Historical research for your New York City property. We investigate its past and reveal its stories. The Brownstone Detectives is a "sleuths for hire" research team.
We investigate the histories of buildings and the people who lived and worked in them. We do the gumshoe work of digging up the former owners (the live ones, that is), interviewing neighbors and residents, and researching official documents at City agencies and historical archives. We then produce the entire report in an attractive, hard-bound, colorfully illustrated, and engagingly written coffee table book. If you've got a house and it's got a history, give us a call and put us - "on the case."
Operating as usual
A HERO IN CARROLL GARDENS (1944) Did a lifesaver live in your #brownstone? PFC Walter F. Valley, of No. 559 Clinton St., #Brooklyn, rec'd the Navy & Marine Corps medal in WWII for saving another Marine's life. Semper Fi!
@USMC #NYC #brownstones #History
Brooklyn
Brooklyn: Smith Street And 5th Street (April 12th 1928)
Looking North
In 1927, Prohibition was in its 8th year. #Brooklyn residents had become expert at finding ways around the law. In Carroll Gardens, the bootleggers were legion. At No. 153 Nelson St a still was seized & its owner, Joseph Arani, arrested.
#NYC #brownstone #History
1894. #Brooklyn. A young lady desires to marry outside her "race." (No. 34 1st Pl, Carroll Gardens) https://bit.ly/3nNLKL7
#NYC #History #brownstones
Did you ever wonder about those AM radio stations along the highway that offer traffic tips or tell you where to park as you approach an airport?
Those were the brainchild of Richard W. Burden, "Father of the Travelers Information Service," formerly of No. 76 Washington Place, Greenwich Village, #NYC.
#brownstones #History
The Bronx: 339-343 East 138th Street (June 19th 1913)
In 1923, the #brownstones at Nos. 601, 603 & 605 Putnam Ave had their roofs torn off by a great storm. It appears one never got its cornice back. (courtesy @ArcadiaPub)
#NYC #Brooklyn #BedStuy #History
100 years later & they STILL haven't fixed that sidewalk?
No. 118 E 95th St (btwn Winthrop St & Rutland Rd.) in #Flatbush, ca. 1924 vs. TODAY.
#NYC #Brooklyn #History
Brooklyn: 7th Avenue And 9th Street (May 17th 1928)
Manhattan: 228-230 West Houston Street- Off Varick Street (March 20th 1914)
Manhattan: 41st Street And Broadway (November 5th 1926)
What was the deal back in the day w/well-dressed (often mustachioed) giants holding up tiny #Victorian houses?
Were they taunting we little people?
"Hey, little man, we got your house... Whatcha gonna do about it?"
The family that built this 1844 #Brooklyn #brownstone, the Degrauws, helped found the #NYC #FDNY. John W. Degrauw joined Engine 16 in 1816. He later became the FDNY board chairman. Check out the baluster on the stairs of this Cobble Hill house - does it seem connected in any way to the @FDNY?
DON'T TAKE YOUR WIFE...
to see these houses unless prepared for her demand to purchase. She has dreamed for them for years." 65th St & 15th Ave., 1906.
#NYC #Bensonhurst #architectural #History
Once known as "The Amity," No. 155 Amity St. catered to "bachelors." It offered "electric light," "telephone," &, intriguingly, the use of its "hall boy."
Photos from The Brownstone Detectives's post
The original "Kodak Girl," Cheerful Kappes, lived at No. 211 Clinton St., Cobble Hill, #Brooklyn. An organist, she accompanied such films as Eddie Cantor's "Kid Boots" (1926).
Cops responding to a burglary at this tony Crown Heights #brownstone could find no burglar - was it an inside job?
#NYC #Brooklyn #History
The incident took place in a fashionable neighborhood of Brooklyn – where such acts are rarely mentioned (outside of the servants).
If you could discover all that's ever happened on your #brownstone's stoop, would you want to know?
Enjoy the collection of stoop memories for this Bay Ridge home...
https://www.brownstonedetectives.com/the-changing-face-of-a-stoop-1921/
In 1921, the Nilsen family purchased their Bay Ridge home at 8719 Colonial Road. Immediately, it seems, they began to document a lifelong record of their family’s generations, all surrounding one of the more iconic features attached to a Brooklyn home – their stoop.
A fire in a brownstone is a relatively rare occurrence. But it does happen.
When a blaze rages uncontrollably in one, it is a fortunate thing if no one is killed.
https://www.brownstonedetectives.com/woman-on-a-ledge-at-no-97-macon-st-1953/
One part of any house’s history are those incidents that occur without planning or preordination. They can be unpleasant to know.
Do a Google search on your brownstone's address & you'll find 1 piece of incorrect info.
https://bit.ly/30stI6A
If you’ve ever done it, though, you were likely greeted with an extensive list of real estate sites that literally entreated you to click their links.
WARNING: The pictures you are about to view may contain material unsuitable for children.
Eh, what has the Google Maps #TaxPhoto guy captured here?
(#NYC, ca. 1940, #Manhattan #History)
Who recalls the 8th Street above-ground BRT railway line?
#NYC #Brooklyn #brownstones
https://bit.ly/3e9J08o
In early February of 1904, however, they suddenly appeared on Eighth Street between Prospect Park West and Eighth Avenue, an industrial omen in a white shoe neighborhood.
They broke. They entered. THEY ATE.
https://www.brownstonedetectives.com/the-hungry-burglars-of-bklyn-heights-1890/
And so it was when, in 1890, two Brooklyn thieves, during a burglary of a Brooklyn Heights home, actually interrupted their own burgling in order to sit down and enjoy a full meal – before carting off their substantial haul.
The Bronx: Grand Concourse And Bush Street (February 18th 1929)
It was a universal scene repeated countless times in #History - a little "naked fugitive" accosted by a "fat policeman" in a fountain. This time - #NYC's City Hall Park.
https://bit.ly/3uGVWs0
In June of 1898, however, one little “naked fugitive” was accosted by a “fat policeman” in the fountain of New York’s City Hall Park.
A Depression era plan encouraged homeowners to modernize their #brownstones as a way of keeping undesirables out of the borough.
#NYC #History
https://www.brownstonedetectives.com/27-halsey-the-plan-to-segregate-1937/
No. 27 Halsey St. before the update (Brooklyn Daily Eagle,, Sun., 21 March 1937).Its townhouses were, on average, approximately 50 years old and, in the eyes of many residents and brokers, outmoded of interior and unattractive of exterior. In fact, residents of certain sections of Brooklyn were begi...
My, No. 1,027 President St., how you've grown. :)
#CrownHeights #Brooklyn #rowhouse #History
This Sunset Park building, snapped in 1913, got a great spot back in the day. A few years later, the 45th St subway stop opened right our front. Cha-Ching! :) (No. 4423 4th Ave.) #NYC #Brooklyn #brownstones #history
Manhattan: Columbus Circle (January 25th 1902)
In #BedStuy, a row of 5 Victorian #brownstone houses on Jefferson Ave. was picked up & relocated across the street. They weighed 200 tons. The project cost $13,500.
https://bit.ly/3upGQXA
Contractors, experienced in the business, had – to this point – only moved much lighter frame houses, even rows of frame house.
News stories often capture a brownstone's more lurid #history.
Case in point - No. 121 East 35th Street, Murray Hill, #NYC.
https://bit.ly/3rWNG4Q
Nos. 119 & 121 East 35th Street (Digital Culture of Metropolitan New York)For many owners of these august “brownstone-fronts,” their homes are undoubtedly amongst the quintessential vessels within which our collective past has accrued – and has infrequently been recorded (if recalled).
😀
#ThenAndNow - Workers pictured in this photo from 1903 are shown grading the dirt roadbed at what would become the intersection of Corson Avenue and Victory Boulevard in preparation for paving. The Richmond Turnpike was renamed Victory Boulevard after the First World War in celebration of the United States’ victory in the struggle. #Tompkinsville #1900s
How some drunken #MardiGras revelers went awry in Park Slope!
#NYC #Brooklyn #realestate #History
https://bit.ly/3pqeYPA
On a still warm September morning in 1914, residents of the homes along the first block of Prospect Park Southwest woke to find something out in front of their houses distinctly off-kilter.
The star of the 1st "trick" film lived in #Brooklyn Heights.
Watch his hallucinatory "dream" unfold.
#brownstone #History
https://bit.ly/2NpuSfB
At No. 23 Middagh Street in Brooklyn Heights, in the early 20th century, lived the veteran actor, John P. “Jack” Brawn, who starred in upwards of 24 motion pictures. Most notably, he starred in the first ever trick motion picture, 1906’s “The Dream of a Rarebit Fiend.”
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