HOW TO REMOVE A BROWNSTONE STOOP (1905)
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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Today, brownstone owners shake their heads in wonder.
“Why would anyone intentionally remove the stoop from their own townhouse?” they muse.
The stoop, like a timeless portrait’s gilded frame, is a vital element to the design and use of the townhouse. It carries the focus of the viewer into the house itself, just as the stoop physically transports the resident bodily into the house.
A brownstone house simply cannot exist without its stoop.
Well, like shag carpeting in the 1970s, stoop removal was all the rage in the 1940s.
“Remove your stoop and turn your brownstone into apartments,” was the sage advice of contractors hoping to bring their clients’ properties into the 20th century.
“Remove your brownstone stoop and add value to your property,” they said.
If you didn’t see it happen, though, with your own eyes, you might assume that the destruction was merely accidental.
Perhaps a car crashed into the structure and damaged the stoop beyond repair, or time and the elements slowly destroyed the stoop.
Well, here, thanks to the New York Historical Society, we have pictures – in all their “glory” – of the “before,” “during” and “after” snapshots of the destruction of one of those august brownstone set of steps. These, documenting the disappearance of a townhouse stoop as far back as 1905.
Your case in point, the tragic retirement of the stoop of the boarding house at No. 107 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn Heights. An ancient and artistic stacked slab of stones, it’s vanished…before your eyes…into the Twilight Zone.
(It appears that this stoop removal was the result of damages which occured to it during excavations made during the construction of the Joralemon Street Tunnel. The tunnel was being built to house the tracks for the 4 & 5 trains. Shifting sandy soil damaged some buildings in Brooklyn along the tunnel’s route causing owners to make adjustments and seek repayment for the damages to their properties.)
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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.
