Tuesday, June 23, 2009

The Beautiful Houses of Harrison Street

Between Water Street and Vanderbilt Avenue (think between Tappen Park and Bayley Seton Hospital) and between Bay Street and Tompkins Avenue, is a beautiful pocket of houses. Some are old and tumbling down while others are downright magnificent and stunningly maintained. The are was anchored once by the previously shown First Presbyterian Church (now owned by Mt. Sinai Baptist Church).



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This grand brick building is on the corner of Harrison and Quinn.



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Harrison between Quinn and Brownell, west side


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Harrison between Quinn and Brownell - east side


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Harrison and corner of Brownell, northeast side

Arlington



Facing east on Richmond Terrace about 400 feet from Holland Ave - 9/25/31


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Today

The houses are described as being next to the property of the Downey Shipbuilding Firm. They'd started in 1903 on Shooters Island and moved to Howland Hook in 1910. Most famously they built a yacht for the Kaiser and the three masted schooner Atlantic

Saturday, June 20, 2009

A Series of Very Old Houses

Finding that little house on Port Richmond Avenue the other day was great. It reminded me that I've noticed several similar houses around the North Shore over the life of this site. So here are some of them. I can't tell you anything about them in most cases. There aren't CofO's online for most of them and the tax information on really old homes just says they were built in 1899, not the actual year of construction.



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Jackson Street, Stapleton


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Targee Street, Stapleton





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Tompkins Street, Stapleton

Thursday, June 18, 2009

William Street


63 William Street - 1932 - The NYPL description states this home was owned by G.W. Rathburn in 1874.


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Today - In deepest Stapleton there remain beautiful 19th century homes maintained with loving care by their owners. I'd give my eyeteeth to be able to live in a house like this.

Port Richmond Avenue and Orange Avenue


620 Port Richmond Avenue - seems to have been built in 1899 (though I suspect before then)


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Today

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Mariners Harbor Day

Mariner's Harbor (I haven't linked to wikipedia here because the entry seems racist and I suspect contains and urban legend) presents the best neighborhood to look around at for cool old pictures and surviving old buildings. It's been a heavy industrial area, was and remains a working class neighborhood with an always diverse populations, and at one time was the heart of the Island's wealthy oystering community.

Because of various economic and demographic prejudices the Harbor stayed fairly intact (in regards to its older housing stock) till fairly recently. The beautiful big Victorian houses on along the north end of South Avenue were only demolished in the last decade or so (and even now one or two survive, crowded all around by the townhouses wedged onto the lots of their now lost compatriots). Even a few of the old captains' mansions along Richmond Terrace have stumbled along into the 21st Century.

Whenever I'm stuck for something to put up on the site I've been able to just troll through the Mariner's Harbor pictures on the NYPL site and just post away. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

St. Clement's Church



St. Clement's Church - 1932


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Today - The original wooden church has been covered with stucco and it's Catholic congregation has been merged with that of St. Michael's over on Harbor Road. I'm not sure what's in the building at present.

47 Union Avenue


47 Union Avenue - 1932 - The NYPL information says a plaque over the door read "Horse Shoer and Blacksmith"


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Today

St. Michael's Church - Harbor Road and Brabant Street



Looking at St. Michael's Church at Harbor and Brabant from the west along Lockman Avenue - In the distance you can see PS 44.



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Today - Now called St. Clement's and St. Michael's. It's a poor quality googlemaps pictures but it's what I've got to work with at work.

The Post House


The Post House - 1900 - located on the south side of Richmond Terrace several hundred yards west of Holland Avenue. According to the NYPL it was built in 1691.


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Today

Fernic Aircraft Corporation


3493 Richmond Terrace (northside) - 1931



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Today

The Fernic Aircraft Corporation was founded by Romanian aviator George Fenric in 1929. He died in 1930 when he crashed at an air show on Curtiss Reynolds airfield in Chicago, Illinois, on October 22, 1930.

Tuesday, June 09, 2009

Mariner's Harbor - remants of a oysteriffic past



2846 Richmond Terrace - from 1924 - the homes of George and John Thompson, both in the oyster business


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18 South Avenue - at these times it belonged to M.A. Sinn. Prior to that it belonged to G. Hart

1924


1932


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c. 2007

Monday, June 01, 2009

C'mon. This is creepy



Be sure to go to the publisher's home page and check out some of their other books. I know there's got to be a Republican version of this sort of stuff and I'd find it just as creepy and wrongheaded.