Lefferts-Laidlaw House | |
Location | 136 Clinton Ave., Brooklyn, New York |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°41′38″N73°58′09″W / 40.69389°N 73.96917°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1840 |
Architect | Lefferts, Rem; Laidlaw, John |
Architectural style | Greek Revival |
NRHP reference No. | 85002279 [1] |
NYCL No. | 2099 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | September 12, 1985 |
Designated NYCL | November 13, 2001 |
The Lefferts-Laidlaw House is a historic villa located in the Wallabout neighborhood of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Built around 1840, the house is a two-story frame building in the temple-fronted Greek Revival style.
The house site was originally part of a 100 feet wide by 246 feet deep tract of land purchased in 1834 by Henry Ryer, a Manhattan merchant, from George Washington Pine. Ryer divided the property, located on the west side of Clinton Avenue (named in honor of New York Governor DeWitt Clinton. [2] ) into four 25 feet wide lots. [3]
After a few sales and repurchases, the land was bought by Rem Lefferts, a Brooklyn merchant, and his brother-in-law John Laidlaw. The main portion of the house was built about 1840. [3] A two-room wing that was only one story was likely built between 1836 and 1840 between the main portion of the house and the rear kitchen. The first residents were Leffert Lefferts Jr. (1791-1868), Rem's older brother, and Amelia Ann Cozine Lefferts (1782-1878), daughter of Margaret Roosevelt (granddaughter of Johannes Roosevelt) [4] and John Cozine (d. 1796), a New York attorney and judge of the New York State Supreme Court. [5]
In November 1843, Lefferts sold the property to his sister, Sarah Lefferts Millard (1805-1849), and brother-in-law, A. Orville Millard (b. 1809). Millard was a native of Ulster County and moved to New York City in 1830 to study law, opening an office on Nassau Street in Manhattan. In 1849, Sarah Millard died following the birth of her sixth child. Millard owned the home until it was purchased by real estate investor Robert Bage in April 1854. [3]
In September 2016, the house was listed for sale for $4,500,000. The house was unlisted and partially renovated before being privately sold in 2018 to a New York-based fashion designer. [6] [7]
The house is a two-story frame building in the temple-fronted Greek Revival style. It consists of a two-story central section with a one-story south elevation and two-story rear extension. The front facade features a gabled portico supported by four Corinthian fluted columns with an Ionic entablature and pediment. [8]
Similar to many Greek Revival mansions of the period, the House originally had an elaborate entrance surround featuring an architrave, palmettes, and rosettes. The design was most likely inspired by Minard Lafever's Modern Builders' Guide (published in 1833) and The Beauties of Modem Architecture (published in 1835). [3] Vintage photographs reveal that the house built by Henry Ryer house next door (since demolished) had a nearly identical entrance and used the same column capitals, which leads historians to suggest that both houses were erected by the same builder or designed by the same architect. [3]
During the 1940s or the 1950s, the period columns were removed and were replaced with square pillars. The building was refaced with asphalt shingles and a synthetic faux-brick siding and the southern end of the lot was transformed into a driveway shared with another home on Clinton Avenue. In the 1970s and 1980s, the home was bought and restored by Allen Handelman [9] and Richard Arnow. [10] [3]
It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. [1]
Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. It is bordered by the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Flushing Avenue to the north, Williamsburg to the northeast, Classon Avenue and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the east, Atlantic Avenue and Prospect Heights to the south and southwest and Vanderbilt Avenue and Fort Greene to the west.
Cobble Hill is a neighborhood in the northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. A small neighborhood comprising 40 blocks, Cobble Hill sits adjacent to Brooklyn Heights to the north, Boerum Hill to the east, Carroll Gardens to the south, and the Columbia Street Waterfront District to the west. It is bounded by Atlantic Avenue (north), Court Street (east), Degraw Street (south) and the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (west). Other sources add to the neighborhood a rectangle bounded by Wyckoff Street on the north, Hoyt Street on the east, Degraw Street on the south, and Court Street on the west.
Alexander Jackson Davis was an American architect known particularly for his association with the Gothic Revival style.
William Bunker Tubby was an American architect who was particularly notable for his work in New York City.
The Elmhurst Avenue station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Elmhurst Avenue, 45th Avenue, and Broadway in Elmhurst, Queens, it is served by the M train on weekdays, the R train at all times except nights, and the E and F trains at night.
The Steinway Street station is a local station on the IND Queens Boulevard Line of the New York City Subway. Located under Steinway Street between Broadway and 34th Avenue, it is served by the M train on weekdays, the R train at all times except nights, and the E and F trains at night.
The Fillmore House, or Millard Fillmore House, is a historic house museum at 24 Shearer Avenue in East Aurora in Erie County, New York. Built in 1826, it was from then until 1830 the residence of the 13th president of the United States, Millard Fillmore. Moved twice and significantly altered, it is the only surviving building other than the White House associated with Fillmore's life. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1974. The house is owned by the Aurora Historical Society and has been decorated with period furnishings. As of 2022, it is open for tours by reservation only.
Prospect Lefferts Gardens is a residential neighborhood in the Flatbush area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The community is bounded by Empire Boulevard to the north, Clarkson Avenue to the south, New York Avenue to the east, and Ocean Avenue/Prospect Park to the west. Prospect Lefferts Gardens was designated a New York City Landmark area in 1979 and called the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historic District.
Minard Lafever (1798–1854) was an American architect of churches and houses in the United States in the early nineteenth century.
Courthouse and Lawyers' Row is a National Historic Landmark District in the center of Clinton, Louisiana. Encompassing the individually listed East Feliciana Parish Courthouse and a series of five law office buildings located 12216 to 12230 Woodville Road, it represents a unique assemblage of law-related high quality Greek Revival buildings. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a National Historic Landmark on May 30, 1974.
The Lefferts Historic House is located within Prospect Park in Brooklyn, New York City. Built circa 1783, it is the former home of enslaved persons and the family of Continental Army Lieutenant Pieter Lefferts. It currently operates as a museum of the Leffertses' family life in Kings County. The museum is part of the Historic House Trust, owned by the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation and operated by the Prospect Park Alliance. It is a New York City designated landmark.
Wallabout is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that dates back to the 17th century. It is one of the oldest areas of Brooklyn, in the area that was once Wallabout Bay but has largely been filled in and is now the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Prospect Cemetery is a historic cemetery located in the Jamaica section of the New York City borough of Queens. It was established in 1668 and known as the "burring plas." The cemetery's original main gate was on Beaver Road which led from Sutphin Boulevard to Jamaica Avenue. The cemetery was generally known as the Presbyterian burial ground and is one of the few remaining Colonial cemeteries in Queens.
The John Rankin House at 440 Clinton Street at the corner of Carroll Street in the Carroll Gardens neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City was built in the Greek Revival style in 1840, at which time it stood by itself, surrounded by farmland and overlooking Upper New York Bay.
Clinton Hill Historic District is a national historic district in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, in New York City. It consists of 1,063 largely residential contributing buildings built between the 1840s and 1930 in popular contemporary and revival styles. Buildings include freestanding mansions, row houses, and apartment buildings. The district includes the mansions of Clinton Avenue, built in the 1870s and 1880s. The most prominent of these are linked to Charles Pratt, who built a mansion for himself at 232 Clinton Avenue in 1874, the year his Charles Pratt & Company was acquired by Standard Oil, and one each as wedding presents for three of his four sons. These four mansions can be seen on Clinton Avenue between DeKalb and Willoughby. The rest of the historic district is noted for its prominent Italianate and Beaux-Arts rowhouses. The Clinton Hill South Historic District was listed in 1986.
Clinton Hill South Historic District is a national historic district in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, in New York City. It consists of 246 largely residential contributing buildings built between the 1850s and 1922. It includes fine examples of Neo-Grec style row houses. Also in the district are a number of early 20th century apartment buildings in the Colonial Revival style.
This is a timeline and chronology of the history of Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's boroughs, and was settled in 1646.
Montrose W. Morris was an American architect from Brooklyn best known for some of the first multi-unit apartment buildings in New York City. His most well-known buildings include the Alhambra Apartments, Imperial Apartments, and the Renaissance Apartments all in Brooklyn, New York. Most of Morris’ work still stands adding greatly to the borough's architectural heritage. Morris worked in the prevalent architectural styles of the period, including Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival.
Frank Aydelott Rooke, known professionally as Frank A. Rooke, was a New York architect who designed the historic Claremont Riding Academy and numerous other structures of significance that are either in National Historic Districts or listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the tri-state area.
The James W. and Lucy S. Elwell House is a historic Italianate-style home located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York City. It is currently located at 70 Leffferts Place in Brooklyn. It was built in the mid-1850s by merchant James W. Elwell and his wife, Lucy.
Margaret Roosevelt and John Cozine.