Via Huffington Post, here is Zach Galifianakis’ acting debut, in a student short shot on the Northside in the early 1990s. Worth a look to see old shots the L Cafe (and the apartment listings there) and Teddy’s in an earlier (but not too different) incarnation. Oh yeah, and goatees – I forgot about those.
And this one, which was shot in the ruins of the old Brooklyn Eastern District Terminal (somewhere between the Edge and the Bushwick Inlet soccer field today):
Scientific American, ca. 1903 (by way of Ephemeral New York):
As a matter of fact, the (Williamsburg) Bridge is an engineer’s bridge pure and simple. The eye may range from anchorage to anchorage, and from pier to finial of the tower without finding a single detail that suggests controlling motive, either in its design or fashioning other than bald utility.
Which is what makes it so great.
705 and 707 Willoughby Avenue
Architect: C. P. H. Gilbert?, 1885
Photo: via PropertyShark
Chris Gray and his Streetscapes column were back in Brooklyn this week, profiling one of the great architects of the Gilded Age. Much of Gilbert’s early work was done in the Park Slope area, but his first Brooklyn commission may have been this pair of buildings on Willoughby Avenue in Bed-Stuy.
Despite the permastone, there are some traces of old stuff, particularly the profile of the roof and the cresting atop it. And the massing of the buildings looks quite consistent with Gilbert’s other work of the period.
Clinton Avenue at Fulton Street
March, 1888
Photo: A. A. Martense via BHS.
This photo, taken on Clinton Avenue at Fulton Street in March 1888 comes via the Brooklyn Historical Society’s blog. BHS has the full details, but what I like about the photo is the signage on the side of the building: trusses, crutches, and the Sutherland Sisters Hair Grower and Scalp Cleaner (which may have something to do with the “electricity applied” in the sign at the far right).
Urban Oyster is leading tours of Most Holy Trinity on Montrose Avenue on December 17 and January 7. The church in its current incarnation dates to 1885 (William Schickel, architect), but the congregation itself goes back to 1841, when it was founded by German immigrants. It was the second Catholic parish in Williamsburg, and Brooklyn first National parish.
Urban Oyster does some great tours – this one is also for a good cause, to raise money for “Trinity Human Service Center, a nondenominational food pantry and charity that operates in the church basement”.
The Brooklyn Eagle profiles a new book by James Greller on the history of Brooklyn’s (once) iconic trolley system.
[Via Brownstoner]
A five-building complex on North 11th Street, which include the current home of Brooklyn Brewery, has sold for $16 million. The new owner plans to convert the buildings to residential use. Fear not, though – the brewery has a lease through 2025.
(Crain’s says that these buildings were originally built to house a Dr. Brown’s soda factory, but the buildings that house the brewery (and the Brooklyn Bowl) were built between 1886 and 1907 as part of the Hecla Irons Works. The other portion of the development site was once part of the N.Y. Quinine and Chemical Works.)
Oops – wrong side of the street. The properties that sold are not where Brooklyn has its brewery and tours, but the warehouse on Berry. The site is the eastern half of the block fronting Berry, between North 10th and North 11th Streets. Four of the buildings were built by Hecla Iron Works (including the building that housed its offices and showrooms on North 11th (1896-97, Niels Pouslon, architect), which is a city landmark); the fifth building, 56-60 Berry, is a three-story reinforced-concrete bottling plant built by the Carl H. Schultz Corp., a manufacturer of mineral water (1928-29, Francisco & Jacobus, architects). Schultz had acquired the entire property in 1928 for use as manufacturing and bottling. In 1929, Schultz merged with Schoneberger & Noble (manufacturer of Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray soda) and the Brownie Corporation (manufacturer of a chocolate soda) to form the American Beverage Co. So the site did manufacture Dr. Brown’s soda, but it wasn’t built as such. (The origins of Dr. Brown’s turn out to be very murky – I have a research team on it.)
Tonight at the Brooklyn Public Library’s Central Branch, students from the Historic Preservation Program at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Architecture and Preservation Planning will present a talk about their preservation studio project on the rich architectural history of Bushwick Avenue, and the preservation plan to conserve the legacy of the historic thoroughfare.
A Retronaut.com tour of the construction of the Williamsburg Bridge. Worth a few minutes of your time.
