“CINDERELLA OF BERKELEY PLACE” (1971)
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?
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It showed how a brownstone, nicknamed “Cinderella,” in the slums of Park Slope, was about to go through a full-scale renovation.
To be sure, the brownstone, No. 211 Berkeley Place, was in truly rough shape – but it had “good bones;” clearly, however, it was the worst house in the best bad neighborhood – and it needed a LOT of work.
The brownstone was not being renovated by a couple of young brownstoners, however; it was purchased for renovation by the Brooklyn Union Gas Company, at the behest of local activists.
The plan was to show the ease with which brownstones could be renovated with few resources and not a lot of money, allowing owners to live in their own grand brownstones in America’s first suburb.
THE ACTIVISTS
Everett H. and Evelyn G. Ortner galvanized the historic preservation movement in Brooklyn.
In 1963, after living in Brooklyn Heights for the first decade of their marriage, the couple purchased an 1882 four-story brownstone at No. 272 Berkeley Place in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. This would be the catalyst for their involvement in the “Brownstone Revival” movement.
The Ortners soon became active in a variety of community organizations. They lobbied local banks to provide mortgages to prospective Park Slope home-buyers at a time when lenders had “red-lined” the neighborhood.
Most significantly, however, they also enlisted Brooklyn Union Gas to sponsor the renovation of dilapidated brownstones, spearheading what became known as the “Cinderella Project,” an advertising campaign used to draw new residents to the section of Brooklyn.
The couple were also a leading force in the designation of the Park Slope Historic District in 1973.
What remains of their efforts to gentrify the Park Slope – other than the obvious trend of the renovation of brownstones and the revitalization of of a Brooklyn neighborhood, namely, Park Slope – is this short film showing how other potential brownstone homeowners could follow in their footsteps and buy, renovate, and live in a Brooklyn brownstone.
CLICK HERE to watch this 50-year-old “how-to” video on the plan to gentrify the slums of Park Slope in the 1970s.
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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.
