In its story today about the surprise closure of the Heights Veterinary Hospital, Brooklyn Eagle writer Mary Frost links to a 2005 story telling a little bit about the history of 59 Hicks Street as written by the late Dr. Bernard Wasserman:
Brooklyn Eagle: “The house I bought in 1957, 59 Hicks St., to start my veterinary practice, was owned by an elderly bachelor: Joe Kaplan. Joe had a shop near the Brooklyn Navy Yard where he repaired and altered Navy uniforms. Having to leave that location because the building was to be demolished, he had bought 59 Hicks St.
“The ground floor had store windows and at one time held a chain grocery store. The walls and ceiling were covered in patterned pressed tin and all the pipes were exposed near the very high ceiling. It was built in 1822 by a man named John Rogers, who was a cooper…
…Mentioned in the book “The Great Bridge” by David McCullough was the fact that the house was used as the architectural office for the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, which I had been told by old-timers in the neighborhood who got the information via their parents.
