I’ve always had a little soft spot for this Gowanus house on 9th Street between 2nd & 3rd Avenues, which is for sale. What a difference a picket fence makes.
Historic image courtesy New York Public Library
I was captivated recently by a thread on the Brownstoner forum, on which a homeowner had inquired about the possibility of converting a frame house to brick. Now, I’m not an architect, so I can’t speak for the feasibility of this, and in any case I certainly don’t advocate for it. As I hope I’ve established so far, frame house are a precious and unique part of Brooklyn’s past that don’t receive nearly as much appreciation as they deserve. But looking back throughout history, perhaps this homeowner’s dream isn’t so ludicrous after all. Many of New York’s early, Federal-era rowhouses are in fact built of wood but have brick fronts.
Thanks to its corner location, an obvious case-in-point is one of my favorite buildings in Brooklyn Heights: No. 66 Hicks Street (shown above), which houses Jack-the-Horse Tavern. The Hicks Street facade is brick but on Middagh Street it’s clapboard. A fire insurance map from 1898 clearly shows that the main house is frame (as indicated in yellow) and that the brick (shown in pink) is only the front facing.
Bear in mind that the frame houses in Brooklyn Heights were built long before this map was drawn in 1898, as their construction in this neighborhood was outlawed as early as 1852. Hicks Street was one of the earliest streets in the neighborhood to develop, and No. 66 likely dates at least as early as the 1820s.
The 1898 map (see an expanded version HERE) actually depicts several brick-faced wooden houses scattered all over the Heights, most of which are now gone. One survives just across the street, at 57 Hicks Street, though this house is now covered in stucco and is today virtually unrecognizable as a wooden house (alas, those darn lovely trees get in the way of so many photos):
Jumping across the river for a moment (I know, breaking the rules), another great example of a house from this period is 57 Sullivan Street in Greenwich Village. I wanted to include this one because the Google Street View image is pretty special. It captured a moment during which the two-story building next door was being demolished, allowing us a peek underneath.
Take a look at the 1898 map for this house, and the sheer number of brick-faced wooden houses further down Sullivan Street!
Today’s Ask an Architect query comes from Catherine, the owner of a lovely frame house in the South Slope. Her question is being answered by Joseph Vance of Joseph Vance Architects, a full-service architectural firm located in Brooklyn with extensive experience in townhouse renovations. Have a question for an architect about your wooden house? Send it our way!
Q: We will be redoing the front of our frame house next summer. Is it necessary to patch up holes/gaps on the brick under the siding in a brick-filled frame house? We did this on the back of our house, but the contractor for the front of the house is saying it is not necessary.
A: The brick you see in your exterior wall is there to provide some level of fire protection and is not structural. It is not necessary for the mortar joints to be tight but it would be a good idea to fill in any holes that are a half brick in size or larger. However to give some added solidity to your house (in the wake of what could have been much higher winds during Irene) I suggest having the contractors GLUE AND NAIL the new wood sheathing (beneath the new siding) to the exterior. A heavy construction adhesive like PL 400 should be used. Be sure they use galvanized or stainless steel nails or staples. Also be sure they flash above all window and door openings AND properly install an air barrier like Tyvec.
As a bonus Catherine sent us photos documenting the renovation of the rear of her house (and just to clear up any confusion, Joseph Vance was not affiliated with this). Enjoy!
The newly-renovated wooden house at 455 36th Street in Greenwood Heights is for sale for $859,000, and it boasts that perfect mix of beauty and modesty that we love so much about many of Brooklyn’s wooden houses. Greenwood Heights is a treasure trove of frame houses, built in such a vast array of styles.
No. 455 is the first in a long stretch of frame homes, and based on the style, the row of nineteen (there were originally twenty) most likely dates from the 1890s. Here it is on an 1898 fire insurance map. You can tell the homes are made of wood by the yellow color. We just love these old maps, especially in this case, where the shape of the facades makes for a fun little graphic.
The graphic plays out in real life as three-story projecting bays that stretch from the English basements up to the rooflines, creating a wave effect as you peer down the street. Like many frame rows in Brooklyn, this one was originally much more ornate than it is today. The homes were unified with bracketed cornices and large profiled lintels, and in some cases had scalloped shingles that added playful texture to this simple vernacular row. Only two houses on the row (see right) retain their original cornices. Sadly, all other decorative elements have been removed.
Unfortunately, the tax photos for this block were extremely dark and did not print well enough for us to showcase the architectural beauty of the row (trust us, when the Wooden House Project strikes it big one day, the first thing we intend to do is purchase new printers for the Municipal Archives. Who’s with us?). Underneath the siding, they are reminiscent of these two houses on Temple Court, covered in an earlier post, which date from around the same time.
What we DO have to go by is the Google image of 455 36th Street before the latest owners renovated, which shows the facade caked in asphalt. We much prefer the new shingles.
I was lucky enough to tour the inside, which has a surprising amount of detail. The former owners kept the original double paneled front door and simply painted it red. The carved wooden interior door is even more stunning, and all of the stair banisters and newel posts appear to be in wonderful condition. The ground floor and parlor level also have well-preserved pressed tin ceilings, which were popularized in the Victorian era when this house was built.
My favorite find in the interior space was the original stove that had been converted to a heating unit. I was told the stove is not going to stay with the home. Perhaps the buyer can convince the seller to leave this unique and eclectic little piece of history behind.
Yes, the stove says “PERFECT”…. need I say more?
- by Chelcey Berryhill
Where warehouses now stand in the shadows of the Gowanus Expressway, wooden houses once dotted the streets.
Historic image courtesy New York Public Library
Have a question about your wooden house and need some expert advice? The Wooden House Project is launching an exciting new feature: Ask an Architect! We have retained a panel of trusted architects with experience in frame house restoration that is ready to tackle your toughest questions! Questions and answers will be featured regularly on the blog. To ask a question, email elizabethfinkelstein (at) gmail (dot) com or fill out the contact form HERE.
We look forward to hearing from you!
Architect Linda Yowell sends along the following tip in response to our post on Novelty Shingles: “Wolf Creek Cedar is a source for ready-cut novelty-shaped cedar shingles (most of the cedar we use today comes either from the Northwest US or from Canada).”
Thanks Linda!