Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 52

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360

USA > New York > Kings County > Brooklyn > Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y. > Part 52

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Young Herr was reared on his father's farm, and received the rudiments of his education in a Catholic school, in his native town. At the age of ten, he entered a Protestant school, in a neighboring village, and remained there three years. Later, he was, for two years, a student in a higher school, at another town, about eight miles distant from his home. After he left this school, his father kept him busy on the farm for the greater part of a year, desiring that he should become a thorough farmer and take charge of the place, thus relieving his father of many cares. But the boy was bent on becoming a merchant, and, after vainly trying to enter upon a commercial career in his native land, re- solved to emigrate to America, a project which was long opposed by his father, but which he put into execution when he was only sixteen.

Young Frederick Herr arrived in New York with a capital of only five francs, and this he paid out for his first night's lodging in America, to a German farmer, at Broadway and Forty-second street (a locality then far beyond the city limits). The following morning he hired out to his enter- tainer, and for two months assisted him about his market- gardening, receiving for his services $3.50 per month, and his board. During this period, as he learned long after- ward, the youth was not so friendless as he seemed to lıim- self to be. His father had forwarded money for his use, if needed, to the German Consul, with instructions to employ a suitable person to keep an eye on Frederick, and assist him

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

in the time of need if he showed a disposition to go to the bad or fell into difficulties of any kind. Leaving the scene of his first labors in America, Frederick crossed over to Wil- liamsburg, and was employed for three months, at $6 per month, and board, by another market-gardener, on Broad- way, near Maujer street.

Next we find the young emigrant in Houston street, New York, learning the trade of baker, and later, during a period of seven years, he was a clerk in a grocery, at the corner of Grand street and Goerck. Here he saved some money, and, in 1857, established a bakery in Brooklyn, on Bridge street, near York. He continued successfully in this business for six years, amassing the beginning of his present fortune, then engaged in the real estate business, in which he has con- tinued to the present time. In 1872, he began building, and has since combined the two businesses. He employs fifty carpenters and other laborers, and builds, on an average, from twenty to thirty dwellings a year, confining liis opera- tions chiefly to the 16th, 18th, 21st and 25thi wards.

Mr. Herr is prominently identified with many of the lead- ing interests of his part of the city. He is a trustee of Bush- wick Savings Bank, treasurer of St. Mark's Lutheran school, located at the corner of Evergreen and Jefferson streets, and manager of the Eastern District Dispensary, a charitable institution, on Myrtle avenne, near Throop.

Mr. Herr was married, in 1857, to Miss Mary Lanth, a German lady-resident in Brooklyn, who died in 1874, leaving two sons named Charles and John, one of whom is fitting himself to become a carpenter and builder, while the other is studying architecture, and who will worthily succeed their

father upon his retirement. November 24, 1882, Mr. Herr was married to liis present wife, who was Miss Meta Gieseler, of Brooklyn.

JOHN DOHERTY was born in county Donegal, Ireland, sixty-seven years ago, a son of Roderick and Annie (Lynchi) Doherty. Many generations of his ancestors had been born, had lived and had died in the same locality. Receiving a meagre education in his native place, Mr. Doherty came to America in 1837, located in Brooklyn and began business life as a contractor and builder. Gradually he extended his operations, speculating in real estate more and more as time passed, until at this time he owns city property in nearly all parts of Brooklyn. In Brooklyn alone he has built four linn- dred to five hundred houses, and at different times he has erected many in New York and elsewhere.

Mr. Doherty's business career has been a remarkably snc- cessful one, and though its period has been marked by numner- ons financial crises, he has never compromised a debt and has never had a lien upon any one of the many buildings he has put up, and no judgment has ever been obtained against him. His most conspicuous characteristic has been unyiekl- ing integrity, and no man has a better reputation for accord- ing to all mankind that which is justly dne from him. Whether in his relations with real estate owners, with deal- ers in builders' materials or with thousands of employes, the same straightforward course has ever characterized him In every relation of life he is known as the Creator's noblest work-an honest man. It is probable that few mnen in Brooklyn have done more than Mr. Doherty to extend its

ARCHITECTS, BUILDERS AND REAL ESTATE AGENTS.

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R.LITTLE

DomSleale

visible limits, to build it up and to make it desirable as a city of homes. It is estimated that the houses he has built and owned, and the lots on which they stand, constitute an as- sessable addition to the tax budget of the city of over $130,- 000. Go where one may within the city limits, few blocks will be passed that do not contain houses built by Mr. Doherty, and they are especially numerous on "the hill," in Eighth avenue and Berkeley Place, where he has operated extensively during the past few years. Mr. Doherty was married, May 7th, 1846, to Miss Elenor Gelston, of New York, who has borne him five children-two sons and three daughters. Politically, Mr. Doherty is a Democrat in opinion, and takes a deep interest in all questions affecting our re- publican institutions, but he is not, as the term is ordinarily applied, a politican, and has resolutely refused to become a candidate for office, though often strongly urged to permit his name to go on the ticket, preferring to devote all of his time and attention to his large and increasing business.

DANIEL MCCABE, one of Brooklyn's best known real estate operators and general business men, was born in County Carlow, Ireland, in 1832, and came to America at the age of twelve. He was educated in the public schools of Brooklyn, and at the age of twenty began to speculate in real estate, buying and selling building lots and residences in different parts of the city, a business in which he has continued to the present time. Formerly he was prominently identified

with the building interests of the city. In 1865, he built the first brown stone houses erected on Fulton street, between Washington avenue and St. James's Place, and later bought largely between Franklin and Classon avenues. He now owns and leases many buildings throughout the city, the majority of them being located on Fulton street and Myrtle avenue. These enterprises of Mr. McCabe's, while projected and prosecuted primarily for private gain, have inured greatly to the benefit of the city and the public at large. Mr. McCabe has also been long interested in movements having the general development and improvement of the city for their primary object. He was conspicuous among those who first encouraged rapid transit for Brooklyn; was one of the organizers of the Fulton Bank, of which he was for some years a director and is at present a stockholder; he served about six years gratuitously as the president of the Park Savings Bank, and managed the creditable winding up of its affairs so often referred to in these days of doubtful banking transactions, and has been for more than twenty years a. director of the Nassau Fire Insurance Company. In his political affiliations Mr. McCabe is a Democrat, but he has ever been too busy to interest himself actively in politics. During the administration of Mayor Kalbfleisch, he was for some years a member of the Board of Education.

MR. ROBERT THOMAS has been a citizen of Williamsburg during the past forty-four years, and has seen that section

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

Jobs Thomas

of Brooklyn grow from a country village of 4,000 population to its present important proportions. He is a son of Robert and Mary (Heaman) Thomas, and was born August 16th, 1823, at Torrington, Devonshire, England, where his father, a carpenter and builder, lived until 1831, when, with his family, he emigrated to America, locating in New York, the subject of this sketch being at that time eight years of age.

Mr. Thomas enjoyed only brief and meagre educational advantages, after his arrival in New York attending a private school kept by a Mr. Lockwood, in Wooster street, until he reached the age of thirteen, when he became a clerk in the grocery store of Brilton & Young, at the corner of Greene and Amity streets. At the age of fifteen, he was apprenticed to George Higgins, on Frankfort street, between Cliff and Jacob streets, to learn the manufacture of archi- tectural wrought-iron work and of tools for use by manu- facturing jewelers and silversmiths, where he remained five years, becoming master of both branches of industry.

In 1844, Mr. Thomas removed to Williamsburg and opened a shop, in the line of his former employer, on South Fourth street, where he was measurably successful until 1849, when, having become a victim of the then prevalent "gold fever," he went to California, delving with indifferent success in the mines of that region from May to September of the year inentioned, and losing his left eye by an accident while blasting. Returning to Williamsburg, he again embarked in his foriner business, his shop being on Broadway, near Fourth street, and from 1851 to 1858 was so energetic and successful that, during the last mentioned year, he was enabled to buy the establishment of George Higgins, his once employer, which had some years before been removed to

Williamsburg, where Mr. Higgins had long had a branch shop.

Mr. Thomas continued in business very successfully until the spring of 1877, when he retired from active life, and has since been carrying on a desultory and speculative trade in houses and lots in his section of the city, until within the past two years, during which he has taken a prominent part in the management of the educational affairs of the city, having been appointed a member of the Board of Education of the city of Brooklyn, in 1882, for a term of three years. Politically, he was formerly a Whig and is now a Republican. With his family, he is identified with the South Fourth street Presby- terian church. In 1847, he was married to Judith Maujer, a niece of Daniel Maujer's, who died in May, 1851, leaving a daughter, who is now Mrs. Albert Weaver. In 1856, he. was married a second time, to Miss Hannah Arnot, of Orange county, N. Y., by whom he has one daughter. He is often pointed out as one of the numerous men in Brooklyn who have successfully waged the battle of life against many disheartening disadvantages.

BENJAMIN T. LYNCH .- Andrew Lynch settled where Pater- son, New Jersey, now is, in 1798, and for many years after ward was the proprictor of a cotton mill on the Passaic River. He and his wife both died during the years 1814 and 1815, and one of their sons, Thomas Lynch, then a mere youth, came to Brooklyn in 1820, and for a time was em- ployed in a rope-walk bounded by Bridge, Tillary, Pearl und Concord streets. In 1825, he opened a grocery at the corner of Bridge and Tillary streets, and for forty years carried on a successful business there, which for many years before he

ARCHITECTS, BUILDERS AND REAL ESTATE AGENTS.

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LITTLE

-Hemch Unch

relinquished it, was one of the most extensive in the city. He gradually engaged in real estate transactions, and became one of the heaviest operators in the city. During his busi- ness career and his retirement, which dated from 1865, lie was the friend and associate of the most prominent Brook- lynites of his time. He died in 1873, the deatlı of his wife, whose maiden name was Mary Lynch, having occurred in 1852.

Two of the sons of Thomas Lynch are among the best known business men of the Brooklyn of to-day. David T. Lynch, the younger of the two, is a popular lawyer and merchant, being the proprietor of the business of the White- house Shoe Company, and is widely known and respected in business circles.

The other, Benjamin T. Lynch, an extensive real estate operator, was born in Brooklyn, February 7th, 1841; was ed- ucated at private schools, and learned the real estate busi- ness in the office of his father, where he was employed from an early age. At the death of their father, Benjamin T. and David T. Lynch became the owners of his real estate in Brooklyu and vicinity, and to the valuable interests involved

in its management, Benjamin T. Lynch has since given his attention.

Fearless and independent politically, Mr. Lynch has long had the best interests of the growing city at heart, and has given a cordial support to many measures looking toward its development and improvement. He is a director and the secretary of the Brooklyn Underground Railway Company, and a stockholder in several commercial institutions of a high character.

To the Masonic fraternity he is well known, being a mem- ber of United States Lodge, No. 207, F. and A. M .; Nassau Chapter, No. 109, R. A. M., and Clinton Commandery, No. 14, K. T., and he is also identified with several other so- cieties.

We have already explained the methods usually adopted in erecting buildings " on speculation." The results generally were, that the houses first erected by a builder, were, as a rule well built, but if the sales were dull, or there was strong competition, and a con-

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

sequent yielding of prices, the builder nsnally lost money, or made very little, on his first houses ; but this did not, as a rule, deter him from continuing to build " speculation honses." There was an excitement akin to that of gambling about the business, which led to further ventures, and in these, by economizing here and there, using poorer lumber or inferior bricks, or poorer quality of the brown stone, where these would be out of sight, making the party walls lighter and less perfect, cutting down upon the plumbing, using inferior mortar and cement, lighter timber, and the cheap factory-made doors, sash and blinds, they generally succeeded in making a moderate and sometimes a large profit. The houses, once off their hands, gave them no further concern. But this triumph of fraud and greed was after all generally short-lived. The intensity of the competition in these buildings led constantly to new improvements, which, when onee introduced, were always insisted upon by the wide-awake buyer, whose wits were sharpened by the points he gathered in his travels among the builders who had houses for sale ; whatever was the novelty just then in vogue it must be had in every new house ; whether it were hard wood doors, stairs and wainscoting, three stationary washtubs instead of two, bronze door and window trimmings, cedar closets, massive window guards and iron storm doors, mansard roofs, with or without gilt railings, extra finishing in the dining rooms, superb bath rooms, deadened walls or sanitary plumbing, it must be had. As these things constantly enhance the price, the shrewder builders managed to make some money, as there were still chances for slighting the work where the frauds would not be readily discovered. But very many of the weaker men in the business went to the wall, and it was mainly from among these that the short-lived cry for cheaper honses of narrow width, two stories in front and three in rear, or of cheap briek and mastic fronts, was started. The rage for these did not last.

The erection of "flats" or apartment houses was, for the most part, begun and promoted by the real estate dealers and agents. It required a larger amount of capital than most of the builders had at command, as the flats were usually put up in large blocks, and in those best constructed, with an inner court, or at least a lighted central stairway and ele- vator shaft. They were not built to be sold, but to be rented, and hence it was desirable, especially in the best class, that they should be well and substantially built.

That this business has been overdone, we fully be- lieve. It was inevitable in the nature of things; for, when fierce competition and a large amount of capital seeking profitable investment were factors in the un- dertaking, over-production could not but follow. Still, so rapid is the growth of our city, and so great the demand for dwellings of respectable appearance, that

it will, probably, be some time before the unwisdom of much of this style of building will be fully manifest. Of course the cheaper classes of flats will depreciate most rapidly.

Of the apartment houses of Brooklyn, that of Mr. FOUGERA, on the corner of Clinton and Atlantic streets, is perhaps in point of convenience, finish, etc., the best example.

A still more interesting development in this class of dwelling is that of improved workingmen's homes, a form of building investment which has for its basis the philanthropic object of providing homes cheap and healthful and convenient, in every economic and sani- tary feature, for those of very moderate means. The houses erected with this design in London by the Pea- body Fund, by Sir Sydney Waterlow, the London Im- provement Co., etc., have proved a great success in elevating the home-life of the laboring classes. We are glad to know that Brooklyn has in Mr. White's enterprise (a description of which we give from the April, 1884, number of Harper's Magazine), similar houses in every respect, both of construction and suc- cess, worthy to be compared with these English enter- prises.

Mr. Alfred T. White commenced his work in 1876, and in some respeets his experiments have been even more successful than any in London. The first "Home Buildings," with forty dwellings and five stores. on Hicks street, Brooklyn, five minutes' walk from South Ferry, were opened February, 1877, and were immediately filled. A second adjoining block, facing on Baltic street, without any stores, was opened Octo- ber, 1877. Three "Tower Buildings," on the next block, very much finer in appearance than their neighbors, were opened in 1878 and 1879, the five aggregating 218 dwell- ings (1 of 6, 25 of 5, 147 of 4, 45 of 3 rooms), and 15 stores, housing about 1,000 people. Each of these dwell- ings has living-room and scullery as well as bed-rooms, it being a cardinal principle (as in the Waterlow build- ings in London) that each family shall have every requisite within its own private domain. Each family has also a storage bin for coal, etc., in the basement.

The floors are planned alike from bottom to top, which permits a considerable saving by the duplication of materials. The buildings are of plain red brick ; slate stairways wind up a shaftway, inelosed in a solid wall, opening out-of-doors upon balconies, where cach tenant has a separate entrance, and they terminate on a flat, gravelled roof for clothes drying and for play. In the "Tower Building," three shaftings constitute the tower by which means an element of beauty is intro- dueed which the " Home Buildings " lack.

The cost of the first " Home Building " is given at about $7,000 for the four lots of land, and $30,000 for the building itself. The average price of dwellings throughout the buildings is $1.93 per week for four, and $1.48 for three room dwelling; the lowest prices,

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ARCHITECTS, BUILDERS AND REAL ESTATE AGENTS.

$1.50 and $1.30, these last being on the top floor, whence ten cents is added each floor downward.

Each tenant is given an account card for the year, with the rules and space for his weckly payments. Of these prices there is a discount of ten cents per week to those who pay four weeks rent at a time in advance, which one-fourth of the tenants have done regularly, and there is a second rebate of ten per cent. to tenants who, by remaining the full year, from 1st of May to 1st of May, save to the building the wear and tear of removals.

The buildings have nevertheless earned a gross rev- enue of thirteen per cent., of which in round numbers two per cent. goes for taxes, two per cent. for repairs, one per cent. for expenses, while the net eight per cent. has been used-two per cent. for improvement and ex- tension, and six per cent. for dividends. Here is a prospect for wise capitalists.

Among the features of these buildings are a free reading-room and lending library, and free baths; the home-sense of the tenants is also encouraged by per- mitting each to choose his own wall-paper within cer- tain limits of cost. No rooms remain unlet. There is always a long list of applicants in advance for any va- cancy.

The remarkable feature of Mr. White's miniature city is, however, the two blocks of dwelling-houses known as " Warren Place."

On a plot of land, 112 feet frontage on Warren and Baltic streets and running through 200 feet from street to street, this private way, with a tiny green its whole length, has been laid out, and on either side thirty-four little brick houses of two and three stories have been built.

A cartway for ash-carts, grocery wagons, etc., runs in the rear of each set.

The two-story and basement honses are 112x32 feet, and have six rooms each.

They cost but $1,100 each, exclusive of land, and they rent for $18 per month. They are pretty and have every convenience.

By this experiment, Mr. White has shown that even on city lots costing $4,000 for 25x100 fcet, such dwell- ing can be profitably rented for about $250 a year. It is not yet, however, the pre-millennial age, and capital still prefers the drifting sands of Wall street to this building on a rock.

Among the best known builders of the city we may mention the following :

Abraın Allen 146 Pierrepont street.

Jno. D. Anderson 225 Raymond street.

James Ashfield 244 Grand avenue.

Adams & Donaldson 178 So. Portland avenue.

Lewis Acor 374 Tompkins avenue.

Richard C. Addy 592 Willoughby avenue.

S. F. Bartlett 209 Clymer street.

W. C. Booth. 253 Carleton avenue.

J. W. Booth 121 Freeman street.

IIenry J. Brown . 1378 Fulton avenue.

P. F. Burns. 624 Grand avenue.

Geo. W. Brown

728 Fulton street.

Stephen J. Burrows 236 Ainslie street.

H. B. Banta

27 Bergen street.

E. H. Burnett

Poplar street.

Chester Bedell . 337 Smith street.

Danicl Brown. Fulton & Portland avenues.

O. J. Buckley, Jr . 404 Bridge street.

Jno. K. Bulmer

213 Adelphi street.

A. K. Buckley

180 Kosciusko street.

Elbert Brushı . 38 North Oxford street.

Hiram Bush . . 847 Gates avenue.

Geo. W. Brandt 164 55th street.

Jno. J. Brennan

. 151 Lee avenue.

Alex. Barnie, Jr

.377 Gold street.

Patrick F. Burns

. 624 Grand avenue.

Beard & Kingsland Hamilton ave. n. Clinton st.

Marvin Croas . 41 Bedford avenue.

Jno. Clarke 1119 Greene avenue.

Geo. B. Colyer, 359 16th street.

Wm. Corrigan

223 11th street.

Thos. Corrigan

.310 10th street.

John Cregier

709 Greene avenue.

Francis Curran

21 St. Felix street.

C. Cameron

135 Washington avenue.

P. J. Carlin . 549 Clinton avenue.

Parmenas Castner

162 Prince street.

Peter Concannon 156 Wythe avenue.

Geo. Cook. 201 Ft. Greene place.

J. W. Campbell. .315 Carleton avenue.

Coles & Goodfellow Gravesend.

P. Carlin & Sons 440 Van Buren street.

Chas. H. Cardwell 15 Lawton street.

Geo. Damen

88 Luqueer street.

Jas. J. Doig, Jr

24 Franklin street.

T. S. Denike.

. 829 Herkimer strect.

Gilbert De Revere .663 Grecne avenue.

J. Demott .270 Schermerhorn.

C. Dietrich .27 Boerum place.

Thos. Donlon . 157 Pierrepont street.

Jas. W. Dearing 434 Henry street.

John Denithorne. 843 Dean street.

E. H. Day 151 State street.

James Duffy .284 16th street.

C. M. Detlefscn. 165 Van Dyke street.

Jesse M. Folk . 205 Nassau strect.

Wmn. Flannagan

46 Berkeley place.

John S. Frost.

.574 Franklin avenue.

D. H. Fowler . 360 Waverly avenuc.

Maurice Freeman's Sons. . 286 Warren street.

A. A. Fardon 119 Carleton avenue.

Edw'd Freel

484 La Fayette avenue.

John Guilfoyle 180 High street.

B. Gallagher

. 217 South 9th strect.

Thos. Green

195 6th avenue.

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HISTORY OF KINGS COUNTY.

John Gordon 248 Cumberland street.

Thos. Gibbons

90 Clymer street.

Wm. J. Gillmore

.234 Division avenue.

Henry P. Gerst

276 South 9th street.

Win. Green.

.506 Clinton street.

Thos. E. Greenland

2543 Kosciusko street.

II. Grasman

807 Willoughby avenue.

Fred. Herr

778 Broadway.

W. H. Hazzard 211 Sehermerhorn street.

Wm. E. Hart.

300 Navy street.

Henry Harteau 554 Washington avenue.

President Metropolitan Plate Glass Insurance Co .: os- tabhshed 1873, in Brooklyn: Member of the Board of Education in 1840: Alderman for the 11th Ward in 1852 -'3: Originator of the Wallabout Improvement, and the extension of Washington avenue; re-elected as Member of the Board of Education, in 1871; First President of Mechanics' and Traders' Exchange.

Richard H. Heasman. . 904 Madison street.

Mansfield Hunt 137 South 5th street.

Jacob Hart.

T. B. Jackson .. 424 Clinton avenne.

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Civil, political, professional and ecclesiastical history, and commercial and industrial record of the County of Kings and the City of Brooklyn, N. Y., Part 52

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909. Publication date: 1884 Publisher: New York : Munsell Number of Pages: 1360

Author: Stiles, Henry Reed, 1832-1909.
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: New York : Munsell
Number of Pages: 1360