Designated May 15, 2012
The Flatbush branch of Sears Roebuck & Company is an impressive late example of the Art Deco style. This three-story retail structure was designed by the Chicago architects Nimmons, Carr & Wright, in association with Alton L. Craft of New York City. While the first branches to open featured classical ornamentation, by the late 1920s Sears had settled on a restrained yet stylish corporate image enlivened by Art Deco details.
At the opening of the Flatbush store in November 1932, Eleanor Roosevelt addressed the audience. It was her last public appearance before Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected 32nd President of the United States. The building was significantly expanded in 1940, adding four seamless bays along Beverly Road, as well as additional square footage at the rear.
*Excerpt from the Landmarks Preservation Commission designation report
STATUS Designated Individual Landmarks
The Neighborhood
Flatbush
Flatbush is a neighborhood in Brooklyn. It was founded by Dutch colonists in 1651. Flatbush was originally chartered as the Dutch Nieuw Nederland colony town of Midwout (or Midwoud or Medwoud) — from the Dutch words, med, "middle" and woud, "wood"— in 1651. Both names...
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