House Genealogy

Next to genealogy, house research is the most researched topic in our library.  Recently a local reporter spent some time in the library researching her home, which led to an extremely interesting article in The New York Times.   This is not surprising, considering the varied amount of resources we have that assist in this endeavor.

Two weeks ago, Sady Sullivan, our Oral History Coordinator, and I gave a presentation to the New York Methodist Alumni Association. We decided to present on the history of 641 Carroll Street since it is in Park Slope, near Methodist Hospital itself.

There are many different ways to approach researching a particular address. For this one I decided to look at our historic Brooklyn atlases.  Our collection of Brooklyn atlases range from 1855 to 1929. Many of these atlases were originally created for fire insurance purposes, so in addition to standard information like the block and lot numbers of each building, the maps also include a lot of extra detail on each building, including what the building was made out of (e.g., wood, brick, stone, etc.), the building's dimensions, how many floors it had, and more.  Many big businesses, churches, and schools are also noted on the maps.

The atlases can be used in all sorts of research, but they are particularly useful for house research, especially for determining when a building was built. After going through several atlases, I was able to find that 641 Carroll Street must have been built somewhere between 1880 and 1886.

In the 1880 atlas 641 Carroll Street (which is located on old block #35) was not there, but the 1886 shows that it was:















Land conveyances are also helpful in determining a construction date. These show the sale or transfer of each particular piece of property, and our collection ranges from the Colonial Dutch period (ca. 1660) to about 1896.  They are organized by modern block numbers, which you can look up on the NYC Department of Building's website if you don't already know it.

Going through the land conveyances for 641 Carroll Street (modern block # 959), I was able to glean several names and I decided to focus on one of the names: James Jewett (a copy of one of the land conveyances is above).

Using the extremely useful resource made available by the Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle Online (1841-1902), I searched the name "James Jewett" and found an article from April 20, 1889, that states that James Jewett's "new and elegant brick row, containing twenty-three houses, built in the colonial style, is just finished at 611 to 667 Carroll Street, north side, between Fifth and Sixth avenues."  The article also mentions that Albert E. White was the architect.

I could not find a photograph of 641 Carroll Street within our photography collection, but we do have a set of neat photographs of Carroll Street being built.

Sometimes information on a building turns up in unexpected places, too.  As it turns out, we have a wonderful set of oral histories from the residents of that address, and you can hear selections from that oral history on our podcast page. The oral history that features residents of 641 Carroll Street is entitled "Park Slope: Life of a Block - The Rubin Family, 3 Generations in Park Slope."

If you ever wondered about the history of a particular building you should stop by our library!