WHEN prominent apartment buildings in Bay Ridge are under discussion, Flagg Court (seen on this page), developed by premier architect Ernest Flagg (Singer Building) comes first to mind, but the neighborhood is chock full of beautiful residences. I spent a great deal of time in the Splendor Apartments, #7502 4th Avenue, in Bay Ridge for almost 30 years…though I never lived there. I’ll explain. The Moderne-style apartment building opened in 1931 at 4th Avenue and Bay Ridge Parkway (75th Street, as the natives call it), with the main entrance on 75th. Bennett & Koeppel supplied architectural flourishes.
Here’s the front entrance, virtually unchanged since 1931.
This newspaper ad, rendered in the magnificent Bodoni font, relates the building’s amenities. Rents, no doubt, were mostly under $100 a month in 1931, which in the Depression was still a good chunk of change.
Why was I in this building so often for all those years? The reason is simple. My dentist office was on the ground floor. I never went in through the front: the side entrance, facing 4th Avenue, led directly into the office. I patronized the same dental practice for over 55 years, from 1964 through the Covid era in 2020, first with Dr. Leon Tempkin, who in 1985 handed off to his associate, Dr. Mark DeBock. Dr. DeBock suffered from health issues and passed at a relatively young age at the end of the pandemic, and I then found a practice closer to my home in Little Neck. For many years, I commuted from Little Neck to Bay Ridge for dental work!
If anyone remembers either dentist…Comments are open.
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2/24/26