Do you own or are you curious about a house in Brooklyn, but don’t know where to start your research? We are excited to be giving away one free ticket to the Brooklyn Historical Society’s Research Your House workshop, taking place at 2pm on Saturday, April 27th (retail value of $50)! Entering is easy and requires just two simple steps:
1) Start following us on Instagram and Twitter
2) Upload at least one photo with #woodenhouseproject
Winner will be chosen at random on the morning of Monday, April 22nd. If you are already following us, don’t worry, you’re still entered – just follow step #2!
Also: Does anyone know where the wooden houses above are located?
The Wooden House Project is now on Instagram! Follow us here and be sure to tag all of your photos #woodenhouseproject – we’ll be featuring a photo from the pool each week. Or visit our Get Involved page for other ways to connect with us!
On Saturday, April 27th from 2:00-4:00 pm, the Brooklyn Historical Society will be hosting a course on how to uncover the history of your home using images, records and documents from their collection. According to the Society, by the end of the two-hour session “attendees will have learned to piece together the social history of a Brooklyn home or block.”A fascinating opportunity for any frame house owner!
Advance registration is required. To sign up, visit the Society’s webpage.
Have an event you’d like listed on The Wooden House Project? Let us know!
158 10th Street
I’ve spent a lot of time talking about Brooklyn’s fanciest frame rowhouses. Neighborhoods like Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, and Park Slope contain remarkable examples of richly-decorated wooden facades of the “gingerbread” type. But if I can be 100% honest, I have a soft spot for Brooklyn’s less celebrated blocks, many of which are lined with tiny frame houses. Eighth Avenue between 19th and 20th Streets is one such example. Tenth Street between 2nd & 3rd Avenues in Gowanus is another.
Here is a photo of a woman pushing a baby carriage, circa 1930, past some old wooden houses. According to the Brooklyn Public Library, the location is “unknown but possibly showing the site of the future housing project bound by Bergen and Pacific Streets and by Ralph and Rochester Avenues.”
I love this photo because it really captures the texture of these houses. Something lost with all the synthetic siding that went up later in the century.
Today, a personal observation: I have missed you. As many in the community are aware, I took the last year off from my historic preservation work and the Wooden House Project in order to help my husband grow his digital design agency. After much hard work, our collaborative efforts have paid off! Color + Information has expanded by leaps and bounds and is now situated in a beautiful new space in Greenpoint serving happy clients (and if anyone was wondering who was the behind the beautiful design of the Wooden House Project – well, now you know). Meanwhile, Chelcey has been hard at work making the Brooklyn Historical Society the phenomenal place that it is. Now that the dust is settling on other fronts, we’re pleased to announce that the Wooden House Project is back!