Open Thread Wednesday

By on July 18, 2023 10:40 pm in open thread

What’s on your mind? Comment away!

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  • Andrew Porter

    Another gorgeous BH entryway, Claude. I think that’s one with a mudscraper, so you don’t track horse poop into your entryway.

    Time for another Old BH photo. This not so old: it’s 68-78 Poplar Street in the 1970s. Note wood facade on building at left:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5c5e917cf89c3154fd748d5a22ba73a634f77e711cf9517b56a832bb927d5226.png

  • Andrew Porter

    And here’s 68-78 in a 1940 tax photo. Note asbestos shingle on front, and a barber shop on the first floor of 78:
    https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/c0fe1230a41ca51b0e1ca94f35c8597f3a652e6a3c53ab1300cc0634dc6844c0.png

  • Banet

    95% sure there’s no boot scraper on that one pictured at the top of the blog post (I’ve walk past it most every day for 20 years and am friendly with the owners).

    Speaking of the owner, I’m told that when the fellow who owns it bought the house it had been chopped up into a warren of tiny apartments. Seemingly dozens of them as alongside its neighbor to the west, it’s ~37 feet wide (2 houses across 3 25′ wide lots). I question if any of the original house is left other than the brick facade (I think the entire rear facade may have been rebuilt).

  • Jorale-man

    Speaking of chopped-up townhouses, I see that the adjoining buildings at 148-150 Clinton Street are nearing completion of the big overhaul there. They’re marketing them as “luxury rentals”: https://www.trulia.com/p/ny/brooklyn/150-clinton-st-brooklyn-ny-11201–1008005908

  • RickP

    That’s a beautiful entranceway and a great photo. Thanks.

    Is that what it would have looked like on the day the building was completed?

    And, how is it that some of the doors around the neighborhood got a thick (ugly) coat of glossy black paint? When and why did that become a thing?

  • Red Leader

    I just heard that Beverly Spatt passed away. Her NYTimes obit here.

    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/17/nyregion/beverly-moss-spatt-dead.html#:~:text=Beverly%20Moss%20Spatt%2C%20a%20fierce,She%20was%2099.

    May she rest in peace.

  • Bornhere

    I went to school with two of her children and spent hours playing in their house. She was quite a force and left such a valuable mark on our city.

  • robertnill

    Not even the facade is wholly original; the window surrounds and doorframe are recent additions. The facade would have looked more like its neighbor, minus the Tudor windows on the ground floor.

  • A Neighbor

    Such a force for good – in our neighborhood and NYC. It would be nice to honor her locally. A statue, garden, walkway, …

  • Effective Presenter

    Great idea!

  • Diane Johnson
  • Diane Johnson

    My sister and I graduated from Assumption School.

  • Banet

    I’m surprised Landmarks would have allowed such a wholesale reinvention of the facade. Do you have old photos that show the previous facade? Anyone care to dig up the old tax photo?

  • Andrew Porter

    Give me the address and I’ll see if I have a 1940 tax photo of the place.

  • Andrew Porter
  • Banet

    84 Remsen

  • Andrew Porter

    Nope, don’t have it. Sorry.