7th Street: Block History vs. Eagle & AABN

We're particularly interested to read block histories because it gives us a chance to compare our own ad-hoc research findings from the Brooklyn Eagle, American Architect & Building News, etc. with the building research compiled by others.

So how does our research stack up against Lois Stewart's 7th Street Block History, compiled in the 1960s?

In fact, the two sets of research conform with each other quite well. Let's take a walk up the street and compare data.

Nearest 7th Avenue is a row of 10 brownstone-faced 3-family flat houses, discussed previously on this blog:

476-494 7th Street - 1887
Alexander G. Calder, owner
William M. Calder, architect

Lois Stewart's Block History dates this row to 1887 and attributes it to the father-and-son team of Alexander G. and William M. Calder:

This conforms precisely to our own findings about this row from the American Architect & Building News:

"Building Intelligence; Tenement-Houses; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 21, no. 589 (Apr. 9, 1887): p. xii.

– "Seventh St., s s, 80' e Seventh Ave., 10 three-st’y brown-stone tenements, tin roofs; cost, each, $7,000; owner and contractor, A. G. Calder, 312 Thirteenth St., architect, W. M. Calder."

The next group of six buildings is nearly identical to the first group of 10, differing only slightly in detailing:

496-506 7th Street - 1888
Sampson B. Oulton, owner
William Wirth, architect

Lois Stewart's Block History cites 1888 as the year of construction, and attributes the row to Sampson B. Oulton:


Once again our AABN listing conforms to the above, and adds the name of William Wirth, architect, to the story.

"Building Intelligence; Houses; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 23, no. 651 (Jun. 16, 1888): p. xix.

– "Seventh St., s s, 422' 10" w Eighth Ave., 6 three-st’y brownstone dwells., tin roof; cost, each, $5,000; owner, S. B. Oulton, 188 Eleventh St.; architect, Wm. Wirth; builder, Lawson."

Careful readers will recall another collaboration from the team of Oulton and Wirth.

So far our research is 2 for 2 on this block!

The final set of buildings on the block is a later Neoclassical row of 10 single-family houses, quite different from the adjacent rows of 3-family flats:

508-526 7th Street - 1899-1900
Daniel Buckley, owner

We had uncovered nothing about this particular row. Lois Stewart's Block History attributes them to a builder named "Buckley," since all of the sales transactions were in the name of Rose Buckley, presumably the builder's wife:

Here at last we are able to add something that escaped Lois Stewart's eagle eye. Some research in the Brooklyn Eagle, Lain's Brooklyn Directory of 1897, and our own Park Slope research files indicates that Rose P. Buckley was the wife of Daniel Buckley, a Park Slope-based builder; thus the evidence strongly suggests that these houses were built by Daniel Buckley:

Brooklyn Eagle, January 2, 1896, p. 2 ("Legal Notices")
Establishes Rose P. Buckley as wife to Daniel Buckley

BUCKLEY Dan'l bldr. h 283 7th av

1897 Lain's Brooklyn Directory

The above findings raise our confidence that the building research we've compiled from the Brooklyn Eagle, AABN, etc. is fairly accurate. It's certainly not complete; for example, we had nothing in our files regarding the 7th Street Buckley row. For that we have to thank the amazing work done by Lois Stewart in the 1960s.

Original Building Plans: 7th Avenue & 14th Street

A while ago we visited an 1887 row of 5 mixed-use buildings on the southwest corner of 14th Street and 7th Avenue. The row was designed by architect W. H. Wirth for local builder Sampson B. Oulton.

424-430 7th Avenue
W. H. Wirth, architect - 1887
Sampson B. Oulton, owner/builder

Below is a photograph of the actual architect's rendering of the corner building, 424 7th Avenue. It was taken by one of our intrepid researchers in the Brooklyn Department of Buildings.

Plans - 424 7th Avenue

The legend across the top of the rendering reads, in distinctive "architect script":

House for Mr. S. B. Oulton
Scale [?] S W cor. 7th Ave. & 14th St. Bklyn

The rendering shows only a single entrance, to the ground-floor commercial space; a corner mixed-use building such as this one would normally place the entrance to the upstairs flats around the corner, at the back of the building.

The adjacent buildings in the row, lacking a corner exposure, would have two entrances at the ground floor facing 7th Avenue, one to the commercial space and the other to the upstairs flats.

428 7th Avenue, part of this same 1887 row by Wirth & Oulton, still boasts what appears to be the original storefront. The storefront details, still extant in 2010, are very similar to those in the 1887 architectural rendering above. The central door admits to the commercial space, while the door to the left leads to the upstairs flats. The ground floor is framed by cast-iron pilasters:

428 7th Avenue - detail

There are not many of these original storefronts left in Park Slope; the few that remain are great treasures.

Our researchers are busy photographing everything within our Historic District Expansion Study Areas that can be found at the Brooklyn Department of Buildings. It is our hope someday to upload as much of this material as we can onto the web.

1887 Oulton & Wirth Row in 7th Avenue

On the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and 14th Street stands a wonderful row of five mixed-use buildings ("flats over stores"), with apartments on the upper floors over ground-floor commercial space. The buildings are serving exactly the same function today as when they were first built:

424-430 7th Avenue
W. H. Wirth, architect - 1887
Sampson B. Oulton, owner/builder

Our research in the American Architect and Building News tells us that the row was apparently built in 1887 by Sampson B. Oulton to designs by architect W. H. Wirth:

"Building Intelligence; Tenement-Houses; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 21, no. 600 (Jun. 25, 1887): p. xiii.

– "Seventh Ave., s w cor. Fourteenth St., four-st’y brick and terra-cotta stores and tenement, tin roof; cost, $12,000; owner, Sampson B. Oulton, 188 Eleventh St.; architect, W. H. Wirth."

– "Seventh Ave., w s, 20' s Fourteenth St., 4 four-st’y brick and terra-cotta stores and tenements, tin roofs; cost, each, $10,000; owner, Sampson B. Oulton, 188 Eleventh St.; architect, W. H. Wirth."

We can now confirm this citation, based on files that our intrepid researchers have uncovered at Brooklyn's Department of Buildings. Below is a photograph of the actual "Detailed Statement of Specifications" on file for the building at the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and 14th Street:


Material like this from the DOB has only just begun to come into our hands. We hope someday to organize it all and make it available on the web for other "armchair researchers" like ourselves.

In the meantime, it is gratifying to find that the DOB documents support the research we have compiled from the AABN, the online Brooklyn Eagle, and other sources.

This great block of intact 19th-c. mixed-use buildings boasts a wealth of interesting brickwork and terra-cotta details, including large decorative panels set between the windows at the 2nd and 4th floors:

424 7th Avenue - detail

Terra-cotta detail, 430 7th Avenue

The original cast-iron columns at the first floor, mostly covered by modern storefronts, are visible at #428:

Cast-iron columns, 428 7th Avenue

The corner building features an inset stone at the 2nd story, no doubt an early sign carrying the street names:

Street sign, 424 7th Avenue

A stylistically very similar building stands just behind this row in 14th Street, just off 7th Avenue. For example the terra-cotta detailing and arched windows are the same as on the 7th Avenue row:

370 14th Street
W. H. Wirth, architect - 1887
Sampson B. Oulton, owner/builder

Thus it is not surprising to find an AABN listing confirming that Wirth also designed the 14th Street building for Oulton, at the same time as the 7th Avenue row:

"Building Intelligence; Tenement-Houses; Brooklyn, N. Y.," AABN vol. 21, no. 600 (Jun. 25, 1887): p. xiii.

"Fourteenth St., s s, 80' w Seventh Ave., four-st’y brick and terra-cotta tenement, tin roof; cost, $8,000; owner, Sampson B. Oulton, 188 Eleventh St.; architect, W. H. Wirth."

We have encountered both Oulton and Wirth before. Oulton built a row of small brownstones on 11th Street between 4th & 5th Avenues. Wirth designed another wonderful row of mixed-use buildings for Charles Nickenig, nearby on 7th Avenue between 8th & 9th Streets.

Introducing Sampson B. Oulton

A lovely row of small brownstone houses stands in 11th Street between 4th and 5th Avenues, on the south side of the street:

306-304 11th Street - unprotected

The row was nearly finished in October, 1885, when it was featured in a Brooklyn Daily Eagle article containing a fascinating and extensive interior description. They sound like charming houses indeed:

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, October 19, 1885, p. 2 ("Busy Builders")

What a relief to know that the parlor was equipped with an arch for "drapery if required"! But what on earth is a "Boynton heater"?

The article attributes the row to "S. B. Fulton", but we suspect the Eagle reporter meant Oulton, not Fulton. Sampson B. Oulton was a prolific Brooklyn builder who unfortunately came to a rather sad end, as we shall one day see.

Remarkably, all twelve houses still stand today. Every cornice is intact. Not a single stoop as been removed. Oulton's "neatest row of small houses in the world" is yet another example of the many original rows of historic houses standing in Park Slope today, unprotected by historic district designation.

316 11th Street - unprotected