David Atkins: 9th Street Flats

On the north side of 9th Street between 7th & 8th Avenues stands a row of 9 identical 4-story, 4-family "flat houses" (early apartment buildings). Some of the row are missing their cornices, and some are boarded up and seemingly abandoned:

481-497 9th Street
David Atkin/Atkins, builder - 1893

The Brooklyn Eagle in 1893 published notice of plans by builder David Atkin to erect a row of 9 four-story, 4-family flats in this location, so we suspect this is the very same row, still standing if a bit worse for wear.

Brooklyn Eagle, March 10, 1893, p. 6 ("New Buildings and Real Estate")

The cornices that remain show an interesting scallop-shaped design:



We have associated builder David Atkin (a.k.a. "Atkins") with a few other buildings in the South Slope, most notably the 1889 mixed-use (flats over stores) row at the northwest corner of 15th Street and 7th Avenue. Our research files show both "D. Atkin" and "D. Atkins" operating out of 339 15th Street, a building which he also built in 1889, together with the 7th Avenue row.

7th Avenue & 15th Street, northwest corner

The interesting cluster of buildings at the northwest corner of 7th Avenue and 15th Street certainly looks as if it might have been built as a unit:

438-432 7th Avenue - unprotected

In addition to the corner building, there are four additional buildings that appear to be part of the group. A kind of banding runs continually across the five facades, at the top and bottom of the windows. The banding holds bricks set at 45-degree angles, and a rectangle of similarly-laid brick appears between floors (what is the technical term for this kind of masonry?):



Another indicator that buildings might be related is seen in the cornice, which runs continously across the complete row:



Thus it is not surprising to discover in the November 23, 1889 Brooklyn Daily Eagle a notice of plans to erect a group of five four-story, mixed use buildings (flats over stores) on this very corner:

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, November 23, 1889, p. 1 ([title obscured])

This notice is admittedly just a new building permit. One sometimes finds a corresponding notice of completion in the Eagle, some months after the initial notice of building plans, which would strengthen the case for attribution. We may yet find such a notice. But a case like this, where the existing buildings perfectly match the original permit, seems sufficiently strong; consequently we are attributing this interesting ensemble to D. Atkins, owner/builder, 1889-90. Disagree with us if you want! But show us a more compelling case for another builder.