THE CLOCK HOUSE OF CLINTON HILL (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?
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Nothing says “time’s a-wastin'” like the gift of a good clock.
And that “tick-tick-tick” on the old mantel back in the day was a constant reminder that there were only a certain number of hours, minutes, and seconds within each day.
And, more than anyone else, James Arthur knew it.
A CLOCK, A CLOCK, MY KINGDOM FOR A CLOCK!
James Arthur, a wealthy industrialist and owner of a machine works in Brooklyn, collected all manner of timepieces. He also fixed them, traded them, dreamt about them, and talked about them all day long – literally. He lectured on clocks, giving hundreds of speeches on timepieces in his lifetime.
And as a rich Brooklynite he had a lot of that time on his hands. He traveled. He sought out clocks. He talked some more about clocks through interpreters in foreign lands.
Then, at some point, he realized that he needed a home for all of those clocks. And with the number of clocks he owned, it would need to be a big one.
No. 357 CLINTON AVENUE – THE CLOCK HOUSE
In 1914, Arthur found that place.
It wasn’t a new building, and it likely needed some work, but it was grand, had great presence, and – most importantly – it was large enough to hold his collection of clocks.
That place was the grand old house at No. 357 Clinton Avenue.
The Brooklyn Daily Eagle said that it “is a beautiful type of home architecture, and the embodiment of the ideals he has long searched for, he says, in a dwelling.
“The exterior of the mansion is designed in Philadelphia brick, with brownstone trim of delicate carving,” they gushed. “The facade of the building from the peak of the roof to the base shows the careful and artistic workmanship which characterize the large residences built about twenty years ago, when the workmen were not rushed by contracts and speculative operations.”
Of course the paper was writing to please Arthur, as he – like his collection of clocks – was an anachronism, himself, and he was buying a type of house that was quickly falling out of fashion in a neighborhood – the “Hill section” – that was quickly beginning to see the new stylish apartment houses rise up all around.
BROWNSTONE VS. CO-OP
Dwarfed by this house’s future replacement, the towering Clinton Hill Cooperative apartments, 357 Clinton Avenue certainly outperformed the newer “co-op” buildings in style and elegance.
And Arthur would own No. 357 Clinton Avenue through 1930 when he would pass that year.
Shortly before his death, though, Arthur made a donation to New York University. He granted his entire collection of timepieces – 1,800 in total.
And, thus, James Arthur, who strove to hold time literally within his hands, let it slip from his grasp, passing into time….himself.
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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.
