SELLING WHISKEY TO SOLDIERS (1918)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** “Until a few weeks ago the neat, frame dwelling at 228 Seventy-second street, Bay Ridge, displaying a sign reading “Dressmakers” in the parlor window did not attract more than a passing notice. Then, to the wonderment of its neighbors, sailors and soldiers began to be seen entering and leaving the house. Last night Detective Thomas McQuillen, Thomas Gray and Patrick O’Brien of the Fifteenth Inspection District visited the house disguised as sailors. They arrested Miss Crow for selling liquor to soldiers. On that charge she was arraigned today before Federal Commissioner McGoldrick and on the request of Federal District Attorney France bail was fixed at $500. Follow @BrownstoneDetec Share ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
THE LURE OF A MAID’S TOILET (1907)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** As Bay Ridge developed in the early 20th century, and residents moved deeper into South Brooklyn, developers used some intriguing townhouse features to lure buyers to the section of Brooklyn. One of those features was a dedicated commode. SELLING BAY RIDGE With an open-carriage automobile of the period parked purposefully outside these new “one family stone houses,” the Bay Ridge Development Company confidently announced in their advertisement that it was building “the entire block on Seventy-fifth St. Parkway, Between 4th and 5th Aves.” Bay Ridge was becoming the latest new neighborhood around this time, as developers expanded out from the Park Slope area further south through open fields and towards the city’s pleasure grounds – Coney Island. Suddenly, those fields were becoming more and more attractive as speculators snatched up lots and blocks and began construction. The houses in this particular ad were all “of 7 rooms, bath, laundry,” and included a feature which dictated the class of these structures and their prime location – one which no well-heeled buyer could fail to notice – a “maid’s toilet.” The houses’s other features were “hardwood trim, attractively planned, superbly built,” and one that was rather recent for the time – “electric lights.” The company also offered two choices in ranges – both […]
THE CHANGING FACE OF A STOOP (1921)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** 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. With a fascinating collection of photographs arranged in a chronological order, Bonnie Nilsen – whose father, Frank, is in most of the photographs – laid out her family’s record of life on the stoop of the original Nilsen family home. (The original record – along with Bonnie’s other photographs – can be seen at her website, BonnieNilsen.com.) In the meantime, though, we’d like to share a few of the more “stoop-central” photographs below. (See if you can spot the changes over the years.) Follow @BrownstoneDetec Share ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
THE STOOL PIGEON & THE HOLDUP (1931)
(The New York Police Department has several thousand photographs of crime scenes available online at the City’s Department of Records. Many of them are gruesome. But they are great pictures for doing research. The picture in this blog post was taken after a holdup at 729 4th Avenue in 1931. Although the pictures usually have limited or poor information associated with the photos, after a bit of some rudimentary research, we can usually find the whole story in old newspaper archives. Finding these, we are able to piece together the story behind the photograph.) THE STOOL PIGEON & THE BODYGUARD The picture above (the black & white inset photograph) is the scene of a holdup, which took place at 729 4th Avenue, Brooklyn, on 16 May 1931. Two men were shot during the event, but before it took place, another – providential – event occurred, which stymied the holdup and caused the arrests of the three men. Chile Acuna, whose revelations pried off the lid of police vice squad conditions (read about it here) was arriving home at 740 4th Avenue around 11:30 p.m. on 16 May 1931. His wife and their two kids were with them. So was their bodyguard, Patrolman William F. O’Brien. THE HOLDUP Noticing the vehicle at the curb of the drugstore across the street, O’Brien observed what happened next. He saw three men exit the vehicle while the fourth remained at the wheel. As the three men approached the drugstore, O’Brien told Acuna: “Run upstairs […]
