1120
RECORD AND GUIDE
Juiie 20, 1914
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CURRENT BUILDING OPERATIONS
NOTABLE IMPROVEMENTS IN BROOKLYN
About $2,000,000 Expended in Financial and Shopping Districts—New Clubs,
Theatres and Mercantile Structures Enhance Appearance of Entire Section.
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DURI.NC the last few months an
amount of money tolalin.u; over two
million dollars has l)ecn expended in
tlie improvement of Brooklyn's shop¬
ping and financial districts, and addi¬
tional improvements in the form of new
liuildings and improvements to existing
structures are contemplated which will
no doubt reach a like amount.
In the section known as the "shopping
district," which includes lower Fulton
street and the adjacent streets from
Borough Hall to Flatbush avenue, are
found department stores which vie in
equipment and conveniences with all but
the newest of Manhattan's world-re¬
nowned department stores. Specialty
shops for gowns, suits, lingerie, milli¬
nery, boots and sundries, where only
the price is different, and that largely
in favor of local shoppers who are not
required to pay Fifth avenue prices.
Theatres, while not so numerous as on
Broadway, still with every convenience.
place, planned liy H. ^'an Beuren Mc¬
Gonigle, and which is being erected by
the Tower Construction Company.
The Brooklvn University Club is plan¬
ning to erect a building in the neighbor¬
hood of Lafayette avenue and South
( )xford street, the plans for which will
be prepared by Ludlow & Peabody, ar¬
chitects. This operation is not definite
at the present time, although the club's
building conimittee is active. The
Apollo Club, Brooklyn's foremost mu¬
sical society, nurchased the property at
the corner of Greene and Carlton ave¬
nues and are altering the two old build¬
ings and erecting an extensive addition,
for clubhouse purposes. While some of
these buildings seem to be on the front¬
iers of the districts in question, they will
have a very direct interest upon the life
and growth of the sections.
Along Fulton street many improve¬
ments to buildings have been made, and
numerous others are contemplated. Op¬
penheim, Collins & Co. are having plans
Livingston street, which formerly was
only known as the back door of Fulton
street's department stores, has become
an avenue of high-class shops and of¬
fices. The newest project for this street
is the theatre to lie erected by Frank A.
Keeney, at a cost of $200,000, from plans
by William E. Lehman, architect, of
Newark, N. J. This building will oc¬
cupy a plot 164x187 feet in Schermer¬
horn street, with an entrance in Liv¬
ingston street, about opposite the pres¬
ent Montauk Theatre. This theatre will
have a seating capacity of 2,450 people.
John H. Parker Company, New York
City, has recently received the general
contract for its construction.
In the heart of the financial and ofiice
building section, further to the east of
the shopping district, the Arbuckie Me¬
morial Building .for Plymouth church is
being erected at the northeast corner
of Orange and Hicks streets, at a cost
of $100,000. William Kennedy Con¬
struction Company, 215 Montague street,
VIEW OP LOWER BROOKLYN, FROM SMITH, GRAY & CO.'S TOWER.
and booking the best productions at
rates generally lower than Manhattan
prices.
This section during the last few
months has shown a decided activity in
real estate transactions and along build¬
ing lines. New projects have been com¬
pleted in the office building and finan¬
cial sections whose success for years to
come is assured, and many buildings
which will benefit these sections are
now in course of construction or con¬
templated.
That lower Brooklyn is alive to its
opportunities can best be shown by cit¬
ing briefly a few of the newly completed
buildings and others contemplated for
this section.
The Terminal Building, at the south¬
west corner of Court and Joralemon
streets, erected at a cost of more than
half a million dollars by the John H.
Parker Company, 315 Fourth avenue,
New York City, is twelve stories in
height and is the most modern and
completely equipped office building in
the borough. It is the new home of the
Nassau National Bank and the Brook¬
lyn League. The Young Women's Chris¬
tian Association Building, recently com¬
pleted, at the cost of $500,000, at the
corner of Schermerhorn and Nevins
streets. The new clubhouse for the
Brooklyn lodge of Elks, now under con¬
struction in the west side of South Ox¬
ford street, 125 feet south of Hanson
prepared by Buchman & Fox, architects,
for the erection of a modern department
store, five or six stories in height. This
building will be located at 481 to 485
Fulton street, 396 to 402 Bridge street,
running through to 147 to 151 Lawrence
street, and will be thoroughly complete
and modern in its appointments. Julius
Brody, manufacturer and dealer in wom¬
en's wear, purchased 446 to 448 Fulton
street and contemplates extensive im¬
provements to the building for his own
occupancy.
The old Central Branch of the Y. M.
C. A. property, with a frontage in Ful¬
ton street running through from Han¬
over place to Bond street, and covering
an area of 20,000 square feet, has been
sold to Jason S. Bailey of Boston, man¬
ufacturer of articles for five and ten-cent
stores. Parfitt Brothers, architects, will
prepare plans for extensive improve¬
ments to this property, altering it into
lofts and stores. The new Central
Branch of the Y. M. C. A., which will
be located in Hanson place, from Fort
Green place to South Elliott street, and
to cost in the neighborhood of $1,000,-
000, will be the last word in convenience
and equipment for buildings of this type.
Trowbridge & Ackerman, architects, 62
West 45th street, Manhattan, have pre¬
pared the plans, and the Whitney Com¬
pany, 1 Liberty street, has the gen¬
eral contract for construction of the
building.
has the contract for this work. At the
northeast corner of Montague street,
through to Clinton and Pierrepont
streets, the new home of the Brooklyn
Trust Company will be erected. Plans
are being prepared by York & Sawyr,
architects, 50 East 41st street. New York
City, and ' the contractors for general
construction are Marc Eidlitz & Son, 30
East 41st street.
Two or three years ago the Brooklyn
Daily Eagle started a campaign, the
central idea of which was to "Boost
Brooklyn" for the purpose of making it
a better, brighter and bigger borough.
The campaign was taken up by other
Brooklyn papers, civic and trade asso¬
ciations, and much publicity was given
to the movement. For a while consid¬
erable interest was taken in the project,
and through the co-operation of the
workers results became apparent. The
residents of Brooklyn began to take
notice that their borough was a real
place, after all, and that it was not im¬
possible to receive the same value for
their money that they obtained else¬
where, no matter whether the money
was spent for the necessities of life or
upon luxuries and recreation. Interest
is lost in most movements of this kind,
sooner or later, however, and Brook¬
lyn's boost idea was no exception; but
the results of the short campaign can
readily be noticed and will be more
apparent as time wears on.