Historic PLG Block Approved For Landmark Status Consideration

PROSPECT LEFFERTS GARDENS — A plan to install a historic district on a Prospect Lefferts Gardens block passed its first hurdle Tuesday with a unanimous vote of approval from the Landmark Preservation Commission.

The proposed Melrose Parkside Historic District — which would preserve 38 buildings on Parkside between Flatbush and Bedford avenues — was calendared at a board meeting, which means it can move forward with a public hearing in the fall.

The architectural element that stood out to commission researchers was a distinct two-family building, originated in Brooklyn in 1905, that features two first floor front doors, said the commission's director of research.

"The proposed district stood out within the neighborhood for its highly intact architectural quality," said Kate Lemos McHale. "And in particular for the group of kinko house duplexes with their artistically designed facades, which we consider among the finest representations of the type in Brooklyn."

The proposed district would not landmark the entire block, just the 38 rowhouses designed by renowned architects Benjamin Driesler and Axel Hedmen for developers William Arthur Brown and Eli Bishop, respectively, Lemos McHale said.

The proposal comes with support of Parkside Avenue residents who petitioned the LPC to consider landmark status, commissioners noted.

"There's a lot of pride of place here in this group," note Chair Sarah Carroll. "I'm just excited that we're working with another group of property owners that seems to really embrace the historic character of the streetscape."

The name pays homage to Melrose Hall Manor House and Estate, which was sold to the developer's father, brewer William Brown, at the turn of the century, according to Lemos McHale's report.

It was the brewer's son who began developing the block, hired Driesler and petitioned the city to change the block's name from Robinson to Parkside.

Driesler designed multiple kinko houses, which first appeared in Brooklyn (and the world) in 1905, and which the Brooklyn Eagle heralded at the time as "the latest type of modern house building."

When completed in 1915, the homes were advertised as belonging to an "exclusive neighborhood," which Lemos McHale noted meant white and American-born.

Among the early residents was Ella Boole, a prohibitionist who lived at 377 Parkside Ave. from 1922 to 1952.

Lemos McHale detailed how the neighborhood transitioned from its "exclusivity" to a more diverse community of Caribbean emigres.

"Central Brooklyn soon became the center of the city's Afro-Caribbean community," she said. "Parkside continues to reflect the diversity of greater Flatbush."

Modern residents have preserved their historic homes "very sensitively," Lemos McHale said. "The research recommends the commission vote to add the Melrose Parkside Historic District to its calendar for preservation."