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| Architect George Pool Chappell with his first wife, Hester Louisa Candee Chappell |
George Pool Chappell was born in 1857 in the then Bedford section of
Brooklyn NY. When I first moved to Bedford Stuyvesant it was George
Chappell's 1888 First AMEZ Church ( Tompkins Avenue Congregational
Church) on MacDonough Street and Tompkins Avenue that caught my
attention. The campanile was Bedford Stuyvesant's own venetian tower I
thought to myself. Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church AKA Dr.
Meredith House was one of the largest protestant sanctuaries in the
country. I often wonder how such a young architect at the time got such
a large commission. I think it has a bit has to do with Chappell living
across the street from the church site at the time.
About two years ago I got my own commission to do renovation work on a
beautiful landmarked George P. Chappell house on Dean Street. While surveying that
house I began to respect this very smart Victorian architect. I
wanted to know more about him his works, what kind of man was he... The good news is that we know
much of his Brooklyn works
(look here) the bad news is we know nothing about this mystery man except he was very respected and a stand-up citizen of Brooklyn .
According to Suzanne Spellen (aka Montrose Morris on brownstoner.com)
Chappell appears in Brooklyn directories in 1878. We know nothing about
his education or possible
apprenticeships or training. We do know that he was extremely talented,
and prolific. Most of his work was done in what is now Crown Heights
North, Bedford Stuyvesant, and Park Slope, along with a lesser amount
of work in Clinton Hill and other neighborhoods. He is listed in the
census as living in Bedford Stuyvesant, on Monroe Street, when he was
23, with his mother and grandmother, and he is listed as a builder.
Later in life, he moved to Crown Heights North, and lived on St. Marks
Avenue, at least in the beginning of the 20th century. As more and more
areas become landmarked, or at least researched, more Chappell buildings
are being re-discovered and credited to him. Chappell should be name Mr
Dean Street of Mr. Crown Heights. Most of the ohh ahhh buildings in
that neighborhood are done by Chappell.
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Tompkins Avenue Congregational
Church b.1888 G.P. Chappell Architect
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I want to focus on the George P. Chappell buildings in the Proposed but
not landmarked Bedford Historic District. According to a tour I
attended with Guru Andrew Dolkart, architect George Chappell earliest buildings in
this Bedford area are 76 and 78 Halsey built sometime before 1885.
Chappell was one of the first architects to not use the typical Neo-Grec
house designs in Bedford. Chappell's 76 and 78 Halsey Street is done
in the simple Romanesque Revival Style which added some spice to this
area.
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| 78 and 76 Halsey Street George Chappell Architect built around 1883 |
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| Front elevation of 76 Halsey Street George Chappell Architect |
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| 78 and 76 Halsey Street George Chappell Architect built around 1883 |
In 1886 Chappell out did himself in Bedford with the house he designed
at 194 Hancock Street for Louis Gibbins. 194 Hancock Street uses
Renaissance-inspired forms and details, which tend to exhibit a more
elegant handling of materials and ornament. The current owners have
done a great deal of work restore this house back to its original glory.
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| 194 Hancock Street b.1887 G.P. Chappell architect/ original owner Louis Gibbins |
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| 194 Hancock Street b.1887 G.P. Chappell architect/ original owner Louis Gibbins |
1887 was a busy year for Chappell in Bedford District with the building
of nine house being designed and built. 60 Macon Street Done in a
classic Chappell style using a large bay front done in brick with a boat
cut brownstone base. Oriels on the side to give this place great light
and garden views.
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| 60 Macon Street b.1887 G.P. Chappell architect/ Built by Arnold Wagner |
Chappell will be very surprise today to learn that many of
his houses are now on the market for a million dollars here in Bedford, Crown Heights North and Park Slope. This group at 271 - 279 Jefferson was built
for developer Susanna and Walter Russell who built much of the
Proposed Bedford District. We see from
Prudential Douglas Elliman
photos that Chappell's signature fret, woodwork and stain glass are
still intact in 271 Jefferson.
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| 271 -279 B. 1887 G.P. Chappell Architect; S.E.C. Russell Builder/Developer |
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The last group of Chappell 1887 homes in
Bedford are probably his most famous but not because of the
architecture but due to Spike Lee movie Crooklyn filmed at 7 Arlington
Place. 1 - 7 Arlington Place are some of my favorite but somewhat
simple homes done by Chappell. The end two houses, which are united by
continuous sills and moldings, also share rusticated stone first floors
and denticulated moldings. The two middle houses share similar
brownstone facades with stone trim, identical cornices, and continuous
moldings, all four houses remain well preserved.
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| 1 - 7 Arlington Pl /B. 1887 G.P. Chappell Architect; Horace Russell Builder/Developer |
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| 1 - 7 Arlington Pl from Halsey Street G.P. Chappell Architect 1887 |
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| George Pool Chappell with his second wife, Clare Chase Chappell, his
daughter, Marjorie Halstead, and his 2 grandchildren, Hester and Berrian
Halstead. |
Finally the Macon. This is Chappell's largest residential building in
the Bedford District. Chappell really took advantage of the curved
intersection of Macon and Arlington Place. This grand apartment was
built sometime in the 1890s most likely after the World Columbian
Exposition in Chicago in the classical style of the White City. This
building was built to compete with other high end flats such as the
Alhambra and the Renaissance all within the same area. George P.
Chappell has many other buildings in Bedford Stuyvesant but I wanted to
focus on the proposed landmarked buildings.
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| 1890s The Macon George P. Chappell Architect |
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| George Pool Chappell at work… |
Chappell worked over fifty years building much of Bedford, Stuyvesant
Heights, Crown Heights North, Clinton Hill and Park Slope. George Pool
Chappell died in June 1933.
To learn more about George Pool Chappell please join us tomorrow for a
MAS Crown Heights North Walking tour: http://mas.org/tours/
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She lived with Her father, Edwin "Teddy" Horne, who worked in the gambling trade, left the family when she was three. Her mother, Edna Scottron, was the daughter of inventor Samuel R. Scottron; she was an actress with an African American theater troupe and traveled extensively. Horne was mainly raised by her grandparents, Cora Calhoun and Edwin Horne. Her uncle, Frank S. Horne, was an adviser to Franklin Delano Roosevelt. She is a reported descendant of the John C. Calhoun family. Lena Horne was educated at The Girls High School in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Lena Horne made her film debut starring as "the Bronze Venus" in The Duke is Tops, a 1938 musical. After a false start headlining a 1938 musical race movie called The Duke is Tops, Horne became the first African American performer to sign a long-term contract with a major Hollywood studio, namely Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. She made her debut with MGM in 1942's Panama Hattie and became famous in 1943 for her rendition of "Stormy Weather" in the movie of the same name (which she made while on loan to 20th Century Fox from MGM).She appeared in a number of MGM musicals, most notably Cabin in the Sky (also 1943), but was never featured in a leading role due to her race and the fact that films featuring her had to be reedited for showing in southern states where theaters could not show films with African American performers. As a result, most of Horne's film appearances were stand-alone sequences that had no bearing on the rest of the film, so editing caused no disruption to the storyline; a notable exception was the all-black musical Cabin in the Sky, though even then one of her numbers had to be cut because it was considered too suggestive by the censors. In Ziegfeld Follies (1946) she performs "Love" by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane.She was originally considered for the role of Julie LaVerne in MGM's 1951 version of Show Boat (having already played the role when a segment of Show Boat was performed in Till the Clouds Roll By) but Ava Gardner was given the role instead (the production code office had banned interracial relationships in films). In the documentary That's Entertainment! III Horne stated that MGM executives required Gardner to practice her singing using recordings of Horne performing the songs, which offended both actresses (ultimately, Gardner ended up having her singing voice overdubbed by another actress for the theatrical release, though her own voice was heard on the soundtrack album).By the mid-1950s, Horne was disenchanted with Hollywood and increasingly focused on her nightclub career. She only made two major appearances in MGM films during the decade, 1950's Duchess of Idaho (which was also Eleanor Powell's film swan song), and the 1956 musical Meet Me in Las Vegas. She was blacklisted during the 1950s for her political views.[4] She returned to the screen three more times, playing chanteuse Claire Quintana in the 1969 film Death of a Gunfighter, Glinda in The Wiz (1978), and co-hosting the 1994 MGM retrospective That's Entertainment! III, in which she was candid about her treatment by the studio. In her later years, Horne also made occasional television appearances - generally as herself - on such programs as The Muppet Show (where she sang with Kermit the Frog) and Sanford and Son in the 1970s, as well as a 1985 performance on The Cosby Show and a 1993 appearance on A Different World.She appeared in Broadway musicals several times and in 1958 was nominated for the Tony Award for "Best Actress in a Musical" (for her part in the "Calypso" musical Jamaica) In 1981 she received a Special Tony Award for her one-woman show, Lena Horne: "The Lady and Her Music". Despite the show's considerable success (Horne still holds the record for the longest-running solo performance in Broadway history), she was not inclined to capitalize on the renewed interest in her career by undertaking many new musical projects. A proposed 1983 joint recording project between Horne and Frank Sinatra (to be produced by Quincy Jones) was ultimately abandoned, and her sole studio recording of the decade was 1988's The Men In My Life, featuring duets with Sammy Davis, Jr. and Joe Williams. In 1989, she received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.The 1990s found Horne considerably more active in the recording studio - all the more remarkable considering she was approaching her 80th year. Following her 1993 performance at a tribute to the musical legacy of her good friend Billy Strayhorn (Duke Ellington's) longtime pianist and arranger), she decided to record an album largely comprised of Strayhorn's and Ellington's songs the following year, We'll Be Together Again. To coincide with the release of the album, Horne made what would be her final concert performances at New York's Supper Club and Carnegie Hall. That same year, Horne also lent her vocals to a recording of "Embraceable You" on Sinatra's "Duets II" album. Though the album was largely derided by critics, the Sinatra-Horne pairing was generally regarded as its highlight. In 1995, a "live" album capturing her Supper Club performance was released (subsequently winning a Grammy Award for Best Jazz Vocal Album). In 1998, at the age of 81, Horne released another studio album, entitled Being Myself. Thereafter, Horne essentially retired from performing and largely retreated from public view, though she did return to the recording studio in 2000 to contribute vocal tracks on Simon Rattle's Classic Ellington album. 
.Horne also is noteworthy for her contributions to the Civil Rights movement. In the 1940s, she sang at Cafe Society and worked with Paul Robeson, a singer who also combated American racial discrimination. During World War II, when entertaining the troops at her own expense, she refused performing "for segregated audiences or to groups in which German POWs were seated in front of African American servicemen" , according to her Kennedy Center biography. She became better known during the Civil Rights movement, participating in the March on Washington and speaking and performing in behalf of the NAACP and the National Council for Negro Women. She also worked with Eleanor Roosevelt to pass anti-lynching laws. In 2003, ABC announced that Janet Jackson would star as Horne in a television biopic (after it was rumored for years that Whitney Houston would take the job). In the weeks following Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" debacle during the 2004 Super Bowl, however, Variety reported that Horne demanded Jackson be dropped from the project. "ABC executives resisted Horne’s demand," according to the Associated Press report, "but Jackson representatives told the trade newspaper that she left willingly after Horne and her daughter, Gail Lumet Buckley, asked that she not take part." Oprah Winfrey stated to Alicia Keys during a 2005 interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show that she might possibly consider producing the biopic herself, casting Keyes as Horne.In January 2005, Blue Note Records, her label for more than a decade, announced that "the finishing touches have been put on a collection of rare and unreleased recordings by the legendary Horne made during her time on Blue Note. Remixed by her longtime producer Rodney Jones, the recordings featured Horne in remarkably secure voice for a woman of her years, and include versions of such signature songs as 'Something To Live For', 'Chelsea Bridge' and 'Stormy Weather'." The album, originally titled Soul but renamed Seasons of a Life, was released on January 24, 2006.Horne married Louis Jordan Jones in January 1937 and lived in Pittsburgh. In December 1937 they had a daughter, Gail, and a son, Edwin (February 1940 - 1970), who died of kidney disease. Horne and Jones separated in 1940 and divorced in 1944.
