Pohlman & Patrick in 7th Avenue

The architectural firm of Pohlman & Patrick became quite active in Park Slope around the turn of the last century.

According to the Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide, in 1903 the firm designed the group of three mixed-use (flats over stores) buildings on the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and 5th Street for builder Alexander G. Calder:

254-258 7th Avenue
Pohlman & Patrick, architects - 1903
Alexander G. Calder, builder

"Projected Buildings," RERBG v. 71, no. 1830 (April 11, 1903): p. 752.
-527- 7th av, w s, 21 s 5th st, two 3-sty brk stores and dwellings, 19.6x55, 2 families; total cost, $10,000; A Calder, 420 8th st; ar'ts, same as last [Pohlman & Patrick, 1235 3rd av].

"Projected Buildings," RERBG v. 71, no. 1833 (May 2, 1903): p. IX.
-679- 7th av, s w cor 5th st, 4-sty brk stores and dwelling, 21x71, 3 families, steam heat; cost, $25,000; A G Calder, 420 3rd av; ar'ts, Pohlman and Patrick, 1235 3d av.

Calder apparently carved off the rear 20 feet of his 7th Avenue lots, in order to squeeze in an extra lot behind them, facing 5th Street. On this lot Calder built a 4-story, 4-family apartment house, also designed by Pohlman & Patrick, also in 1903:

468 5th Street (left)
Pohlman & Patrick, architects - 1903
Alexander G. Calder, builder

"Projected Buildings," RERBG v. 71, no. 1833 (May 2, 1903): p. IX.
-697- 5th st, s s, 83.3 w 7th av, 4-sty brk tenement, 20x71, steam heat; cost, $9,000; A G Calder, 420 8th st; ar'ts, Pohlman & Patrick, 1235 3d av.

The Neoclassical apartment building from 1903 creates an arresting contrast to the much earlier (circa 1870s) Italianate brownstone row houses beside it in 5th Street.

1960 Park Slope

We finally had a chance to review the exhaustive New York Times coverage of the 1960 Park Slope airplane disaster. A lot of great old photographs accompany the articles; the Here's Park Slope blog has a comprehensive then-and-now portfolio. What strikes us is how little the neighborhood has actually changed in the 50 years since the tragedy, thanks in part to the creation of the Park Slope Historic District.

While the buildings are largely the same, the photograph below reflects some of the other changes that the Slope has undergone in the last 50 years. The picture below shows the intersection of 7th Avenue and Park Place, the subject of one of our "Lost Park Slope" posts from a while back:

7th Avenue and Park Place, 1960
New York Times photograph

The building on the right is the truncated remnant of the Doherty Building at Flatbush and 7th; the B67 bus stop is right there. On the left stands #10 7th Avenue, one of the earliest houses in Park Slope, and one of a row of simple Italianate dwellings built circa 1865.

If you look closely, you can make out the sign for a business named "Paradise" on the ground floor of #10 7th Ave. What do you want to bet that the "Paradise" was one of the many saloons that once lined the avenue?

Perhaps the most poignant photograph, for us, shows 126 Sterling Place after part of the doomed jet had sliced through its cornice:

126 Sterling Place - 1960
New York Times photograph

The brick wall was repaired, but the cornice was never restored. 126 Sterling Place, one of a row of three identical apartment houses, is on the left in the photograph below.

126-122-118 Sterling Place

We have no knowledge regarding who designed or built these apartment houses, or when. Perhaps our ongoing research in the Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide will someday yield substantive information about them.

Acme Hall's Architect

The history of Acme Hall, on the northwest corner of 9th Street and 7th Avenue, is well known by now, having been recounted on the old Gowanus Lounge and Here's Park Slope blogs.

It is well established from these previous accounts that Acme Hall was built in 1889-1890 by Charles Nickenig, who also built the adjoining mixed-use (flats over stores) row extending to 8th Street.

Acme Hall
Charles Nickenig, Owner/Builder
J. G. Glover, architect - 1889

However, we've never before seen the name of Acme Hall's architect. Perhaps someone has posted it elsewhere, but we're not aware that he has been identified, until now. According to the Real Estate Record and Builders' Guide, the architect is J. G. Glover:

"Buildings Projected - Kings County," RERBG v. 44, no. 1116 (August 3, 1889): p. 1094.
- 1693 - 7th av, n w cor 9th st, one four-story brick club house, 38.6x71, tin roof, iron cornice; cost, $30,000; Chas. Nickenig, 368 11th st; ar't, J. G. Glover.

J. G. (John Graham) Glover's name is familiar to us; he was the architect of C. B. Sheldon's great Verona apartment building at 7th Avenue and President Street. Glover's name also appears frequently in various historic district Designation Reports.

Splatter House Row

"Splatter House" is what we've always called artist Mark Ravitz's residence on the west side of 7th Avenue between 2nd and 3rd Streets:

200 7th Avenue, circa 2003

The building is actually part of a row of 5. According to the American Architect and Building News, the mixed-use (flats over stores) row was built in 1890 by owner George H. McGill of Gravesend, and was designed by architect Henry Vollweiler:

"Building Intelligence; Houses; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 28, no. 747 (Apr. 19, 1890): p. xv.

– "Seventh Ave., s w cor. Second St., four-st’y brick dwell., tin roof; cost, $10,000; owner, George H. McGill, Gravesend Neck Road; architect, Henry Vollweller, 14 Elm St."

– "Seventh Ave., w s, 20' s Second St., 4 four-st’y brick dwells., tin roofs; cost, $8,000 each; owner, George H. McGill, Gravesend Neck Road; architect, Henry Vollweller, 14 Elm St."

194-202 7th Avenue
George H. McGill, owner
Henry Vollweiler, architect - 1890

Not much is known about architect Henry Vollweiler. His name appears in one of Christopher Gray's "Streetscapes" columns, in connection with the Stewart Woodford house at 869 President Street in Park Slope; Vollweiler in 1929 redesigned the original Henry Ogden Avery interiors of the 1885 Woodford house.

Mr. Ravitz, the subject of a profile in the current issue of Borough President Markowitz's "Brooklyn Newspaper", maintains a website featuring photographs of his work, including the many "Drip" installations on his building's facade.

photo: markravitzartanddesign.com

We've always enjoyed the "Splatter House" installations. They make the world a bit more fun!

7th Avenue - Single & Double Flats Over Stores

370 - 382 7th Avenue (row of 5 buildings) - 1887
J. Brown, owner
Charles G. Jones, architect
William Brown, builder

382 7th Avenue

382 7th Avenue - detail

Cover, building plans, 370 - 382 7th Avenue

Detail, building plans - 370 - 382 7th Avenue

The description above reads: "Stores on First Floor and three families over in single houses and six in double"

A "single house" refers to a small apartment house with one residence per floor. A "double house" has two apartments per floor.

Brooklyn Eagle, April 16, 1887, p. 1 ("More Permits")

Liberty Row

In June, 1887, the American Architect & Building News, a trade periodical that later evolved into today's American Architect, carried news of a quartet of buildings to be erected on the west side of 7th Avenue, 21 feet north of 10th Street:

"Building Intelligence; Houses; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 21, no. 599 (Jun. 18, 1887): p. xiii.

– "Seventh Ave., w s, 21' 6" n Tenth St., 4 four-st’y brick and brown-stone stores and dwells., tin roofs; cost, each $8,000; owner, Chas. Nickenig, 368 Eleventh St.; architect, W. H. Wirth."

A few weeks later, the same publication listed plans for the building to occupy the corner lot itself. The builder and architect are the same as in the earlier listing above:

"Building Intelligence; Tenement-Houses; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 22, no. 601 (Jul. 2, 1887): p. xii.

– "Seventh Ave., n w cor. Tenth St., four-st’y brick store and tenement, tin roof; cost, $10,000; owner, Charles Nickenig, 368 Eleventh St.; architect, W. H. Wirth."

Given these listings, one might reasonably expect to find a group of five related structures occupying adjacent lots on the northwest corner of 10th Street and 7th Avenue in Park Slope. And indeed there are five such buildings standing there today:

7th Avenue & 10th Street - n w corner
William H. Wirth, architect
Charles Nickenig, builder - 1887

It is a fine row of 5 mixed-use (flats over stores) buildings, still nearly unchanged since they were built in 1887. The original commercial space on the corner building's ground floor has been converted to residential use. This kind of conversion was opposed by the ROSAS organization, since it tended slowly to kill off a commercial street.



The corner building features one of those marvelous cantilevered corner window bays projecting into the center of the intersection, and is crowned by the name "Liberty". One suspects the building is named for the Statue of Liberty, which can be glimpsed on its harbor perch from many South Slope blocks. The Statue was dedicated on October 28, 1886, not many months before plans for these buildings were filed.



Both the builder, Charles Nickenig, and the architect, William H. Wirth, are by now quite familiar to readers of this blog. Among other buildings, Nickenig built Acme Hall at the corner of 9th Street, and Nickenig and Wirth collaborated on Acme's Hall's neighbors between 9th & 8th Streets.


The row features highly distinctive brick and terra cotta work including small brick arches where one would normally expect to find a wooden or pressed metal cornice. Separating each building is a column of rusticated brownstone blocks.

"Smiling Pizza" Row

According to the American Architect & Building News, the row of six buildings on the northeast corner of 9th Street and 7th Avenue was built in 1881 to designs by prolific Park Slope architect Cevedra B. Sheldon:

"Building Intelligence; Brooklyn," AABN vol. 9, no. 281 (May 14, 1881): p. 239.
– "Seventh Ave., n e cor., Ninth St., 6 three-st’y brownstone tenements; cost, each $7,000; owner and builder, John H. Townsend; architect, C. B. Sheldon."

The corner building contains the famous "Smiling Pizza" shop on the ground floor, familiar to generations of Park Slope residents and 'F' train riders:

439-449 9th Street
Cevedra Blake Sheldon, Architect - 1881
John H. Townsend, owner/builder

The rest of the row are 3-story, 3-family flat houses or "tenements," a term which meant any multi-family housing in those days. The row is brownstone-faced, with neo-Grec incised detailing, fully-enframed windows, and distinctive cornice:



The corner building is taller by one floor than the rest of the row, but has the same cornice:


Apparently the corner building was originally 3 stories tall, like the others; the 4th floor was added in an extensive 1890 remodeling whose architect was Mercein Thomas:

"Building Intelligence; Alterations; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 28, no. 756 (Jun. 21, 1890): p. xiv.

– "Seventh Ave., n e cor. Ninth St., three-st’y brick dwell, tin roof, raised one-st’y, one-st’y extension added for a store and altered internally; cost, $10,000; owner, James McLaren, foot of Court St.; architect, Mercien Thomas, 16 Court St."

7th Avenue, 10th to 11th Streets, West Side

By request, we turn our attention now to the west side of 7th Avenue between 10th & 11th Streets in the South Slope.

To the casual observer, the entire blockfront might appear to have been built as a single unit. Each building is of brick, brownstone-faced, 3 stories, flats over stores, 3 bays, flat front, with identical neo-Grec detailing around the windows:

350-358 7th Avenue (sw corner 10th Street)

(Our photos are from 2008-2009 and show the late, much lamented Tea Lounge!)

360-368 7th Avenue (nw corner 11th Street)

On closer inspection, certain subtle differences appear. The side facade of 350 7th Avenue, at the 10th Street end, is plainer than the side facade of 368 7th Avenue, at the 11th Street end, which features decorative sawtooth brick patterns and a slightly projecting chimney stack:

350 7th Avenue (sw corner 10th Street)

368 7th Avenue (nw corner 11th Street)

An even closer view of the corner buildings highlights the identical facade detailing of the window frames, but also reveals differences between the cornices:

350 7th Avenue - detail

368 7th Avenue - detail

So what do you think? Same builder/owner/architect, or not? It is indeed puzzling. Compounding the confusion is the fact that we have not yet found any supporting attributions in our usual sources (Brooklyn Eagle, American Architect & Building News, etc).

However, our researchers have actually pulled the Dept. of Buildings files for this stretch of 7th Avenue, so we do have findings at least for some of the row.

Regarding 350 7th Avenue, at the sw corner of 10th Street, the building files yield a surprise: the original permit, dated September 3, 1885, was for a row of two buildings at the northeast corner of the intersection, diagonally across the street! But pencilled in at the top of the permit, with a date of Sept. 12, are the words:

It is now proposed to erect the below buildings on the S.W. cor 7th Ave + 10th St - To front on 7th Ave Also to build 3 houses Two to be 20 ft. front Approved David Acker Depty Comm

Building permit, 350-354 7th Avenue
September 3, 1885
Revised September 12, 1885

Apparently the plans were changed at the last minute, to build a row of 3 buildings on the SW corner of the intersection, instead of a row of 2 on the NE corner. (One can see that the letters "N.E." in the original plan, above, are struck out.)

The next page of the permit reveals the names, quite familiar to us by now, of those responsible at least for this row of 3:

350-354 7th Avenue - 1885 building permit, showing:
C. Nickenig, owner
R. Dixon, architect
L. Bonert, builder

Charles Nickenig of course built Acme Hall and other 7th Avenue buildings; Robert Dixon was a prolific Park Slope builder; and Louis Bonert would go on to develop a vast amount of Park Slope property including some of the finest houses within the current historic district.

The plans also contain the original architect's drawing with R. Dixon's name stamped in the corner; the rendering shows the commercial space with two floors above, and the cellar floor below ground level with thick foundation walls:

350-354 7th Avenue, rendering
R. Dixon, architect, 1885

Our researcher also found DOB files for 368 7th Avenue, at the northwest corner of 11th Street, the building at the other end of the row. The plans, dated October 19, 1886, are for a single building, with Bonert now listed as owner as well as builder. The architect for 368 7th Avenue is listed as Frederick E. Lockwood:

368 7th Avenue - building permit dated Oct. 19, 1886

368 7th Avenue - building permit
Owner - Louis Bonert
Architect - Frederick E. Lockwood
Mason/Carpenter - Louis Bonert

No other original building files for this blockfront were found by our researcher. So what is one to make of this confusing situation? A row of highly similar buildings; plans extant only for the end buildings; different architects; Louis Bonert a constant in both.

Below is what our researcher, a professionally trained preservationist, has to say about the row, beyond what is revealed by the building files above:

All buildings in this block share distinct architectural elements including building height, brownstone facing, a unique wood cornice, and machined window entablature so while it is not reflected in the Buildings Department records these buildings were built within a short span of time. Records for the corner buildings, lots 41 and 50, show different owners, architects, and builders, but the same key elements, and were built in 1885 and 1886 respectively, providing a timeline for construction of the infill buildings.

1887 Mixed-Use Row in 7th Avenue

On the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and 7th Street stands a fine row of five 4-story, brownstone-faced, mixed-use (flats over stores) buildings that are in near-original condition. According to our research, plans for the row were submitted by the firm of Cozzens and Brown in late 1887. The architect was Isaac D. Reynolds:

294-302 7th Avenue
Cozzens and Brown, owners/builders
Isaac D. Reynolds, architect - 1887

Citations from both the Brooklyn Eagle and American Architect & Building News support the attribution. Note the typo in the AABN listing, which incorrectly places the row on the northwest corner of the intersection, on land occupied by the All Saints Episcopal Church:

Brooklyn Eagle, August 27, 1887, p. 1 ("Falling Off")

"Building Intelligence; Apartment-Houses; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 22, no. 610 (Sept. 3, 1887): p. xi.

– "Seventh Ave., n w cor. [sic - s w cor.] Seventh St., 5 four-st’y brown-stone flats, cor. with store, tin roofs; cost, each, $10,000; owners and buiders, Cozzens & Brown, 377 Fulton St.; architect, I. D. Reynolds."


The corner building features a wonderful, circular corner bay window overlooking the intersection. This bay might have once been surmounted by a conical tower, a part of which still appears below the cornice. Many of the mixed-use buildings in 7th Avenue appear in historic photographs with such tower-like corner embellishments:

294 7th Avenue - detail

The corner bay is just visible at the far right-hand side in an old photo of the row across the street in the Brooklyn Public Library's collection.

Little is known about the firm of Cozzens and Brown, according to the Prospect Heights Historic District's Designation Report, where the firm is listed along with its Prospect Heights attributions:

Prospect Heights Historic District - Designation Report

We know a bit more about the architect, Isaac D. Reynolds, who established his Brooklyn practice in the 1860s and who designed many buildings in both the Prospect Heights and Park Slope Historic Districts:

Prospect Heights Historic District - Designation Report

ROSAS: Commercial Design Guidelines

Not so long ago, according to longtime Slope residents, "Park Slope" was a lot smaller than it is today, ending at perhaps 3rd Street or maybe 9th Street on the south. The "South Slope" was seen as a distinct neighborhood, with its own set of needs, which would best be served by a separate neighborhood association. Such was the rationale for ROSAS, which stood for "Revitalization of the Southern Area of the Slope."

By the late 1990s, however, the South Slope was booming, along with the rest of Brooklyn's brownstone belt. The need for a separate neighborhood association having subsided, ROSAS decided to merge itself into the Park Slope Civic Council in about 1998 or 1999. (Some wags contend that ROSAS, having successfully revitalized the South Slope, next decided to "revitalize" the Park Slope Civic Council through an influx of new Trustees!)

ROSAS is not often remembered now, but one of its signature projects, a booklet called "Design Guidelines for Facade Improvement," has come into our hands, and we decided to scan it in and make it available on the web along with our photo archive, block history archive, etc.


Our understanding is that the 7th Avenue commercial corridor above 9th Street was dying out, through conversion of ground-floor commercial space into residential, which obviously tends to kill off a shopping street. The folks at ROSAS did not want to see their local commercial street die, and this manual is one manifestation of their efforts to sustain the local economy, similar to today's "shop local" campaigns and "business improvement districts."

The manual is of interest as a historical artifact, but it also contains useful information for anyone contemplating a commercial storefront renovation/restoration, and is highly recommended for this purpose.


The manual also reflects the aspirations of the early South Slope "brownstoners". One page contrasts the garish signage of a hypothetical "Cheap Charlie's" with that of the more restrained "Park Slope Gourmet:"



We have to say, we too prefer the more understated signage. But in today's Park Slope, where the concern is no longer revitalization, but hyper-gentrification, we'd be quite happy to see "Cheap Charlie's" stick around. Which begs an interesting question... would "Cheap Charlie's" still be "Cheap Charlie's" if it had signage like "Park Slope Gourmet"?

Van Tuyl & Lincoln: 1888 Mixed-Use in 7th Avenue

On the southeast corner of 7th Avenue and 8th Street in Park Slope stands an intact row of 4 buildings that mix commercial use on the ground floor, with "flats" for residential use above. The brick, brownstone-faced buildings are generously proportioned; the corner building boasts not one but two full-height, three-sided bays on the 8th Street side, and the buildings facing 7th Avenue are 4 bays wide:

309-315 7th Avenue
Van Tuyl & Lincoln, owners/architects - 1888

The 8th Street side of 309 7th Avenue features a variety of different elements in brick including "sawtooth" brick and unusual Gothic arches at the top floor:

309 7th Avenue - side elevation - detail

The two center buildings feature arched windows at the top floor:

311-313 7th Avenue

Our attribution comes from the American Architect & Building News of 1888:

"Building Intelligence; Stores; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 23, no. 653 (Jun. 30, 1888): p. xxii.

– "Seventh Av e., s e cor. Eighth St., 4 four-st’y brownstone stores and flats, tin roofs; total cost, $30,000; owners and architects, Van Tuyl & Lincoln, 166 Montegue St.; masons, Buchanan & Riley."

This row is one of very few works we can attribute to the firm of Van Tuyl & Lincoln. The firm's only other work in Park Slope, to our knowledge, is a fine 3-house row on the south side of Union Street, between 5th & 6th Avenues, recently featured on Brownstoner.

1899 Mixed-Use Calder Row on 7th Avenue

When we last checked in on architect William M. Calder, he was working with his father, Park Slope builder Alexander G. Calder, to develop property on 7th Street between 7th & 8th Avenues, on the corner of 7th Street and 7th Avenue, and on the south side of 8th Street above 7th Ave.

It is unclear when the father retired from the partnership. But in 1899, the Brooklyn Eagle reported plans filed by William M. Calder to develop the southeast corner of 7th Avenue and 11th Street, and there is no mention of his father Alexander:

Brooklyn Eagle, March 25, 1899, p. 14 ("Real Estate Market")

The property extended most of the way to 12th Street and included the large corner building and two additional buildings facing 7th Avenue:

369-383 7th Avenue
William M. Calder, owner - 1899

It is interesting and instructive to contrast these 1899 mixed-use (flats over stores) buildings with Calder's earlier row of the same type at 7th Avenue and 7th Street, from 1888.

William Calder was apparently an efficient project manager, for the 1899 buildings went up quickly. Later the same year, in November 1899, the Brooklyn Eagle reported the sale by Calder of the two buildings fronting 7th Avenue between 11th & 12th Streets:

Brooklyn Eagle, November 24, 1899, p. 12 ("Real Estate Market")