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Homecrest is a subneighborhood at Gravesend bordered roughly by Coney Island Avenue, Ocean Avenue, and Avenues S and X. It was originally a real estate development by the Harbor and Suburban Building and Savings Association in 1898. Five years later the development was nearly complete, as 100 homes neared completion and sewer and gas mains were in place. Harbor and Suburban purchased the Stillwell farm for $200,000. The name lives on in the main road to Coney Island, Stillwell Avenue.
WAYFARING MAP: GRAVESEND
Homecrest Avenue between Avenues T and U is lined on both sides with the same one-story "jewel box" houses we have seen earlier on East 15th. I would suppose that the ground in the area was sandy and would not support taller structures, but that does not seem to be so much of a problem now as much taller buildings have been built.
Beth-El Center of Flatbush, Avenue T and Homecrest Avenue, constructed in the Gregorian year 1927. On the Homecrest side we see an original Harbor and Suburban house. The center features some intricate carvings and stained glass work.
Brooklyn Alliance Church, Avenue T and East 15th Street, was originally the Homecrest Presbyterian Church when it was dedicated on Easter 1901. Harbor and Suburban dedicated the land where it stands. The ell on the right was constructed in 1922. Interestingly, the fence is ancient: it ws originally located in front of the first London Terrace on West 23rd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues in Chelsea, Manhattan. London Terrace on West 23rd consisted of "36 grand brownstone row houses, all set well back from the pavement behind hedges and trees. Each dwelling was designed in the popular Greek Revival style, creating a uniform vista of three-storied pilasters and recessed spandrels with Greek key carving." That London Terrace stood from 1845-1929; the next year, it was replaced by the handsome 16-story apartments making up the London Terrace Towers of today.
6-story apartment building adjoining the Brighton Line, Avenue T and East 15th. RIGHT: Luther Mook Corner, East 14th and Avenue T; Mook was a Foreign Officer in the US State Department. Though many Chinese immigrants are settling into Homecrest these days, the Mooks were among the first Asian families in the area, settling over a century ago. He was also a member of the Electoral College, casting a vote for the Republican Party, and founded Homecrest Community Services.
Name that language, East 15th between Avenues T and U. Cambodian, I am told.
Shooting in the winter, photographer Lisanne was able to get a much better picture than I could of this house on East 14th between T and U. It's unusual for Homecrest - wraparound porch and big yard -- and may have been built independently of the development.
These tightly-packed houses on East 14th are more typical of Homecrest. RIGHT: a "cloaking device" -- aluminum siding -- hides the original appearance of this East 15th Street house.
These are also atypical -- another house with spacious grounds on East 15th -- and some attached brick buildings a la Park Slope or Windsor Terrace.
St. Edmund's parish and elementary school, East 19th and Avenue T. The Latin words "for God" are emblazoned on the East 19th Street side. Here is a look at the 1981 elementary school yearbook, which is online for some reason. Anyone you know in there? Storm Field is.
The St. Edmund rectory and high school, meanwhile, are around the corner on Avenue T and Ocean Avenue. The high school, constructed in 1962, features a huge illuminated cross. The high school had an all-female student body until 1994 when it became co-ed; at the same time it became a preparatory school with more of a focus on preparing its students for college. Any St. Edmund grads have any stories?
A block east at Avenue T and East 21st Street is the former Reformed Dutch Church, dedicated in 1907. I believe it is now a private residence.
Concluding my Gravesend tour for now, I made my way back to the F train at Kings Highway and McDonald Avenue by way of Coney Island Avenue, where we find a couple of interesting items. As we've seen Gravesend is full of short one-block streets and now-defunct roads. On Coney Island Avenue just south of Avenue S we have two dead-ends, Hutchinson and Homecrest Courts. Homecrest Court is the more interesting of the two because its 1940s era enamel and aluminum sign, with raised letters, has been allowed to survive. Whenever I find one of these, the Department of Transportation rushes to the scene and replaces it. Someone over there must be a ForgottenFan. So what do you say, DOT? Let it abide!
Getting dangerously close to Midwood here, but in all my years in Brooklyn I hadn't noticed that Avenue R between Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue has a center median. It has been spiffed up in recent years with new pavings and bollards.
