THIS magnificent double-towered, triple-turreted former fire department headquarters on Jay Street just north of Willoughby contrasts with the rather less exuberant office buildings surrounding it. Designed in 1892 by Frank Freeman, it is a prime example of the Romanesque Revival movement of that time. Recently it has been used as housing for people who were displaced by the construction of MetroTech. If you’ve ever been to Boston, note the resemblance to H.H. Richardson’s Trinity Church in Copley Square. The arched doorway once had the words “Fire Headquarters” carved into the stone.
Freeman also designed the Eagle Warehouse Building further north on Old Fulton Street, the Crescent Athletic Club on 129 Pierrepont Street, and the original Brooklyn Union Gas headquarters on Remsen Street (for many years part of St. Francis College, my alma mater). Many of his beautiful Brooklyn buildings have by now been demolished. The building served as Brooklyn’s fire department headquarters for just six years until Brooklyn consolidated with Manhattan as part of a Greater New York City. After that, it was only New York City’s most magnificent firehouse for over eight decades.
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4/23/26
2 comments
Gorgeous building. Have walked by many times over the years, and have several photos of it, and original postcards, in my collection. Now overshadowed by the enormous MetroTech building next door. But at least it was preserved, which you can’t say for many old buildings in the increasingly highrise area of downtown Brooklyn.
My g-g-great uncle, John Ennis, was the Fire Commissioner of the City of Brooklyn and was in-charge of building this structure.