Historic Victorian Flatbush Presentation

Marine Park: Salt Marsh Nature Center, 3302 Avenue U, Brooklyn

Historic Victorian Flatbush. Monday, Nov. 5, at 7 p.m

Borough Historian Ron Schweiger presents the lecture on this historic district filled with beautiful homes and memories from the Victorian era. Free. For more information, call 311 or visit www.nyc.gov/parks.

photo thecmrc.blogspot

Calendar [Brooklyn Eagle]
October [Salt Mary Alliance]

Fiske Terrace Centennial Marked at Brooklyn Borough Hall

Deep in the Heart of Brooklyn reports from Borough Hall -

Residents and elected officials gathered to mark and fete the Centennial Anniversary of Fiske Terrace on Tuesday, October 23. Hosted by Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz at Borough Hall, Fiske Terrace Neighborhood Association members heard speeches about the little hamlet below Glenwood Road that was developed 100 years ago as a suburban idyll from cleared woodlands and farm land. Markowitz acknowledged the unique quality of the area's housing and environment, as well as the dedication of Fiske Terrace Association leadership and members which has recently given an enormous push to the prospects for Landmarking/Historic District Designation by the Landmark Preservation Commission. In addition to the BP, City councilmembers Matheu Eugene and Kendall Stewart greeted residents and were warmly received for the support that they provided, along with Markowitz, to the landmarking initiative.

- Brooklyn Beat

I also found this as well: Great Moments in the Sopranos Angry mob boss Phil Leotardo (Frank Vincent) who got the squashed calabasa treatment lived in this lovely manse ostensibly located on Marlborough and Dorchester. Anyone have a clue where the real home stands? Email dithob at upware@aol.com


Fiske Terrace Centennial Marked at Brooklyn Borough Hall [DITHOB]

Open House New York - Schedule Release September 28

Get a Guide!

On September 28, the 2007 openhousenewyork (OHNY) Weekend Event Guide will be available as an insert into the New York Times (City Edition only).

Free guides will also be available during the OHNY Weekend, October 6 & 7 at all participating sites, and at OHNY Information centers.

You can also purchase a guide for overnight delivery by September 29, by pre-ordering a copy here.

Encourage your friends and family to register their contact information at info@ohny.org to get the most current information on the 2007 OHNY Weekend or visit ohny.org.

Buy a 5th Anniversary Commemorative Ticket [openhousenewyork]
GL's Open House New York Brooklyn Picks [Gowanus Lounge]

Saving Historic South Beach lead by The South of Fiffth Neighborhood Association

Ocean Drive Magazine Fires Columnist over Real Estate Video [Sellsius]

Ocean Writer Gets Deep-Sixed [NY Post]
It Doesn’t Pay to Have a Difference of Opinion [mediabistro.com:FishbowlNY]
Magazine to Resident: You’re Fired [The Sun Post, Miami]
Fired, Hired [Miami Herald]
Can a Journalist Have a Different Opinion than her Publisher? [Huffington Post, post by Gerald Posner

Brownstoner - House of the Day: 1306 Albemarle Road

One word: Droolworthy! This house at 1306 Albemarle Road in Prospect Park South is the perfect poster-child for Victorian Flatbush. The 15-room mansion last changed hands twelve years ago; the previous owner lived there for decades. This place has it all: original woodwork, flooring, Tiffany windows, columns, etc. There's even a five-room office with a separate entrance. Enough talking—just check out the photos. The asking price of $2,595,000 is up there but seems perfectly achievable to us given the infrequency that something like this becomes available. Agree?

1306 Albemarle Road [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark
Posted by Brownstoner at 1:२१ PM ९/11/07 | Comments (113) | TrackBacks (0)

2007 Victorian Flatbush House Tour

On This Day in History: August 29 - Ditmas Park Becomes Historic District

DITMAS PARK — Ditmas Park was designated an historic district on August 29, 1981. Bounded roughly by Dorchester (Road), Ocean Avenue, Newkirk Avenue, and East 16th Street, the Ditmas Park neighborhood was modeled after the adjacent neighborhood of Prospect Park South. It was developed by real estate broker Lewis H. Pounds as a suburban community at the turn of the century. It is a middle-class neighborhood in central Flatbush — a grouping of about 175 large Colonial Revival and neo-Tudor, detached frame houses on streets lined with full-grown trees. Among its notable buildings are the parish house of the Flatbush Tompkins Congregational Church, the former Brown house at 1000 Ocean Avenue, and the Community Temple Beth Ohr at 1010 Ocean Avenue. The development was named after the Van Ditmarsen family.

Jan Jansen van Ditmarsen settled at Dutch Kills in 1647 in what is now Long Island City. His descendants included Johannes Ditmarsen, town supervisor in Flatbush; Henry Suydam Ditmas, president of Erasmus Hall High School and a resident of Ditmas Park; John Ditmas, a founder of the Flatbush Trust Company; and the genealogist and historian Charles Al Ditmas, founder of the Kings County Historical Society and president of the Brooklyn Sunday School Union.

On This Day in History: August 29 - Ditmas Park Becomes Historic District [Brooklyn Eagle]

Victorian Flatbush [Mary Kay Gallagher Real Estate]

Brooklyn's Flatbush - Battlefield to Ebbets Field

That's the truly inspired title of Brian Merlis and Lee Rosenzweig's tribute to the neighborhood they describe as "the heart, soul and spirit of Brooklyn." With well over 200 pages of photographs, maps, and illustrations documenting the evolution of Flatbush since the colonial era, it's a must have for anyone with even a passing interest in local history.

The book, as well as reprints from their fantastic photo library, can be ordered from the authors' website. It can also be purchased locally, at VOX POP.

Battlefield to Ebbetts Field [BrooklynPix.com]

Everyone at Living In Victorian Flatbush would like to welcome our informed neighbor, Beverly Square West activist and local historian Erin Joslyn as our guest writer. Check out Erin's work at her website An Architectural History - Victorian Flatbush.

Matthew's Park? Where's that?

Right around the corner, apparently. Although I'd come across references to Matthew's Park in old issues of the Brooklyn Eagle and in Flatbush To-Day (c.1908), it took me a while to pinpoint the exact location of this elusive Victorian Flatbush neighborhood. Given the name, I knew it must have been constructed on farmland previously belonging to the Matthew's family, somewhere in the vicinity of Coney Island Avenue and Beverley Road. But hey! Wasn't that my stomping ground - Beverley Square West?

The mystery was finally solved when Mary Kay Gallagher gave me a copy of the original sales brochure for Thomas Benton Ackerson's Beverley Square developments. Beverley Square West wasn't all that it seemed. It was Matthew's Park!

Well, at least some of it was. According to the map included in the sales brochure (above, right), Beverley Square West occupied far less territory than it does presently, occupying none of Stratford Road, and only the southern portions of Westminster (East 12th), Argyle (East 13th), Rugby (East 14th), and Marlborough (East 15th). The surrounding land is described as "Land formerly of William Matthew." Beverley Square West and Matthew's Park, developed by local resident Walter Lusher in the 1890s, were originally two distinct Flatbush neighborhoods.

Ackerson clearly had an appreciation for the architecture of Matthew's Park. So much so, that he included a picture of a striking Matthew's Park Tudor in his sales brochure for Beverley Square West (see above).

For many years, Matthew's Park and Beverley Square West remained separate entities, with their own neighborhood associations. At some point, the name Matthew's Park was abandoned in favor of Westford Park (an amalgam of Westminster and Stratford Roads). Signs for Westford Park can still be found on those streets. It wasn't wasn't until the early 80's that Westford Park was incorporated into Beverley Square West, officially uniting the two neighborhoods. Matthew's Court, the tiny street between Coney Island Avenue and Westminster, however, preserves the memory of the original neighborhood.

Walking through Beverley Square West today, you can still discern the original boundary between Matthew's Park and Beverley Square West, simply by looking at the trees. In Beverley Square West, Ackerson planted Plane trees at the edge of each property line, next to the sidewalk; Lusher's trees in Matthew's Park were planted between the sidewalk and the curb.

Everyone at Living In Victorian Flatbush would like to welcome our informed neighbor, Beverly Square West activist and local historian Erin Joslyn as our guest writer. Check out Erin's work at her website An Architectural History - Victorian Flatbush.

Brooklyn: America's Finest Victorian City presented by Barry Lewis

Architectural historian Barry Lewis who specializes in European and American architecture of the 18th to 20th centuries presents “Brooklyn: America’s Finest Victorian City.”

"We forget that Brooklyn was once, as an independent city, the fourth largest metropolis in Victorian America. During its 64-year existence (1834-98), it initiated construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, a feeder el train system and the creation of upper class neighborhoods like Crown Heights, middle class neighborhoods like Sunset Park and working class immigrant districts like the Eastern Addition, the Williamsburg-Bushwick area that was home to a German and Irish immigrant population."

Lewis is best known as the co-host of the PBS “video walking tours” series, which featured various neighborhoods in New York City and New Jersey. Lewis currently teaches architecture and interior design classes at The New York School of Interior Design.

The lecture is co-sponsored by the Municipal Art Society and will take place at New York City College of Technology's Atrium Amphitheater (300 Jay Street) on Wednesday, March 7th from 4 - 6:30pm and admission is Free.

Brooklyn: America's Finest Victorian City [Until Monday:BKLN]
Brooklyn: America's Finest Victorian City [iBrooklyn.com]
Architectural Historian [Barry Lewis]

Victorian Flatbush Tour

Victorian Flatbush Tour by OHNY (openhousenewyork)

Brooklyn Historian Ron Schweiger will lead you through Victorian Flatbush. This area is the largest concentration of Victorian Queen Anne, Colonial Revival and Greek Revival homes in the US.

Sunday, October 8th at 10:00am

Meet at the Newkirk Avenue, Q train stop.

Reservations and instruction: bklynrembered@aol.com




View photos from The 2006 Victorian House Tour at http://arsenicandoldlace.dotphoto.com

Video from the 2005 Victorian House Tour provided by Nelson Ryland