145 Hancock Street

145 Hancock Street

 Photographed by: Christopher Bride

This house was developed and built in 1893 by one of Brooklyn most fascinating people name William H. Reynolds. Forgotten today Reynolds the youngest ever New York State Senator (24 years old) from Bedford was also major New York builder developer. William Reynolds had just finished his first project a row of 19 townhouses a block away on nearby Halsey Street when he hired the same architectural team of Magnus E. Dahlander and Frederick B. Langston to design this group of four houses plus the corner building in the Romanesque Revival with elements of Renaissance Revival-style. Dahlander from Sweden received his first Brooklyn architectural commission from Reynolds with the Halsey street buildings which Dahlander designed in one night. Reynolds wanted all his buildings to look different from the façade.  Dahlander and Langston would go on to do many buildings in Bedford, Stuyvesant Heights, Crown Heights and Park Slope. Dahlander would later team up with Axel Hedman a fellow Swede and design much of William Reynolds Prospect Heights developments on Park and Sterling place.  

  

William Reynolds

145 Hancock was in the very aristocratic section of Brooklyn called Bedford and sold very quickly. The first owner was the well-respected John T and Ann Huner.  The Huner family had four children and all are living in this house in 1900 along with two German servants.  John Huner made his fortune in the matches business. Huner matches were called Our Darling Parlor Matches.  He sold the cheapest matches on the east coast which made him a lot of money. John Huner match plant was on Myrtle Avenue in the Evergreens section of Queens.  He was one of the largest matches makers in the country at the turn of the century. John died in 1912 and sometime during the late 1910’s the house traded hands.  In the 1920s Henry and Isabella Barnard are living in the house. Henry was a wholesale salesman. In 1930 Isabella is a widow living in the home with her sister Florence McDonald and German maid. 

 

Arvhitect F. B. Langston

 

Architect Magnus Dahlander

1940 is the first time I see the place as multiple dwelling with four families living in the house.  The renters in the house work as truck drivers, drug and grocery salesman and teacher. Also by 1940s this area is now called Bedford-Stuyvesant due to Brooklyn Union Gas. After WWII this once all European American neighborhood area would turn into one of the largest African American neighborhoods in the country.

More of Reynolds projects here From Suzanne Spellen ((https://www.flickr.com/photos/31129802@N03/sets/72157623863816513/detail/).

The work of Magnus Emil Dahlander in Stuyvesant North

Stuyvesant and Jefferson 1894 Drawing Magnus Emil Dahlander Architect, built for Eli H. Bishop

591 Jefferson Ave Langston and Dahlander Architects 1891

Magnus Emil Dahlander

East side of Stuyvesant Ave M. Dahlander built 1892

Magnus Emil Dahlander - architect and heritage carers - was born in Sater Sweden on August 2, 1862 and died in the same city on 8 May 1951. This does not mean that all his life he lived in Sater. On the contrary. He led the next 55 years, a very active life. The father, who was a pharmacist and as such created a good financial standing, moved with his family in 1866 to Linde, where he built his own house. The drawings of the building were eventually the young Magnus' first primer in the building alongside the real abc book, where he became acquainted with the elementary school in the city and then to continue the preparation of learning acquisition in Gothenburg during the years 1872 to 1874 . Years later the father sold his pharmacy in Linde and purchase by hovapoteket crown in Stockholm. The family moved there and now Magnus continued his schooling in New Elementary School. It was during an era when this school with traditions from Carl Jonas Love Almquist time, as the state's sample school yet still took a rank position among Swedish high school. He stayed there mate with several young men, who in different ways and in different political camps would become known personalities, including Louis Stavenow, Karl Staaf, Bergegren and Daniel Fallström. His first acquaintance with art in its higher meaning he did in 1876 when he entered the Free Art The Academy in its elementary drawing school or, as it is also called, basically school. Here he met the first time, Anders Zorn. At that time he undertook a summer trip to Dalarna with some of his schoolmates, referred depicted by him in his remembrance. From that time never ceased Dalarna, his birthplace, to pull him to her. But before he would come to experience a lot. In 1879 he moved from Stockholm and New Elementary School to Örebro, where he graduated in 1883 matriculation. It was followed by a brief stay in Paris, where he in accordance with the family.

Stuyvesant and Jefferson c.1900

Stuyvesant and Jefferson built 1892

Dahilander recieved his Degree at the University of Technology in 1888, followed by studies in such United States and several European countries. City Architect in Örebro 1899-1914. Architect in army barracks building committee from 1914 to 1917. Moved to Sater 1917th County Architect in Kopparberg County 1920 - '. Chair. the Planning Committee in Sater 1919 -? Founded the local history museum Åsgårdstrand

500 Hancock built 1891 Langston and Dahlander Architects

500 Hancock built 1891 Langston and Dahlander Architects

500 Hancock built 1891 Langston and Dahlander Architects

While in the US Dahlander lived and worked in Brooklyn, New York.  He only lived in Brooklyn from 1888 to 1896.  In that short time this man would transform Brooklyn residential architecture into something the city has never seen before.   Many of Dahlander homes can be found in Crown, Heights, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights.  Dahlander worked with architect Frederick B. Langston for the first few years here finially going on his own.  Eli Bishop a local developer who I plan to write about in the near future often hired Dahlander to design his beautiful townhomes. Before Dahlander left for Sweden he linked up with another Swede name Axel Hedman and would design many homes in central Brooklyn.  Dahlander would past the torch to Hedman who would stay in New York until his death.

571 - 587 Jefferson Avenue built in 1891 Langston and Dahlander Architects

Stuyvesant North is not landmarked and we would love to protect the great work of Dahlander and the many other architects that worked in this area of Bedford Stuyveant. 

View other works of Magnus Emil Dahlander here

1920's Nostrand Avenue

A great image of Nostrand looking north towards Halsey street.  The Alhambra (the building on the left) has storefronts put in by this time.  Mostly everything in this photo is still here today although the building with arch has lost the arch.  The building was designed by Langston and Dahlander in 1891 for Senator William Reynolds.  These buildings are part of the Calendared Bedford Historic District.