G. A. Schellenger Architect

Hancock Street G. A. Schellenger homes 1883-1885

Jefferson Ave G. A. Schellenger homes built 1884-87

The future Bedford Historic District had many famous architects (or Starchitects) from the Victorian era who designed most of the buildings. One such architect was Gilbert A. Schellenger. Schellenger was born to Rueben Riggs Schellenger and Esther Perry on December 21, 1845, in the town of Stockholm, NY. Schellenger grew up in a very large family. His father was a mechanic/carpenter which was had a common tradition producing architect sons. Schellenger studied at the prestigious and world famous L’Ecole des Beaux Artes in Paris but dropped out to accept the commission for a new city hall and opera house in Ogdensburg County.Schellenger along with his first wife Jennie came to New

G. A. Schellenger house around 1900

York City in 1883 and right away he started working on various projects. His earlest New York townhouses are here in Bedford Stuyvesant but on the Bedford side. At that time Bedford as it was called then was a rather choice neighborhood with upper middle class families dominating its blocks. Schellenger Bedford buildings are on Hancock Street and Jefferson Avenue and where done for builder George Stone. Stone lived in a Schellenger designed house at 301 Jefferson in the proposed historic district was the owner and builder of these lots.

Jefferson Ave G. A. Schellenger homes built in the early 1890's

G. A. Schellenger use the Queen Anne and Roman Brick Renaissance Revival style for most of his homes on Jefferson Avenue and Hancock Street. His brownstone stoops and wood cathedral doors are surrounded by crowned pediments. Schellenger likes to play with his skyline making all of his roofs have a language of there own. Many of the house have three sided bay windows or rather large arched picture windows that are typical of the Queen Anne style. Many of the first owners of these house were Physicians, Stock Brokers, Insurance men, Lawyers and Merchants.

Jefferson Ave in 1954

These homes where built for the upper middle class that wanted to live in the choice Bedford Section following 1883 Brooklyn Bridge opening. By 1885 Schellenger had designed 10 homes on Hancock Street as well as Jefferson Avenue and would later design a few more for George Stone. Schellenger houses built in 1887 Jefferson Ave.

G. A. Schellenger would go on and turn his attention to Manhattan clients, I am sure they paid very well compared to the Brooklyn developers. G. A. Schellenger would design many of stately homes on the Upper West (and East) Side of Manhattan and Harlem. If you read the LPC reports for Manhattan his name is everywhere making him a very busy man during the 1890's. Schellenger designed many fine apartments and dorms (for Columbia University) that still stand today. At 128 Broadway he completed plans for the Salvation Army National Headquarters which was noted in the New York Times. G. A. Schellenger also did a few buildings in Crown Heights and Prospect Heights later in the 1880s and 1890s. Schellenger interior built 1884

In my research I do not find him designing any buildings in the Stuyvesant Heights section of the neighborhood.
Gilbert Alphonso Schellenger died on November 22, 1921 while visiting his sister Alta Schellenger Taylor in Massachusetts. I am truly thankful that this NYC super architect of the 1890's designed lovely homes here in Bedford section of Bedford Stuyvesant in the 1880's. His houses are just as beautiful as other architect rivals such as John Prague, George Chappell and Montrose Morris. Some residents are starting to restore these grand house to there original grandeur. If you walk down or Hancock Street between Nostrand and Marcy or Jefferson between Marcy and Tompkins you see all his great works looking as stately as the day erected. Most if not all of G. A. Schellenger buildings are landmarked in Manhattan, Crown Heights and Prospect Heights. His earliest homes in New York City are in Bedford Stuyvesant and not protected. I really hope this changes very soon.

1900 census for Jefferson and Hancock.

Lena Horne The Queen of Bedford Stuyvesant.

Helena Mary Calhoun Horne (born June 30, 1917), is a singer and actor of African-American, Caucasian, and Native-American descent. She has recorded and performed extensively, independently and with other jazz notables, including Artie Shaw, Teddy Wilson, Billy Strayhorn, Duke Ellington, and Charlie Barnett. She lived in New York City and no longer makes public appearances. Lena Horne was born in Bedford-Stuyvesant really in the non landmarked sections Stuyvesant Heights, Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in an upper middle class black community at 189 Chauncey and 519 Macon Street. 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.
Horne's second marriage was to Lennie Hayton, a Jewish American and one of the premier musical conductors and arrangers at MGM, in December 1947. They separated in the early 1960s, but never divorced; he died in 1971. In her as-told-to autobiography Lena by Richard Schickel, Horne recounts the enormous pressures she and her husband faced as an interracial married couple. She later admitted in a 1980 Ebony interview she had married Hayton to advance her career and cross the "color-line" in show business.
Screenwriter Jenny Lumet, known for her award-winning screenplay Rachel Getting Married, is Horne's granddaughter, the daughter of filmmaker Sidney Lumet and Horne's daughter Gail.
Horne died on May 9, 2010, at the age of 92, at New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City.

I am back! Lets look at MacDonough St

MacDonough Street between Tompkins and Stuyvesant has been landmarked since 1971. One of the most famous and largest house on MacDonough is number 87.

87 MacDonough is a free standing brick mansion was built in 1863 for William A Parker a hops and malt merchant. The building has been occupied since 1945 by The United Order of Tents, one of the oldest lodges for African-American women in the country. The lodge was founded in Norfolk, Virginia by two slave women, Annetta M. Lane and Harriet R. Taylor; and two abolitionists, Joliffe Union and Joshua R. Giddings as a part of the underground railway, assisting slaves to escape to the north. After the Civil War it was formally organized and publicly recognized as a lodge for African American women and dedicated to charity. The most famous resident of 87 MacDonough was James McMahon. Who was James McMahon? James McMahon founder and first president of the Emigrant Industrial Savings Bank was born in Franklin County, NY in 1831 and in his infancy was taken by his parents to Rochester. At seventeen years of age he came to New York, and remained for a year in the book trade, with Cooley, Keys and Hill. He then went to New Haven where he associated himself with an elder brother, who owned a carriage manufacturer. His Brother leaving the carriage business in 1849 made McMahon return to Rochester where he reentered the book business as a clerk, and shortly afterwards began in the same trade on his own account. At the age of twenty five he cross the country and again joined his brother, who was engaged in mercantile pursuits in San Francisco. McMahon returned to Rochester and in 1865, he accepted a position of deputy grain measure in New York, at the same time making home in Brooklyn. His new business associations resulted in his establishing, in conjunction with James T. Easton, of Brooklyn an organization to protect the interests of grain carriers, under the title of the "Protective Grain Association," from which sprang the great transportation business of Easton, McMahon & Co. When the federal government, in the days of the Civil War made a requisition on the tonnage of the Camden and Amboy Railroad Co., which had acquired a monopoly of the growing traffic between New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore, urged him to resume his interest in its affairs. He ultimately yielded to their solicitations, and, in 1881, recognized the business, making it a stock company, known as the Eston & McMahon Transportation Company, of which he became president. Within five years , Mr. McMahon again retired from the business and gave himself to the less arduous duties of a financier, also unselfishly devoting time and money to charities that had always claimed from him much attention. The Emigrant Industrial Saving Bank. of which he was the president, had assets placed at $45,000,000 in 1890. He was also a director in the People's Trust Company, of Brooklyn. His experience as the public official followed his appointment by Mayor Low to a seat in the board of education. He participated with all his energy in the plans for reform, which attacked few other departments of municipal administration more severely than the did the educational system; sweeping changes were made and permanent improvements were established. MacMahon was a trustee of the House of the Good Shepherd; belonged to the Orphan Asylum Society, and various charitable and philanthropic societies. He was president of the committee which perfected arrangements for the jubilee celebration of the late Bishop Loughlin. James McMahon was marred three times and died in 1913.The residence of Mr. McMahon at 8 MacDonough Street is situated on the north side of the thoroughfare. The house is surrounded by about an acre of ground, running through from MacDonough to Macon Street, and shaded by numerous tress. The front entrance is about thirty feet back from the street. Ascending a flight of five steps, the visitor enters upon a spacious piazza, which use to extend across the entire front. At the time McMahon the main entrance hall was wide and high-studded, and to the left of it was the library, a large square apartment elegant in its decorations and appointments. The Parlor was situated to the right of the main entrance, and, like every other apartment in the mansions was furnished with eye to comfort rather the to gorgeous display. The dining room was in the rear of the parlor on the main floor. The second story was charming boudoirs and suites of chambers and spacious baths. Upon the top floor was the billiard-room and its is there that Mr. McMahon would seek and obtain his recreation from the care of his great responsibilities.

318-310 Jefferson Ave

This row of six Neo-Grec brownstones was built by the developer James Steward. The architect Isaac Reynolds designed these three story houses set above high basements to have two sided brownstone masonry bays that rise full height. The doorways have grooved pilasters surmounted by brackets.


Brooklyn Daily Eagle article from March 6, 1886

Katherine Cark (Winkler) Jefferson Ave Brooklyn around 1898

A similar group of Neo-Grec brownstones on Hancock Street between Bedford and Nostrand Avenues, outside the current Stuyvesant Heights historic district. The houses are three floors over a basement floor. Several of the houses below retain the original, heavy, Neo-Grec cast-ironwork on the stoop. Both of these blocks are well preserved and in the proposed Bedford Historic District but none of these homes are protected.



1900 census of the 100 block at Hancock Street and 300 block of Jefferson

182 Macon

182 Macon was once owned by the famous Reverend Edward Beecher. The house simple, handsome and dignified with three stories above high basements is crowned by a series of French Second Empire mansard roof that I am sure were once topped by iron cresting. Long gone hand railing at the stoops and roof cornices could have given a better indication of the late date of this structure. The residence still radiate a feeling of quiet intimacy, emphasized by a now modern gate which separate the front yard from the side walks. This home is not protected or on any historic registers.




Part of Brooklyn Daily Eagle Obituary

Edward Beecher was born in East Hampton, New York August 27, 1803 and was slated to follow in the tradition of his father Lyman Beecher. He is the brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and Henry Ward Beecher. He graduated from Yale and studied briefly at the Andover Seminary. He became the pastor of Park Street Church in Boston in 1826, and in 1830 he became the first president of Illinois College at Jacksonville. The college grew under his leadership and he remained president for fourteen years. The reform spirit took hold of Edward and he organized the first anti-slavery society in Illinois. He resigned his presidency in 1844 after financial misfortune; religious controversies and opposition to his anti-slavery beliefs made the offer of the position of pastor of the Salem Street Church in Boston seem very desirable. He returned to the West in 1855, where he became the pastor of the First Congregational Church of Galesburg, Illinois, where he remained until 1871. That year he moved to Brooklyn and settle on 182 Macon Street where he remained until his death on July 28,1895.

Brooklyn 1880 Census

Who lived in your house?

Decatur Street houses of Stuyvesant Heights

Have you ever wondered about the history of your house, apartment, church or other building in Bedford Stuyvesant? When was it built? Why was it built? Who owned it? What happened to the people who lived there? Is your house famous? Or, my perennial favorite question as a child, does it have any secret tunnels or cubbyholes? Whether you're looking for documentation for historic status or are just plain inquisitive, tracing a property's history and learning about the people who have lived there can be a fascinating and fulfilling project.
We need to show Landmarks Preservation Commission just how historic Bedford Stuyvesant is to New York. I am conducting research on buildings in Bedford Stuyvesant and parts of Crown Heights North which was Bedford Stuyvesant years ago... There are usually two types of information that I search for: 1) architectural facts, such as date of construction, name of architect or builder, construction materials, and physical changes over time; and 2) historical facts, such as information on the original owner and other residents through time, or interesting events associated with the building or area. A house history may consist of either type of research, or be a combination of both.

Bedford Stuyvesant is one of the oldest neighborhood in America let alone Brooklyn and is full of rich history. Much of this history of Bedford Stuyvesant has been lost over the years. Many people who live outside the neighborhood only know of the neighborhoods recent history. Bedford Stuyvesant community has been around since in the 1600's and the history should be preserved.

Please feel free to submit what you know about any building in Bedford Stuyvesant preferably outside any historic district. Also If you would like to know information on your home feel free to e-mail savebedstuy@gmail.com . I would try to find as much information as possible about buildings that are submitted and publish my results on this site. Lets work together and save and preserve our beautiful neighborhood.

275-285 MacDonough Street

For Example on MacDonough Street in the Stuyvesant Heights landmark district the houses above were built between 1885 and 1898. The first home to the far left no. 275 MacDonough is a fine French Neo-Grec house, built in 1888 respectively, for W. A. Walsh. The architect was Isaac D. Reynolds. The two-sided masonry bay extending the full height of the house with recessed panels under the windows and incised ornament on the enframements. The doorway, located have projecting lintels with incised ornament; they are supported on elongated console brackets. The roof cornices are also carried on elongated brackets, carefully related to the windows below them.

No. 277, an individually built French Neo-Grec house, was erected in 1888 for Rev. George F Pentecost of Tompkins Avenue Congregational Church and designed by J. C. Markham. Like its neighbors at the west, nos 273 & 275, it has a two sided masonry bay window extending the full height of the house. The handsome billet moldings at the bottom of the door and window lintels are distinctive decorative feature.

No. 279-283. These three houses, which combine late Romanesque Revival style with the classical trends of the 1890s, were designed by the Brooklyn architect Frederick D. Vrooman and built in 1895 by John F. Saddington. All three houses have rounded offset facades which make the transition from the recessed row of houses at the west to the corner house (no. 285) which is brought forward to the sidewalk line. Rough-cut stone-work at the basement and second floor lends a rugged quality to these houses, in strong contrast to the smooth intervening wall. The third floors, faced with sheet metal stamped with shallow Corinthian pilasters, have richly ornamented convex roof cornices above them. The wrought iron handrainling at the stoops and cast iron newel post show Romanesque influence.

No 285 at the corner of MacDonough and Lewis is a yellow brick Italian Renaissance style house was built in 1898 by John Seddington in collaboration with Vrooman. It is four stories high above a low basement. The brickwork on the exterior of this house is laid to resemble rusticated stonework.

This is the 1900 census which shows the first people that lived in these homes.

Eubie Blake's house at 284A Stuyvesant Ave.

Eubie Blake Neo-Grec home at 284A Stuyvesant Avenue home is out side the historic Stuyvesant Heights District and not protected at this time. This house with its high stoop most likely had massive heavy cast-iron handrails at one time. Leading up the stoop the large double-leaf wood doors welcome you into this lovely brownstone. The massive door hood and enframement with angular decorative elements resting on brackets gives this small home grandeur. I can truly imagine this brownstone being full of great music.
James Hubert “Eubie” Blake (February 7, 1887 - February 12, 1983) was a composer and pianist of ragtime, jazz, and popular music, as well as a lyricist. With his long time collaborator Noble Sissle, Blake wrote the Broadway musical Shuffle Along in 1921; this was the first Broadway musical ever to be written and directed by African Americans. Blake’s hit compositions included “Bandana Days”, “Charleston Rag”, “Love Will Find A Way”, “Memories of You”, and “I’m Just Wild About Harry”. In 1978, the musical Eubie! opened on Broadway.