East 25th Street Historic District

STATUS Designated Historic Districts

between Clarendon Road and Avenue D

CLIENT: Henry Meyer Building Company

ARCHITECT: Glucroft & Glucroft

DATE: 1909-1912

STYLE: Renaissance Revival

Renaissance Revival six to celebrate

Designated: November 17, 2020

The East 25th Street Historic District is located between Clarendon Road and Avenue D in Flatbush, Brooklyn. Deeper than usual gardens sit in front of intact brownstone and limestone rowhouses, all of which retain their original cornices, carved keystones and door surrounds, and many retain iron stoop railings and doors. The proposed district comprises 56 houses that face East 25th Street.

This block was developed beginning in May of 1909 by the Henry Meyer Building Company. Henry Meyer also owned the Germania Real Estate Company and the Jamaica Bay Improvement Association, and developed much of the Flatbush neighborhood by the turn of the twentieth century by selling the parcels of what would become Vanderveer Park and the New York City-designated Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park Historic District. While Germania didn’t build homes, the Henry Meyer Building Company created approximately one thousand homes in Brooklyn between 1894-1909 with construction concentrated in Cypress Hills and East New York. East 25th Street was among the company’s first and largest foray in development in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle described the block’s development as:

“…one-family houses of a high grade, to sell from $7,000 to $8,000. …We shall fill up both sides of East Twenty-fifth street, between Clarendon road and Avenue D…All are two-story structures, some with limestone and the others with brownstone fronts. They will be finished in hard wood, with parquet floors, tiled kitchens, shower baths and electric lights. …We have our own molding mill on Force Tube avenue, in East New York, to prepare all our own trim for our houses, and experience in building to see that good work goes into them.”

The Eagle further reported that no other region in Brooklyn showed this level of growth, and the “Flatbush territory” was “rapidly filling up with homes.” These homes are representative of transit and infrastructure improvements in Flatbush by a speculative developer, as Meyer graded and paved the streets, installed curbs and sidewalks, and laid the sewer, water and gas lines for both East 25th and 26th Streets. This development is demonstrative of Flatbush’s rapid transition from a suburban location characterized by detached, large houses to the densely built rowhouse blocks that arrived in the years after the City’s consolidation. Further, there are no rowhouse blocks in Flatbush that are protected as New York City Historic Districts, and this block is certainly a stand-out in terms of integrity, resident support, and beauty.

East Flatbush is a Six To Celebrate neighborhood.

STATUS Designated Historic Districts

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The Neighborhood

East Flatbush

East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Aaron Dexter, Aaron Douglas, Abolitionist, Academic Classic, Adamesque, Addisleigh Park, Admiral's Row, African American, Al Smith, American Aesthetic, American Art ... VIEW ALL

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Landmark Activity

Sep 21, 2020

East 25th Street in Brooklyn to be heard by LPC!

Review the Testimony

Local Voices

“I don’t know what the City would be without HDC. [They] testified before LPC time after time and helped us focus on the right issues. We would not be an historic district without HDC! ”

Doreen Gallo: DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance

Local Voices

“Use HDC as a resource because they know what they are doing and can offer advice on how to go about creating a district from every front: architectural, political, LPC, and the media. I had floundered prior to my involvement with this invaluable organization.”

Fern Luskin: Lamartine Place Historic District; Friends of Lamartine Place & Gibbons Underground Railroad Site

Local Voices

“HDC provided guidance and shared information during that process—we knew which Council members were going one way or another and we changed a few minds. I don’t think NoHo would have had as cohesive a district had it not been for HDC’s aid.”

Zella Jones: NoHo Historic District; NoHo East; and NoHo Extension

Local Voices

“I remember Richard saying at a meeting, we have someone here from HDC, Nadezhda Williams, Director of Preservation and Research, to help us. She said to us, ‘You are not the only ones going through this.’ HDC included us in an enormous community”

Erika Petersen: West End Preservation Society

Local Voices

"HDC has begun a series of projects to highlight the Bronx's architectural and cultural history. From booklet's and research highlighting specific sites and historic districts to the HDC's symposium in October 2018 to the latest community-based committee to look into further possible sites to qualify for landmarking, the HDC has established projects that will serve the Bronx community well."

Elena Martinez
City Lore, Folklorist
Bronx Music Heritage Center, Co-Artistic Director

Local Voices

"Welcome2TheBronx is grateful for the advocacy done by the Historic Districts Council on behalf of the people of The Bronx. Through their deep connections and understanding of the importance of preserving our local histories, The Bronx has been able to have several spotlights shown on endangered communities as gentrification creeps into the borough."

Ed García Conde,
founder and Executive Director,
Welcome2TheBronx