The hulking Hutwelker Building (I couldn’t resist) stands at the SE corner of 5th Avenue and 19th Street in south Park Slope, 5 blocks away from Green-Wood Cemetery. A beautiful building from the 19th Century, exhibiting pride of place. A flagpole extends over 5th Avenue on the 3rd floor. Frederick Hutwelker operated a pork packing enterprise with his two brothers beginning in 1896 (the business was physically located on the Hudson River waterfront in the West 40s in Hell’s Kitchen, which had its own stockyards district in the late 19th-early 20th Century). I have other reports claiming this building as a stables.
The building has an elaborate pediment, with raised lettering that identifies the place. Until 1940 5th Avenue had an elevated train that rumbled in front of the building, but I’d imagine it went up only as far as the 2nd floor, so the sign wouldn’t be seen by commuters on the el. It could be seen, though, by people approaching 5th Avenue from the north on 19th Street.
Meatpacking offices, stables, Hutwelkers and the elevated train are all gone, but this building is still here, and so am I.
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8/10/18
3 comments
Did you happen to notice the building directly across 19th Street? Google Street View shows a decaying abandoned building, which according to ghost sign remnants was a former furniture store. I’m surprised nothing’s been done with it, what with Park Slope being a prosperous area.
Good bye White Eagle (Polish Deli), hello…I see Lenny’s Pizza is still there.
Hey, My Great Grandfather built that building. Frederick died from pneumonia in his late 20s. His son Frederick became a Dairy Farmer in Walden, NY, his son Frederick, my father, was a steel salesman in Bethlehem, PA.