog slightly so that houses terminate the vistas along these streets. This pattern shut off these streets from the bustle of Court and Smith streets. The impression is that of a protected enclave, an oasis within the city.

The builders used brownstone facing shipped by barge from quarries in Jersey and Connecticut arranged with a wide variety of ornamental elements manufactured in small, local factories to offer house buyers mantles for fireplaces, louvered shutters, banisters, moldings of distinctive designs. The buildings illustrate a number of the popular styles of the late 19th century: late Italianate, Neo-Grec and Victorian Gothic. The woods used for moldings and banisters were mahogany and walnut; while, at the end of the century, oak enjoyed a brief vogue. Although pines of various types were usually secondary woods, red English pine was used as flooring in the early-Victorian brownstones.

Excerpts from the Carroll Gardens Historic District Designation Report, 1973, and Jeanette Jeanes for background material

Recent South Congregation Church History

By the 1940s, the church was thriving and numbered 2400 members, but in the years following World War II, members moved away and dropped to fewer than 100. In 1982, the church, faced with a $9,000 winter heating bill and dwindling membership, the congregation accepted an offer from a developer to convert the church and chapel into luxury apartments.

In a New York Times article “Church Makes Novel Deal with Developer,” dated December 5, 1982, the church’s pastor, the Rev. Neville-Simmons Smith said, ''As you can see, we cannot maintain the building with our meager resources. The plaster has cracked on the wall behind the pulpit, and the old stained-glass windows along the south wall are broken and chipped.”

After the 1851 Romanesque-style church was sold, the congregation worshiped in the former Ladies’ Parlor behind the church. Fortunately, the church complex had just been granted landmark status by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission in the spring of 1982, so the church’s exterior could not be architecturally altered.

Reporting why the New York Landmarks Conservancy approved the conversion of the church, its Executive Director Laurie Beckelman wrote in The State of Churches report, “The proposal for the church is innovative in that it enables the congregation to remain within the church complex and continue to serve the immediate community. While plans for the interior call for the retention of as much of the original building fabric as possible, the creation of three residential floor levels will dramatically alter the scale and sense of the original interior space.”

In 1993, the small congregation, lead by Rev. Smith, merged with Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights, and in a sad way brought the story of the relationship of South Congregational Church and Plymouth Church to a full circle.

Break in the Steeple of the South Congregational Church

Brooklyn Public Library Brooklyn Collection

“A break in the steeple of the South Congregation Church,” was reported in the January 4, 1979 Brooklyn Eagle, "Fears that There will be a Big Crash this Afternoon." The article continued, "The slates have been blown away from the lower portion of two of the octagonal sides, it reported, and the wind has thus a ready access to the interior, the result of which is to make the entire tower rock from side to side, with a prospect of collapsing at any moment.”

The tower was described as about eighty feet, and it slopes gradually in from the base until it reaches a sharp point at the top, which is ornamented with a Corinthian capital. The church and tower were constructed about eighteen years ago, and during its construction a shocking accident occurred, which resulted in the instant killing of two men and serious injury to several others. The casualty was caused by the falling of a scaffold in the interior of the edifice.

The article described that it was not a matter of surprise, to those who resided in the neighborhood and had observed the steeple moving from one side to the other during more than ordinary severe gales, that it has not fallen long ago.

South Congregational Church Complex

The South Congregation Church of Brooklyn originated in the year 1851. In the previous year the building site had been purchased at the corner of Court and President Streets. The first building erected upon the site was the present chapel, containing a lecture room, Sabbath school and pastor’s rooms. This building was finished the last week in January 1851, and on the first Sabbath in February it was opened for public worship.

The New England Congregationalist built so much of nineteenth-century Brooklyn, and it is said that the idea for this church was that of Henry Ward Beecher, the colorful pastor of Plymouth Church in Brooklyn Heights. Francis Morrone in his book An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn says that Richard Upjohn had introduced the Romanesque Revival to New York church design in his Church of the Pilgrims (now the Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Church in Brooklyn Heights).

The main church edifice was erected and dedicated in 1857 and is a splendid example of the genre. It was remodeled with the addition of galleries in 1864. The gabled front of the church features a fine receding round arch to either side of this gabled front are the twin towers, which are marvelous. Built with four stages featuring stepped sloping setoffs, the towers terminate in corbels and merlons and, pointing high in the sky and visible all up and down court street, finials that rise from pinnacles at the four corners of the square towers.

The Ladies’ Parlor is also Romanesque Rivival. It is faced in brick with extensive terra-cotta trim, all in rusty red. There is “Ruskinian” polychromy in the voussoirs of the entrance arch, an asymmetrically placed and vertically accentuated projecting bay rising a story above the rest of the building, and lush bands of terra-cotta ornament along the top of the building. The architect, F. Carles Merry, designed in the same year a group of wonderful row houses on Lenox Avenue (nos. 220 to 228) between 121st and 122nd Streets in Harlem.

The rectory, just to the west of the Ladies’ Parlor, is yet another fine work, built thirty-six years after the main church and in a different style. The architect was Woodruff Leeming. It is in a Gothic Style with a basement and parlor floor of rock-faced brownstone; above is red brick with brownstone trim. The stoop is on the left and leads to a doorway set within a pointed-arch molding. On the right is a round bay. Two gables, both set with pointed arches, top the house. Leeming was born in Illinois, but came to Brooklyn as a lad to attend the prestigious Polytechnic Institute, following which he went on to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Ecole des Beauz-Arts in Paris. He worked for Heins & La Farge at the time they won the competition to design the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Leeming struck out on his own, establishing his office in Brooklyn in the very year he designed the rectory, which may have been the first commission of his private practice. Twenty-one years later, he designed the very large parish house of Plymouth Church on Orange Street.

The South Congregational Church Complex was designated a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1982, and was put on the National Register of Historic Places on November 4, 1982.

South Congregational Church Complex, Northwest corner of Court and President
Chapel. 1851, architect unknown
Church, 1857, architect unknown
Ladies Parlor, 257 President Street, 1889, Frederick Carles Merry, Architect
Rectory, 255 President Street, 1893, Woodruff Leeming, Architect

Brooklyn Public Library, Carroll Gardens Branch

Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn Public Library

The Carroll Park Branch begun in 1901 in rented quarters at Smith and Carroll Street, and then moved its current location at Clinton and Union in 1905. The newPress clippings describing the opening ceremony, the fifth Carnegie Branch built in Brooklyn, “a model one in every respect, large, airy, well-lighted and perfectly equipped.” The spacious, 14,000 plus square foot interior has the original dramatic barrel-vaulted ceiling supported by columns and some of the original details.

Designed in the Beaux-Art Classicism style by the architect William B. Tubby (1858-1944), it is a modest structure with classical lines built of Harvard brick and limestone, and features Ionic columns, pediment, arches, roof balustrade, pilasters, and dentilated cornice. It nonetheless has a kind of monumentality and stately presence in its Carroll Gardens neighborhood setting. The builder was John Thatcher & Son, who also built the Flatbush Carnegie Branch for R.L. Daus, Architect.

Tubby was among the top Brooklyn architects, born in Iowa, Tubby came to Brooklyn to attend Brooklyn Friends School and then Polytechnic Institute, following which he went to work for Ebenezer Roberts, architect of Charles Pratt’s house on Clinton Avenue. Tubby succeeded to the Roberts practice and designed some of the most distinctive Brooklyn buildings of the 1880s and 1890s, including the Queen Anne row houses at 864 to 872 Carroll Street (1887) in Park Slope, the row houses at 262 to 272 Hicks Street (1887-88) in Brooklyn Heights, the Charles Adolph Millard Pratt house (1890-93) on Clinton Avenue, and the 20th Precinct Police Station House (1894-95) on Wilson Avenue in Bushwick.

The Carroll Gardens Branch has always served the large Italian-American community. In 1907, the Brooklyn Eagle reported that free lectures were given in Italian every Sunday evening. In the 1930s, Carroll Gardens was famous for its citizenship classes and services, and through the National League of American Citizenship helped over 10,000 people secure their citizenship pagers. Its 1933 annual report notes, “there isn’t any place like this where aliens can be helped. There isn’t any other place with the knowledge and patience to care for them.” Mrs. Vincent Astor was the chairman of the advisory council of the League at the time. Today, Italian-Americans are joined by a diverse population that includes Latinos and African-Americans.

In 1973, the branch closed for renovations. When it reopened, the building had been completely air-conditioned and repainted; a list of new features included, new electrical service, lighting, flooring, and a new roof. It was renamed Carroll Gardens, a change requested by the community. In addition to its regular services, the branch also conducts programs for children and adults.

In 2005, the library under went a $1.5 million renovations to make the branch wheelchair accessible. The project, completed in spring 2006, included painting the auditorium, widening of the Union Street entrance, new wheelchair ramps, a wheelchair-accessible restroom, and a new elevator to the main reading floor, balcony and basement levels.

An active Friends group supports the branch. Telephone number is (718) 596-6972.

Branch information and library hours.

With excerpts from “An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn”, by Francis Morrone, published in 2001 by Gibbs Smith, and are used with permission by the author

A picture gets action

At the CGNA February meeting, the developer of 360 Smith Street William Stein made a presentation of his controversial 49-unit condo development that would be built over the F and G Subway Plaza at Second Place. His architect Armand Quadrini of KSQ Architects promised to get back to the elected officials about how much of the plaza would be covered by the development. When his architect failed to get back to them, this blogger published a picture showing that 1/3 of the plaza would be covered over by the condo project. Council Member Bill deBlasio’s and Assembly Member Joan Millman’s legislative aids sent the picture to the developer, and “a picture get action.” Last Thursday, Stein made a special trip in from Garden City to walk the aids through the plans for the plaza. He also graciously agreed to come in from Long Island again last Sunday to show the plans to community members.

He brought his pictures and challenged the correctness of the rendering that I posted on my blog which showed the 22-foot portion of plaza that would be be built over and that the community would loose 1/3 of the plaza to the development. I responded that I know the 1/3 claim didn't include the 14-foot sidewalk, but the illustration showing what portion would be lost is correct. It was done by a professional from a top engineering company, and the perspective is aligned perpendicular to the horizon and diagonally with the property line.

He told us that the area around the newsstand was actually commercial space and shouldn’t be considered as lost public space. He plans to put in a news and sundry store with an entrance on Smith Street that would be operated by the current newsstand operator.

In response to the picture, his publicist must have sent a press release to the Brooklyn Paper. It published an article dated April 5, 2008, “Plaza-Palooza,” without soliciting community comment. The article stated, “Stein’s design show there will be a 20-foot covered path to the subway entrance, because his building will project over what is now open space.” This is the 22-foot of open space that I said would be lost. Stein said that there would be a clear canopy over the entrance. Since there is no commercial overlay for retail on that block of Smith Street, he assumes that the community would support a change of zoning to allow a commercial overlay for the sundry and other retail shop being considered for the Smith Street frontage.

Billie Stein showing us where the new entrance pathway to the subway will begin.

He said that the roof of the subway extends under most of the parking lot, and that he has to build a platform over the roof to support the building. The subway roof supposedly was constructed for a load-bearing for a 4 or 5-story commercial building and should support his building which would weigh less, but the MTA still required the platform. Neighbors complained about the vibrations when they did the test borings in the parking lot; now the concern will be about what will be the damage to their homes when they drill to bedrock to secure the platform.

He said that constructing the platform is very expensive, and that he will lose the ground floor for parking. He said that this is why it is necessary for him to build to the maximum of the FAR that is allowed for wide streets, but he agreed with the community pursuit of a change to the zoning resolution to stop the wide-street allowance. He said that he is also providing amenities for the public easement for access to the subway, such as lighting and maintenance without getting any FAR allowance like most buildings.

The white wall in the rendering is the retaining wall that currently separates the plaza from the parking lot.

Several weeks ago, Stein asked the NYC Parks Department for a permit to remove the trees on the plaza. They supposedly gave him permission to remove the two trees on the 22-feet portion of the plaza that is privately-owned, as the NYC Parks Department has no jurisdiction on private property. Parks would not allow removal of the other three honey locust trees just because the architect wanted different trees. I said that I preferred that the courtyard of the parking lot look like the other courtyards along Second Place. He also explained that the incline of the parking lot prevented this, and that it needed to be terraced, and asked our advice on putting in planters along the sidewalk.

Louis Valentino Jr. Ballfield in Carroll Park

Court Street, between Carroll and President Streets

The property for the park’s ballfield that borders Court Street was acquired by the Parks Department on June 3, 1953. The playground was first built in 1957 and was renamed “Louis Valentino Jr. Ballfield” under a local law introduced by Councilmember Stephen DiBrienza and signed by Mayor Rudy Giuliani on June 25, 1996. On February 5, 1996, Valentino, who grew up in Red Hook, was killed while searching for wounded firefighters in a three-alarm blaze in an illegal Flatlands garage.

Valentino fulfilled his lifelong aspiration to become a firefighter when he joined the Fire Department in 1984. He was assigned to Engine Company 281 where he battled fires for two years. He was twice cited for his bravery, in 1987 and again in 1990, and served with Ladder Company 147 in Flatbush. Valentino was accepted to the elite Rescue Company 2 in Crown Heights in 1993, joining the ranks of the city’s most experienced and versatile. A commemoration plaque on the ballfield fence memorializes that “The Louis Valentino Jr. Ballfield preserves the memory of a man who not only demonstrated selfless devotion to fighting fires and saving lives but was also renowned for his prowess as a member of the Fire Department softball team.”

In 1999, Councilmember DiBrienza allotted $603,773 to refurbish the .90-acre ballfield. The scope of the renovation included paving the park’s field with new asphalt, chain link fencing, single and double gates, benches, new baseball, basketball, and bocce recreational facilities. In addition, the existing perimeter landscape was enhanced with additional plant material to create a grove and community garden.

Link to NYC Parks Department History