DO YOU KNOW WHO LIVED IN YOUR OLD HOUSE?
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** Most people don’t know that the entire history of their homes can be dug up with a little bit of elbow grease. While Brownstone Detectives provides this service to clients, we are always more than happy to help homeowners to do the digging themselves. One of the first steps – of many – that we take when researching the history of your old house, is uncovering the chain of title – that list of individuals who bought and sold your property throughout its lifetime. To discover this list, a trip to the Department of Finance leads us to the old dusty tomes that contain this information, recorded in the old stylistic cursive freehand of the time. The listings of the home sales of a certain house/address were not simply recorded in order within the book. Each sale that took place in relation to that property was recorded as it occurred. So, for instance, if there were 20 years between sales of your home, those sales would usually be located several pages from each other. So, finding the chain of title usually takes a bit of digging. Once you have determined the property conveyances that have taken place, you record the information for each sale and then you head to the microfilm […]
EXHUMING THE GARDENER OF BED-STUY (1914)
******************************************************************************************************************************** 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? ******************************************************************************************************************************** “All stories, if continued far enough, end in death, and he is no true-story teller who would keep that from you.” — ERNEST HEMINGWAY, Death in the Afternoon The dead are everywhere amongst us. When we think of the past, we ponder the lives of those poor souls who once lived, breathed air, told tales, worked, and dreamed dreams. They can no longer tell tales, as the saying goes, but those resourceful ones amongst us can often piece together their forgotten stories and, with them, weave the colorful and ornate narratives of their lives. When we start researching a house and its former occupants, we never know what we’re going to find. Sometimes we unearth a truly bountiful draw – pictures of owners, documentation on the building, and the stories about what had happened at that house – they seem to start popping up all over the place. With other houses, though, it can seem as if the place had never been occupied. But we always find something. No matter how small. And these are the clues that become our figurative footprints. We’re detectives, you know. 😉 THE GARDENER OF 1155 BEDFORD AVENUE When we began snooping around 1155 Bedford Avenue, on the trail of a particular Charles Morse, we found […]
BROWNSTONE DETECTIVES & SORDID HISTORY!
This week, the Brownstone Detectives were featured in an article in Brick Underground, entitled “Curious About Your Townhouse’s (maybe sordid) History? Call in a Detective!” For the story, Brian Hartig, lead historian for Brownstone Detectives, was interviewed as he discussed some of the more interesting (and strange) stories he’s uncovered while researching clients’s Brooklyn homes. From the first woman executed in an electric chair in the U.S. (she lived on Hancock Street), to the story about Brooklyn’s very own Boy Arsonist (who lived in Williamsburg and was known as the Boy Firebug), to one of Stuyvesant Heights’s baseball Hall of Famers (on Gates Avenue) – the stories are endless. As an “extra,” the Brick Underground article also features some exclusive Brownstone Detectives tips on how to go about doing research on your own home, revealing some of our most guarded sleuthing techniques!!! 😉 Follow @BrownstoneDetec ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives The story you have just read was composed from extensive historical research conducted by The Brownstone Detectives. We perform in-depth investigations on the historic homes of our clients, and produce for them their very own House History Books. Our hardbound books contain an illustrated and colorful narrative timeline that will bring the history of any house to life. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
