December 17th 2015

Mayssa Jallad

COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY HISTORIC PRESERVATION STUDIO 1 FALL 2015

Documentation and Analysis of Historic Buildings

Faculty: Francoise Bollack, Ward Dennis, Andrew Dolkart

Teaching Assistants: Tonia Sing Chi, Barrett Reiter

Project 5: Final Study Why save this building?

163 Court Street

Bookcourt is a family-owned bookstore on Brooklyns dynamic Court Street, lodged on the 1st floor of a

19th century wood-frame building. The frame house stands in contrast between two taller brick buildings,

which also offer storefronts to the commercial Court Street. The houses beautifully preserved details,

scale and program deserve recognition, as they are unique in the neighborhood. What is the significance

of 163 Court Street? Why save this building?

163 Court Street

History

163 Court Street is a wood-frame, 3-story building built between 1842 and 1850, located between Pacific

and Dean Streets. It has had a commercial store on its ground floor since its construction, which is marked

in the 1855 map by a dot that signifies frame dwelling with stores under1. The 1911 map gives us a

better idea about materials, showing it is a wood-frame building with a brick base.2

The historic Redhook lane used to pass in front of 163 Court Street3. Also, the buildings right across the

street from it fall within the historical Cobble Hill neighborhood, which is today a designated historic

district4.

Pacific Street Pacific Street

Street Street
Court Street

Court Street
Cour
Cour

Dean Street Dean Street

Redhook Lane in accordance with the current grid, Block 279 conveyance Records, Brooklyn Historical Society / 1855 Map / 1911
Map

1
Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. Index Map: Map bounded
by Schermerhorn Street, Nevins Street, Warren Street, Hoyt Street, Volume 1" New York Public Library
Digital Collections. 1855. Accessed December 16th, 2015.
http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-c018-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
2
Atlas of the Borough of Brooklyn City of New York, Plate 8. New York: E. Belcher Hyde, 1911. Avery
Library.
3
The Last Days of Redhook Lane, http://forgotten-ny.com/2004/06/the-last-days-of-red-hook-lane/
4
http://maps.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/
In 1841, According to the tax assessments, the house was not built yet5. Abraham van Sicklen owned the

plot as part of a larger group of 7 plots, but the city directories were inconclusive as to whether or not it

was built. All the records before 1850 state the presence of individuals in buildings on Court near Dean,

but not specifically at the 93 Court Street Address (93 being the previous number of 163 Court Street)6.

1843 conveyance records to Abraham Van Sicklen / 1841 tax assessments with owner Abraham Van Sicklen

The 1st confirmed evidence of the house being occupied is the 1850-51 directory, which states James

Harper, an Irish Undertaker, as the houses occupier7. According to the 1850 conveyance record, his father

William purchased the plot, which was singled out in its current dimensions for the 1st time in the 1850

conveyance. James lived and practiced there with his family. From the mid-1850s, the Harpers kept their

business on the ground floor but moved to 137 Court Street8. They rented the apartments above the store

5
City of Brooklyn property tax assessments, 1840-1841 (6th Ward), Brooklyn Historical Society.
6
Brooklyn alphabetical and street directory, and yearly advertiser. Brooklyn [N.Y.], Brooklyn directory
co. 1843/1844
7
Hearnes' Brooklyn city directory for, Brooklyn [N.Y.] : H.R., Hearne and W.H. Hearne, 1850-1854., v. :
ill. ; 24 cm, 1850/1851New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Libraries, 2014. Digitized by the Internet
Archive. February 17, 2015
8
Smiths Brooklyn Directory, 1856, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn, NY.
to immigrants (many of them Irish, like them). The Harpers had their shop there for over 60 years, until

Francis Harper, son of James, died in 19119.

1850 Coveyance Record to William Harper / 1850-51 directory with James Harper at Court near Dean / 1852-53 Directory with
James Harper at 163 Court Street (previously 93 Court Street)

Auction of 163 Court, at death of Francis Harper, Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov 19 1911

Remaining Wood-Frame Building of Boerum Hill

163 Court is one of the few remaining Wood frame buildings in Boerum Hill. In the 1855 map of the area,

there are 235 wood frame structures. In 2015, only 20 wood buildings remain, meaning only 8.6% of the

1855 count. These numbers are proof of the disappearing historical frame-building fabric of Boerum Hill.

Frame buildings have become a rarity due to their old age, the disadvantage of their structural stability

compared to brick buildings, their fire hazard and the exploitation of the zoning law by developers and

owners who chose to tear down to build higher, using up all the available FAR.

9
Real Estate at Auction, William H. Sith, Auctioneer. Executors Sale by the direction of the Nassau Trust
Co. Executor, etc., estate of Francis Harper, deceased [], The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sunday November
19, 1911.
1855 Wood-Frame Buildings

2015 Wood-Frame Buildings

The remaining wood frame buildings are residential, 2 story with basement and 3 story with basement

examples, with a transitional example with attic windows typical of the Greek Revival style. All these

wood-frame houses share a box-like quality with a roof invisible from the street, bold features, similar

proportions and simple but striking details characteristic of the Greek Revival style.

69-71 Dean Street (2 story with Basement), 446 State Street (2 story with attic and Basement), 36-46
Bergen Street (3 story with Basement)
Remaining Commercial Building of Boerum Hill

Another important aspect of 163 court is its historic storefront on its 1st floor. Many other examples of

historic storefronts exist in the Boerum Hill neighborhood, mainly laid along the 2 commercial streets:

Atlantic Avenue and Court Street. However, the few wood-frame buildings with a storefront were

demolished, for example 151 Court Street on the corner of the same block as 163 Court Street. There are

no wood buildings on Atlantic Avenue. In fact, all of the wood-frame buildings with storefronts have been

lost, except for 163 court, which is therefore is the only remaining wood building with a storefront in the

Boerum hill area. The already existent historic storefronts of the neighborhood are also in danger of being

replaced by newer installments rather than being restored. With the absence of designation, they are also

being completely erased with the demolition of the buildings in an increasingly gentrified neighborhood.

Map of Boerum hill with Atlantic Avenue and Court Street highlighted with a few Storefront examples. / 155 Court Street,
demolished. Source: 1937 Tax Photo

Mary Gannett and Henry Zook have owned 163 Court Street since 1981. They opened BookCourt in its

ground floor and they have lived on the top floors ever since. However, they are today in a state of

transition, as their son moved out and only one of them lives in the house. They bought the building from

George Spanakos, who is a lawyer practicing on 50 Livingston Street in Brooklyn today, and had bought

the properties as a real estate investment. In 1990, Mary and Henry made an office-space out of the dirt
basement. In 1996, they bought 161 Court Street and expanded the bookstore into its storefront, which

used to be Alberts Flower Shop. They also started renting out the apartments above it. In 2008, they took

over the flower shops 2000 square-foot greenhouse at the back of 161 Court Street and converted it into

The owners in 1981 / BookCourt Storefront / BookCourt Front Door / BookCourt Interior with tin ceiling

a space for events and extra book display. The continuous activity of the store has played a major role in

the preservation of the building and the active engagement of the community with and within it.

Restoration

When the owners bought the house, its faade had been deteriorating from weather damage. In the 80s,

a customer complained that a piece of the cornice fell on his head as he entered the store. Soon after this

incident, the owners hired a contractor called Harold Timmons to replace the window frames, 6x6 paneled

windows, cornice and siding exactly as they were. They specifically asked for the exact replication of the

already existing details, and said that the contractor had been very accurate and professional in his

restoration. The whole faade was custom made to replicate the old deteriorated one. On the main faade

the windows and cornices have Greek-revival style protruding coronas with dentils. The window frame

jambs imitate small columns carrying a cornice. The design of all the cornices of the main faade is

emphasized by rows of dentils, to the point Professor Andrew Dolkart described the building as being an

Essay in Dentils. They were indeed an original feature of the design: The dentils were replaced exactly

as they were, Mary assures.

Another subtle modification is the replacement of the one-step stoop at the entrance of the shop by ramp

for accessibility. The window panes at the storefront must have been paned with a multitude of small

rectangular leaded glass similar to Storefronts in Peter Nicholsons The new and improved practical

builder10. As for the rest of the storefront, the wood below the glass vitrines seems to be original, just

like the door enframement, which is the discrete side-centerpiece to this faade.

1937 tax Photo of 163 Court Street / 2015 Photo of 163 Court Street

10
Nicholson, Peter. The new and improved practical builder [electronic resource].London : Thomas Kelly, 1841, 106
Door Enframement

The door to the house is original and was not replaced by the contractor. It was recently painted red,

along with the rest of the storefront. It is recessed from the main faade and is rich in enframement

details. It is flanked with double box-column, with capitals with the Tower of the Winds order (which

Stuart and Revett described in their book The Antiquities of Athens11.)

Front Door Inframement / Stuart and Revett, Antiquities of Athens :

Plate VII, Chapter III, Volume I

The Triple-pane sidelights are framed by one and a half

columns on each side of the door. The Triple pane

transom is lined with decorative moldings: an anthemion

pattern, a Greek key motif and a leaf and dart pattern.

Two scroll brackets, decorated with flowers at the center

of the curls, beads running down the side and an acanthus leaf at the bottom, seem to support the

cornice cantilevered above the door. It was useful to compare these details to similar enframements in

the West village in Manhattan. On West 11th street is a series of row houses with Greek revival doors. One

example is a door enframement which also uses 1 and a half double columns in the Ionic order. It is

followed by a sequence of 12 row houses using the same box column with the Tower of the Winds order.

Building companies must have had ready-made wood column of this order, which they propagated around

New York. While it is doubtful these companies owned a copy of Stuart and Revetts lavish book, it is

possible they copied it and other details of moldings and brackets from a practical builders handbook,

11
Stuart, James and Revett, Nicolas. The antiquities of Athens : measured and delineated by James Stuart
and Nicholas Revett, painters and architects / with an introduction by Frank Salmon. New York : Princeton
Architectural Press, c2008.
such as Peter Nicholson (The father of American carpentry and joinery12)s The New and Improved

Practical Builder (1841)13, Minard Lafevers The modern builder's guide (1833)14, Asher Benjamins The

architect; or, Complete builder's guide [] (1845), or John Havilands The Builders Assistant (1937).

Door Enframement details / Storefronts in Peter Nicholsons The new and improved practical builder p106 / Anthemion Patterns
in Asher Benjamins The Architect or complete Builders guide

12
Hamlin, Talbot. The American development of Greek-inspired forms. Appendix A of Greek revival
architecture in America, 1943?
13
Nicholson, Peter. The new and improved practical builder [electronic resource].London : Thomas Kelly,
1841
14
Lafever, Minard. The modern builder's guide (1833), New York, Dover Publications [1969]
Doors on West 11th Street, Greenwich village, Manhattan: 1 and a half double Ionic columns / Order of the Tower of the Winds
Columns

Interior

The interior maintains many original details. On the second floor, the large doorways are framed with box

columns with a typical interior Greek revival simple capitals. The roof is decorated with beautiful moldings,

with a leaf pattern running along the filleted corner-molding. The interior window frames are Eared or

crossetted. They have pocket shutters attached to their insides, but they have been painted into the frame

and do not open anymore.

The mantelpieces are of different styles on each floor. Although they are both made of white marble, they

seem to be of different kind of marble. On the 1st floor the mantelpiece is Italianate with its arched details.

Its style succeeds the building date of the house, which means it might have replaced an earlier

mantelpiece. On the 3rd floor, it the mantelpiece is Greek revival but the slight pointed architrave, it seems

to approach gothic revival. The mantel cover is in cast-iron specifically fitting the mantelpieces. On the

third floor, the cast iron is a mold of a gothic perspective relief of an interior space flanked by two women.
Mantelpiece detail from Asher Benjamins Practice of architecture / Second Floor Italianate mantelpiece with circle detail
resembling Asher Benjamins at the corner piece.

The wooden stairs are well preserved, with the original wooden newel at the 1st floor. The original yellow-

pine floor was preserved around the stairs, but covered with a newer elevated parquet in the rest of the

rooms.

A mysterious feature of the 1st floor entrance is the curved wall. Its presence is interesting, especially that

a detail like this would have been expensive to make. It was perhaps added to create a larger, smooth

passage to the tea-room at the back of the house.

These rich details are a testament that the original owners of this house truly valued the architecture they

lived in, and gave special importance to fine architectural detail. It is then fair to suppose the owners were

indeed the Harper undertaker family, which would have built this house in 1850 with such intricate details,

with the intention of remaining there.

Interior door Frame / Eared interior window / Original Stair with newel

Greek Revival to Gothic Revival Mantelpiece / Curved wall at 1st floor house entrance

Significance

This paper illustrates the significance of 163 Court Street as a unique building in the neighborhood. It is

one of the few remaining Frame Houses in Boerum Hill and the only Storefront Frame building in the area.

Its Original Greek Revival Style Door Enframement presents intricate detailing which is still in good

condition. As for its faade cornice and window surrounds, although they are not original, they baffle the

viewer with their beautiful and intricate restoration. Finally, many interior details remain intact and

original, and are a testament to the refined taste of the original owners and their appreciation of fine

details. These elements should help in valuing the significance of this building in case of any threat in the

future.
Mary Gannett and Henry Zook have done a beautiful job in preserving their home and workplace. Their

intervention, maintenance and care for the building is one of the most important elements of its

significance, since it has allowed it to stay significant after all these years. Their local business is a staple

within the community, and it too must be saved. The locals are aware of its importance, as the bookstore

has a loyal following despite the threat posed by the newly opened Barnes and Noble mega-bookstore a

few blocks away, which was a major blow to local bookstore businesses. This report aims at supporting

Mary and Henrys business and at thanking them for hanging on to this gem in Boerum Hill for so long.
Bibliography: 163 Court Street

ATLASES

Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division, The New York Public Library. Index Map and
Plates 26, 27, 28, 29, 30: Map bounded by Schermerhorn Street, Nevins Street, Warren Street,
Hoyt Street, Volume 1" New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1855. Accessed October 28,
2015. http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47e0-c018-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99
Atlas of the Borough of Brooklyn City of New York, Plate 8. New York: E. Belcher Hyde, 1911.
Avery Library.

CONVEYANCE RECORDS

Brooklyn Land Conveyance records, Box 279, Brooklyn Historical Society.

City of Brooklyn property tax assessments, 1840-1841 (6th Ward), Brooklyn Historical Society.

DATABASES

1937 Tax Photos, 163 Court Street and 151 Court Street, NYC Municipal Archives.

DIRECTORIES

Brooklyn alphabetical and street directory, and yearly advertiser. Brooklyn [N.Y.], Brooklyn
directory co. 1843/1844 (only found Court near Dean references to the building)
Hearnes' Brooklyn city directory for ... [electronic resource], Brooklyn [N.Y.] : H.R., Hearne and
W.H. Hearne, 1850-1854., v. : ill. ; 24 cm, 1850/1851-1852/1853. Brooklyn city directory and
annual advertiser for the years ..., Brooklyn city directory. Electronic reproduction. New York,
N.Y.: Columbia University Libraries, 2014. Digitized by the Internet Archive. February 17, 2015
(found James Harper)
Smiths Brooklyn Directory, 1856, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn, NY.
(Harper moved from building except store)
Upingtons General Directory of the Borough of Brooklyn, 1908 A - K Published by George
Upington, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn, NY. (Francis Harper still at
store)

CENSUS

1860 United States Federal Census, James Harper, Image 128, Kings Ward 10, District 2
1870 United States Federal Census, James Harper, Image 3, Kings Ward 9
1980 United States Federal Census, 163 Court Street, Image 21, Kings 020

BOOKS

Benjamin, Asher. The architect; or, Complete builder's guide, illustrated by sixty-six engravings,
which exhibit the orders of architecture and other elements of the art. Designed for the use of
builders, particularly of carpenters and joiners, Boston, B. B. Mussey, 1845.
 Benjamin, Asher. Practice of architecture. Containing the five orders of architecture and an
additional column and entablature, with all their elements and details explained and illustrated,
for the use of carpenters and practical men. With sixty plates. By Asher Benjamin ...Boston, Pub.
by the Author [etc.]; New York, Collins & Co., 1833.
Hamlin, Talbot. The American development of Greek-inspired forms. Appendix A of Greek revival
architecture in America, 1943?
Hamlin, Talbot.Greek revival architecture in America: being an account of important trends in
American architecture and American life prior to the War between the States, New York, Dover,
1964.
Lafever, Minard. The modern builder's guide (1833), New York, Dover Publications [1969]
Nicholson, Peter. The new and improved practical builder [electronic resource].London : Thomas
Kelly, 1841
Schmidt, Carl Frederick, Greek revival details, [Scottsville, N.Y., 1968]
Stuart, James and Revett, Nicolas. The antiquities of Athens : measured and delineated by James
Stuart and Nicholas Revett, painters and architects / with an introduction by Frank Salmon. New
York : Princeton Architectural Press, c2008.
Wiebenson, Dora. Sources of Greek revival architecture, University Park, Pennsylvania State
University Press, 1969.

NEWSPAPERS

Real Estate at Auction, William H. Sith, Auctioneer. Executors Sale by the direction of the Nassau
Trust Co. Executor, etc., estate of Francis Harper, deceased [], The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Sunday
November 19, 1911.
Popular lectures on architecture, by J. Gallier, architect. : The first of a course of seven lectures on
architecture, will be given in the large room of the Classical Hall, Washington Street, Brooklyn, on
Tuesday evening, the 25th of February ...[Brooklyn, N.Y. : s.n., between 1831 and 1837] Avery
Library Classics Collections.
WEBSITES

CLASSICAL COMMENTS: TOWER OF THE WINDS ORDER by Calder Loth, Posted by Sara
Durkacs on October 29, 2010, http://blog.classicist.org/?p=1425
The Last Days of Redhook Lane, http://forgotten-ny.com/2004/06/the-last-days-of-red-hook-
lane/
Bookcourt Website, About. http://bookcourt.com/about/about-bookcourt
Historic districts map http://maps.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/

INTERVIEW

Meeting with Mary Gannett, who showed me the house over the shop at 163 Court Street. Short
Meeting with Henry Zook.