Linden Street block becomes Bushwick’s first landmarked historic district

A section of Linden Street has been named Bushwick’s first landmarked historic district.

Photo by Susan de Vries

A remarkable section of Linden Street has been designated Bushwick’s first historic district by the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission following a unanimous vote by commissioners at a May 9 meeting.

The landmarked area includes a “remarkably intact group of 32 brick and brownstone row houses built between 1885 and 1901,” as the agency put it, on the block between Broadway and Bushwick Avenue.

“Designed by Brooklyn architects, these distinctive row houses represent the highly successful integration of late 19th century picturesque styles: the Queen Anne, the Neo-Grec, and the Romanesque and Renaissance revivals,” LPC researcher Marianne Hurley told the commissioners.

The district covers areas on both sides of Linden Street, including 10 Queen Anne-style brick row houses with extraordinary terra-cotta decoration that run from 37 to 55 Linden Street and start at the corner of Bushwick Avenue.

Designed by architect Frank Keith Irving, the unusual row has motifs on cornices and terra-cotta not seen anywhere else in New York City. The quality of the decoration is also unusual for homes intended for middle-class owners.

They were commissioned in 1888 by prominent lawyer and one of the founders of the Williamsburgh Savings Bank, Samuel M. Meeker, Hurley said. Meeker, and later his family, developed much of the section of Linden Street that is now landmarked. The historic district, New York City’s 156th, is both architecturally and historically significant, Hurley said, and “stands out as a unified streetscape with a strong sense of place”.

At a public hearing in February, locals largely spoke in favor of designation, with eight people testifying in support of designation and one, a member of Open New York who lives in the neighborhood, speaking against. Hurley said in addition, the…