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?
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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 “coal and gas,” and right next to the kitchen sink (or in the cellar) of every house would stand a “gas water heater.” (“Opening the faucet turns on the gas that heats the water,” the ads would say!)
So many options!
At the time, there were “Only Three Left at $6,500 Each,” so they were selling quickly even as the historic Panic of 1907 approached.
Today, this stretch of roadway is known primarily as “Bay Ridge Parkway,” and the houses continue to look as attractively planned and superbly built.
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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.
