Lefferts Manor a Singular New York City Community

Lefferts Manor A Singular New York City Community

Suzanne Spellen with Dominique M. Carson 2 Lefferts Manor A Singular New York City Community

Suzanne Spellen with Dominique M. Carson

1 Acklowledgments

Thanks to all who helped Special thanks as well to to make this Lefferts Manor Professor John Petito who led Association (LMA) Centennial us back to the NYU archival Yearbook possible especially— material, which contained LMA President, Pia Raymond, his graduate work on Lefferts LMA Vice-President, Vincent Manor history and who also Lisi, former LMA Board member graciously shared his exhaustive Mary Miller, former Board background materials from member Paul Morin, Board his research. member Bob Marvin and Lefferts Manor neighbor Ada Terry. And last but certainly not least, special note of thanks to Mary Special thanks to our Lefferts Miller who shared her idea Manor neighbor, Professor for a Yearbook commemorating Ronald Howell, who provided LMA’s centennial and who guidance on the selection and contributed her guidance, work of those who penned the knowledge of LMA’s history article for this Yearbook on the and wise counsel throughout history of Lefferts Manor—Ms. our efforts to bring this to Suzanne Spellen with Ms. publication. And to Vincent Lisi Dominique Carson. for his professional expertise and artistry in designing this beautiful Also thanks to John Zarillo, souvenir of LMA history. Senior Archivist of the New York University Archives for assisting It has been a pleasure to work us every step of the way in with you all on this special project. gaining access to archival material containing the research on Lefferts Carlene V. Braithwaite Manor conducted under the LMA Board Member New York University (NYU) Public History Program in 1991– 92.

4 Prologue 6 Introduction 12 A Singular New York City Community 14 A Short History 16 The Lefferts Family 20 Creating Lefferts Manor 26 Living with the Covenant in the Manor 30 The Holmes Case 32 Life in Lefferts Manor 36 Missing Ben Edwards 38 Lefferts Manor Timeline 40 Sources and Bibliography 41 Recommended Further Reading and Selected References 42 Single-Family Covenant 43 Lefferts Manor Association Yearbook 1930—31 Lefferts Manor Association Yearbook 1938 115 Map of Lefferts Manor Prologue

To top off these centennial celebrations and with gratitude to all who have worked to make them truly memorable, the LMA Board and its Centennial Committee present to you this special centennial edition of the Lefferts Manor Association Yearbook. This Yearbook begins with a thoughtful reflection on the history of LMA and The Lefferts Manor Association Lefferts Manor by long-time (LMA) was founded in 1919 by a resident and former Board group of neighbors to ensure the member, Mary Miller. Providing continued viability of Lefferts a look back on LMA through Manor as a stable harmonious the years, Mary’s introduction residential community in the guides us through notable heart of a growing section LMA activities and events of Brooklyn near Prospect which now are a part of Lefferts Park. In June of 2019, the LMA Manor history. The Yearbook’s annual house tour marked the centerpiece is an article on centennial of Lefferts Manor by Lefferts Manor. Working with focusing on the stunning and the LMA Board, the Centennial varied landmarked architecture Committee for this Yearbook of the neighborhood’s homes. embarked on research on the Later in September, we were history of LMA and Lefferts pleased to host a very special Manor. The article—Lefferts centennial Gala with music, food, Manor: A Singular New York City drink and fellowship at Brooklyn Community—summarizes some Commons. The Gala event was of that history. The article was well attended by many neighbors, crafted by Ms. Suzanne Spellen, friends and supporters of Lefferts working with Ms. Dominique Manor. Carson, a research intern

4 retained by the Lefferts Manor who seek to learn more about Board, under the guidance this unique community. of Lefferts Manor neighbor, journalist and author, Professor It is hoped you enjoy this Ronald Howell. In addition to souvenir of Lefferts Manor’s the article, the Committee has 100 years. Special thanks to all created a timeline on the history who assisted in the 2019 Lefferts of Lefferts Manor, with photos Manor centennial events and in and pictures of significant events our look back over the history over the past years which are of this community and this noteworthy and memorable. Also organization. reproduced are two Yearbooks issued by LMA in the 1930s to Pia Raymond is President of the Lefferts Manor memorialize its activities. When Association since 2019. one reads through these 1930s Yearbooks, it is easy to notice the similarities between some of the issues of the day and those of interest now—street lighting, tree preservation, enforcement of local traffic regulations and an overall concern for the continued viability of the neighborhood as a friendly, stable and very special place to live. Provided also is a recommended reading list. In addition to material that may be familiar and those noted in the article, the list contains materials uncovered during the centennial research which should serve as a resource for additional reading and source material for those

5 Introduction

by the LMA. It was managed for over thirty years by Carole Schaffer, a Midwood I resident and pillar of the community who was known as the House Tour Lady. Her husband, Art Schaffer, joined with Curtis Bryce, Bob Marvin, Hein Jurgensen and others to petition the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission for historic As we celebrate the centennial designation of the area, which of the founding of the Lefferts was granted in 1979. When the Manor Association this year, I extent of historic designation am taking the opportunity to was not as wide as hoped for, the reflect on the significance of this LMA under the leadership of Ben institution in creating a unique, Edwards was instrumental in the wonderful community. Our eventual designation of Ocean hope is that this LMA Yearbook, on the Park in 2009 and Chester incorporating copies of those Court in 2014. produced in 1930-31 and 1938, will help bring forward for the next In the mid 1980s Nancy Asher one hundred years a sense of the spearheaded a campaign to history and development of this place oak flower barrels along special area and the role of the the sidewalks because so many LMA in “the bringing together of street trees were missing. The the residents of that district for Association has ever since their better acquaintance, and for organized yearly planting of their mutual benefit.” flowers paid for by the LMA. Independent of LMA, Manor By the time I moved here in 1981, residents organized a paid the annual PLGNA House and security patrol that cruised Garden Tour had been running the neighborhood during the since 1969. Although founded difficult years of the crack by the Prospect Lefferts Gardens cocaine epidemic. A more Neighborhood Association, a cheerful practice, the hanging larger neighborhood association of holiday wreaths on the doors established the same year, the of LMA members started in the House Tour relied heavily on late 1990s. LMA President Ben Manor residents for its success, Edwards worked with elected and was eventually sponsored officials, particularly Marty

6 Markowitz, our State Senator be a lot of different celebrations, and later Borough President, but we came up with the idea to install tree guards and of having one community-wide the bishop’s crook street lights celebration in 1993 to celebrate appropriate to the historic the founding of Lefferts Manor. character of the Manor. The timeline was short. I Besides the twice-a-year headed up the project and we meetings held by the LMA to involved the New York University discuss neighborhood issues, Program in Public History in an individual blocks promote a academic year of researching sense of community with block the history of our area. The parties and progressive dinners. graduate students in the masters’ The LMA puts out The Echo, a program presented their research, neighborhood newsletter, several collectively titled Transforming the times a year. The Manor also Fields: Flatbush from Dutch Farms became a host to the larger to Urban Homes to the community community by working with at the Lefferts Homestead the 71st Precinct on the annual on May 3, 1992. Much of their Halloween Parade. Starting in research was incorporated into 1996 Manor residents on Rutland, an exhibit in the Homestead, Midwood and Maple Streets mounted by the Association in have decorated their homes in cooperation with the Prospect ghoulish themes and opened Park Alliance, from October 9 to their doors to hand out candy to December 19, 1993. an increasing number of trick-or- treaters drawn from ever larger Our neighborhood has been parts of Brooklyn when word of rocked by two major tragedies. the fun and benefits spread. The November 1, 1918 subway accident under the intersection It must have been in the late of Flatbush Avenue and Malbone 1980s that Carole Schaffer and Street was so devastating that I were having the canonical Malbone Street had to be Lefferts Manor conversation renamed and is now Empire “When will my house be Boulevard. The wreck, due to a ‘finished’?”. I said I wanted to runaway train making a sharp have a big party for my house turn where different subway when it turned 100 years old in lines connected, killed 93 people, 2011. Carole’s house is among the including Joseph I. Maier of 204 oldest, and she would need to Midwood Street. Brian Cudahy’s celebrate in 1998. There could book can give you all the details.

7 Lefferts Manor residents tie ribbons of remembrance on the gate of our fire house on Rogers Avenue for the firefighters from Engine 249 and Ladder 113 who sacrificed their lives in the 9/11 World Trade Center attack. Bob Marvin, photographer, 2001

In our shared memory of the five former members of the devastating September 11, 2001 company who made the supreme attack on the World Trade Center sacrifice on 9/11/01: Towers, it was a beautiful, blue- FF Vernon Cherry (249) sky, early fall morning. It was horrifying for neighbors to look FF Nicholas Rossomando (113) west to the hideous clouds of Capt. Martin Egan (113) black smoke coming from one Chief John Paolillo (113) tower, and then the other. Singed Lt. John Crisci (249) bits from office papers blew across the East River and landed In thinking about the past for on our streets. The air was rent this project, we also thought with the sound of fire trucks about the future, and what we and other emergency vehicles feel is the importance of carrying rushing to assist. Not everybody forward the special regard we we knew came home: 2997 people have for our home, Lefferts Manor. died, including David Nelson, Our hope is that by sharing our who had lived for many years at findings with both the Brooklyn 37 Midwood Street with his wife Public Library and the Brooklyn and two children. Our local fire Historical Society, we will give station, Engine 249 and Ladder future Manorites more access to 113, located on Rogers Avenue resources to reconstruct aspects of since 1896, did not lose any active the past. The two yearbooks that members that day, but we honor surfaced in our research made us

8 aware of the importance of ink of the covenant in forming on paper and the significance this community and inspiring of the wide distribution of the those who have lived here. It is yearbooks among homeowners important for those who live of the time in preserving history. here now and those who may It is our hope that this yearbook enjoy the unique qualities of will also have wide support by Lefferts Manor in the future to homeowners and be handed understand that the covenant down to future generations to created this community. It was transmit our story. written into all the original deeds of land that the parcels As you read the old yearbooks, were to be used only for the you will realize that the concerns construction of single-family of yesteryear to a large extent residences. It specified the remain the concerns of today: quality of the buildings, the the maintenance of our homes, setback from the street, and sanitation, the care of street that no multifamily dwellings, trees, issues of parking and mail churches, or noxious businesses delivery, telephone poles, cable such as tanneries, were to be TV wiring, Fios! Of major note, allowed. Although denser than the early work of the LMA was many of the developments supporting the Lefferts family that were sprouting in the area in maintaining the single family at the time, the Lefferts plan covenant. Nothing is more central produced an array of homes to this community, although that can seem like a low-density the significance of the covenant area today. Once most lots were has faded. John Petito, one of the developed, the major focus of NYU graduate students, wrote the covenant became protecting his thesis on the importance the single-family restriction. A of the covenant in forming, covenant sets out the rights and dividing, and reforming a sense responsibilities of how we are to of community. Jerome Krase, a be with each other. Petito argued sociologist at Brooklyn College that the covenant was at first a and former resident, also wrote mechanism for cohering, but about the role of the covenant then became a source of division in his books Self and Community as the discriminatory nature of and Race, Class, and Gentrification many covenants meant that they in Brooklyn. were overthrown by the courts. The Lefferts Manor covenant was You may need to live here awhile upheld by the courts because to begin to appreciate the role it did not discriminate by race,

9 ethnicity, or religion, although, going on since the earliest days goodness knows, individual of the neighborhood, and was residents may have held those not discriminatory. The issue feelings. Krase points out that resolved to some degree when different groups kept coming New York City zoned the area for in, northern Europeans, Jews, single families in 1960. Irish, Italians, African Americans, Caribbeans, gentrifying whites, So, you could ask, what good did with each group assimilating and the covenant do? By establishing then feeling defensive as ‘another a certain quality for the homes, type of people’ joined the mix. the covenant established the I’ve heard stories of Irish priests middle-class status of the at St. Francis declining to have residents. Whatever their race, Italian boys as acolytes because ethnicity, or religion, I would say they ‘wouldn’t pronounce the most Manor residents are bound Latin properly’. Some white by our middle-class values of residents built tall ‘spite fences’ caring for our families and our when black newcomers moved neighbors and our neighborhood. next door. Brokers promoted The covenant also preserved ‘white flight’, bankers engaged the interiors of our homes since in redlining. Feelings had risen they were not being made into to a boiling point with the floor through apartments when Holmes case in 1950 when the housing pressure promoted Association took to court a black that in other neighborhoods. family who needed to attract Preserving the interiors also roomers to afford their new had the effect of preserving the home. Many people, particularly exteriors, and this coherent group religious leaders from outside of homes deserved national the community rallied to the landmark and historic district family’s cause, forming the designation. Our low density Holmes Defense Committee. It of population means that our took the Association’s leaders quiet streets remain relatively time to educate those outside clean, and a parking spot near the community to the fact that your home is still a possibility. the enforcement had been But most of all the covenant

10 Carole Schaffer

became the foundation of how It is because I feel so strongly we will live with each other, how about the covenant that I we will use our homes, how we feel committed to bringing will care about how others use this history forward. That is theirs. Through the efforts of why you hold in your hands the Lefferts Manor Association, a reproduction of the older we have used this foundation to yearbooks, a time line of our develop a sense of community, a history, and a summary of some pride in our history and our sense of the events, happy and tragic, of togetherness. Although many that have bound us together. may move to a city like New York for a sense of anonymity, we Mary Miller has been a President and long-time have found our friends here, and board ember of the Lefferts Manor Association. we cherish them. I truly believe that the covenant is the root of this unique place that has grown and flourished for over one hundred years.

11 A Singular New York City Community

Beginning in the late 19th Brooklyn is now famous, century, Brooklyn began immortalized in popular music, boasting that it was the “City movies, television, and print of Churches and Homes.” 150 ads. In 2019, it seems, everyone years later, that successful knows about Brooklyn, and ad campaign is still a part of people come from all over the Brooklyn lore. Today, Brooklyn world to live in those famous is known the world over for Brooklyn neighborhoods, its iconic neighborhoods, its especially Park Slope, Brooklyn streetscapes and rows of Heights or Bedford Stuyvesant. “brownstones,” the generic name But some neighborhoods are given to any style of attached row less well known than others. house. For many people Neighborhoods like Flatbush. outside of the borough, there is no other architecture Flatbush was an independent in Brooklyn. town within Kings County until

12 Ebbets Field, home of the House on Maple Street Brooklyn Dodgers Photography Suzanne Spellen

1894, when their City Fathers neighborhood of Prospect finally decided to become a Lefferts Gardens (PLG). part of the city of Brooklyn. Flatbush’s history and its public Within PLG is a marvelous perception have always been a collection of architectural styles bit different than Brownstone and periods spanning the years Brooklyn’s. Throughout most of between 1890 and the 1960s. The the 20th century, Flatbush was neighborhood’s streetscape seen as home to the Brooklyn includes Renaissance Revival Flatbush Avenue Dodgers at Ebbets Field. To stone row houses, clapboard residence— frame houses and majestic postcard, early Hollywood, Brooklyn was filled 20th century with working-class white ethnics churches. There are picturesque Ebay; photographer who populated World War II rows of Tudor cottages, double unknown movies. Films like “The Lords duplex townhouses, red brick of Flatbush,” imagined gangs of Colonials and an assortment of disaffected juvenile delinquents 20th century apartment buildings. terrorizing the neighborhoods. Of all the elements that make And of course, Flatbush was the PLG interesting and desirable, birthplace of Barbra Streisand. nothing is more controversial While it can also boast about and successful than the single- its brownstones, Flatbush family covenant creating is unique in its residential Lefferts Manor as a distinct architecture. Its variety runs micro-neighborhood within the gamut of styles from classic PLG. Lefferts Manor—the area stone row houses to large free- bounded by Flatbush Avenue standing suburban mansions, to Rogers Avenue and Lincoln with hundreds of apartment Road to Fenimore Street—is buildings and various other only eight blocks of houses. To forms of housing in between. those who live there, it is unique Nowhere is this richness more among all of Brooklyn’s storied visible than in the Flatbush neighborhoods.

13 A Short History

Greenpoint B U S H WBushwick I C K

Williamsburg

Brooklyn Village BROOKLYN

Gowanus New Lots

Flatbush

FLATBUSHFLATLANDS NEW Flatlands UTRECHT New Utrecht Fort Hamilton GRAVESEND Gravesend

Coney Island

14 Before the arrival of the early the British in a naval campaign. Dutch settlers, the enslaved The towns of Brooklyn became Africans and the people of part of the province of New different nationalities who York, named for the Duke of followed them, the land we call York. In 1683, those towns were Brooklyn belonged to the Lenape established as Kings County. people, who had hunted and farmed there for thousands of One of the original six towns— Midwout, was also called Henry Hudson years. But that ended soon after lands at Henry Hudson sailed his ship, “Vlacktebos,” and from this comes Coney Island the Half Moon, into the harbor the English word “Flatbush.” Harper’s Flatbush Avenue was established Encyclopedia of near Coney Island in 1609. US History (public on a previously existing Native domain), 1912 Hudson explored the area, and American trail which stretched then sailed up the river that bears north from Flatlands, to the his name as far north as Troy, NY. banks of the East River. To the As the river narrowed, he realized north lay the town of Breukelen, that this was not the fabled route to the south, Flatlands, and in to China and the Indies. He the middle, Midwout; the turned around and went home, “middle woods.” reporting to his employers, the Dutch East India Company, that The first Dutch Reformed he had found a beautiful land, Church was built in 1662, at the rich in natural resources, ripe for center of Midwout, on the corner colonization and profit. of Church and Flatbush Avenues. The third church at that location, The Dutch East India Company, still standing, was built in 1769. A courthouse stood next to the 1883 Brooklyn and its rival, the Dutch West Bridge opens India Company, both sent ships original church, and in 1658, a and people to colonize and set school was built just across the up trading outposts in what they street, now the site of Erasmus would call New Netherlands. Hall High School. The era of the Dutch, who permanently shaped the history Kings County grew throughout of New York, began. the 18th century, on into the 19th. While the towns of Brooklyn Aerial view Six towns, all founded in the and Williamsburg grew more of Prospect mid-1600s would eventually urban and industrial as the 19th Park, Brooklyn become the city of Brooklyn. century progressed, the more Botanic Garden, Ebbets Field Most of the first settlers were remote towns of Flatbush, and Prospect farmers, like Han Hansen New Utrecht, Flatlands and Lefferts Gardens Bergen, who purchased several Gravesend remained farming hundred acres near the town of communities until the end of the Map of the Midwout, in 1636. Much of his century, tied to greater Brooklyn six towns of Kings County land makes up modern Flatbush. by Flatbush Avenue and other before Brooklyn In 1664, the Dutch territories of major roadways. But change became a New Netherlands were won by was coming. borough in 1898

15 The Lefferts Family

One of Brooklyn’s Oldest and Wealthiest Dutch Families

John Lefferts The Lefferts family was one took the name Lefferts as a c. 1893 of the wealthiest, and most surname. important and influential families in Brooklyn. Up until When Van Haughwout and at the middle of the 19th century, least two of his sons moved north various branches of the family to Bedford, he left behind the owned the land that would family homestead, built sometime become Bedford-Stuyvesant, in the late 1680s. It stood Crown Heights, Prospect Lefferts approximately where Maple James Lefferts Street and Flatbush intersect. Obituary photo Gardens, Wingate and sundry Brooklyn Eagle, other parts of today’s Flatbush. In 1776, at the beginning of the photographer Revolutionary War, the British unknown, 1915 The family descended from invaded Brooklyn, culminating in Leffert Pietersen Van Haughwout, the Battle of Brooklyn, which took who immigrated to Brooklyn place in parts of what are now from Holland in 1660, as one of Gowanus, Greenwood Heights the early colonists in the Dutch and Prospect Park. Before that settlement of Flatbush. He and battle in August of 1776, American his wife Aukersie Van Nuyse troops burned down the Lefferts had fourteen children, twelve homestead to prevent the British of whom were male, starting a from acquiring it. dynasty that continues to this day. After only two generations After the war, great-grandson in America, the family formally Peter Lefferts rebuilt the house

16 Judge Vanderbilt Home postcard Ebay, photographer unknown, 1907

Lefferts Homestead postcard Ebay, photographer unknown, before 1918

17 Courtyard at Erasmus Hall High School Kenneth Goldman photographer, (Erasmus Hall Alumni Association web site), 1953

and expanded his lands. He was In 1778, Peter Lefferts was a now one of the wealthiest men delegate to the state convention in Kings County, with a 240 acre in Poughkeepsie, when New farm, and a large household that York ratified the United States included eight family members Constitution. He was also one and twelve enslaved people of the original contributors and of African descent. This made trustees of Erasmus Hall. He died him one of Brooklyn’s largest in 1791, and the estate passed to slaveholders and contributed to his six year old son, John. making Kings County the largest slaveholding county in New York John Lefferts grew up to become State. Most of the large farms a congressman and a state in Kings County were tended senator, serving between 1821 by enslaved people. There were and 1826. He was well regarded James Lefferts never as many as on Southern by his peers and in the press and in front of was known as “Senator John” to the Lefferts plantations, but enslaved people Homestead still worked the land, worked as distinguish him from the other Brooklyn domestic servants and lived in family members named John. He Historical Society, had two children, both of whom photographer attics and outbuildings, some still unknown, c.1893 speaking Dutch like their owners. made their mark on Brooklyn. His daughter, Gertrude Phebe Lefferts Vanderbilt was the author of The Social History of Flatbush, which included stories told by her grandmother, Femmetie Lefferts.

These stories would provide historians with valuable information about the community, the lives of family members, enslaved and free Africans, Europeans, and Native Americans who lived and worked on the farm or in Flatbush. The Vanderbilt estate was just across Flatbush Avenue from the Lefferts house. Gertrude spent over 35 years of her life devoted to her favorite charity, the Industrial Home and School for Destitute Children. She died in 1902.

18 Her brother John spent his entire His eldest son, John Lefferts, Jr, Old Flatbush life in the family farmhouse. He was a prominent Brooklyn lawyer, Tollgate was very active in the Dutch a partner in the firm of Sutphen & Avery Library, Reformed Church, which became Lefferts. It is John Jr.’s son, James, Columbia University: Grace Reformed Church. An along with his six brothers and F.A. Lipphold affiliate of the church, the sisters, who would sell the farm, photographer, late Flatbush Dutch Church, was and establish Lefferts Manor. 19th century established in 1816 for the enslaved and free black families living in In 1893, only six months after Flatbush at this area. In 1856, this and another John Jr.’s death, James and Ocean Avenue his siblings divided the farm Museum of the City group merged as the Society for of NY, photographer the Amelioration of the Colored into lots. 600 of them were unknown, 1915 Population in Flatbush. Gertrude set aside as a residential Vanderbilt and her brother John development called Lefferts Lefferts established a mission Manor. James set down church, called Grace Sunday a very specific covenant to School for the society. The restrict anything he felt wooden chapel was built near was inappropriate to this the Vanderbilt house. endeavor. Most people today know about the deed restriction Both the Vanderbilt and the that requires all of the homes Lefferts family members, to be built as, and remain, especially John, were active at single family dwellings, but Grace. John served as a Sunday there was much more to the School teacher, a fundraiser, covenant than that. More on business advisor and patron. The that later. local newspapers reported that he was a kind and pious man, calling Lefferts hoped that these him “generous to the poor and restrictions would promote an struggling, white and colored alike.” even development, and would attract a strong middle-class He was also quite a businessman community, providing stability and was on the board of the and comfort. Building in the Brooklyn Bank, which his family neighborhood came to a crashing had established, and was a trustee halt in 1903, when a devastating of the Long Island Insurance recession temporarily halted Company, the Long Island development. However, progress Loan and Trust, Flatbush Gas resumed particularly between Company, Flatbush Water Works 1905 and 1911. The development Company and the Brooklyn boom would continue far past Safety Deposit Company. James Lefferts’ lifetime.

19 Creating Lefferts Manor

he sections houses, including the Lefferts and Midwood Street T of Flatbush closest Google Maps to what is now Prospect Park Vanderbilt houses, on spacious Google started seeing development after grounds stretching along Flatbush, photographer, 2018 the unfinished park opened to the as well as the side streets. public in 1867. Streets were paved Moreover, mass transit was along the southern end of the improving. Flatbush Avenue park, in part to accommodate the evolved from a toll road into a tourists and day trippers. Local modern paved street with horse- press, photographs and maps drawn trolley cars. Rail travel of the area show that this part was equally important. By the of town was seen as a suburban 1890s, the Brighton train line had frontier of sorts, a gateway to the been expanded from a short rail countryside and the pleasures line within Brooklyn for beach of the Coney Island shores. The day trippers to a commuter line maps and photographs show large extending from the Brooklyn

20 Bridge all the way down to houses were mandated to be even Brighton Beach, with several larger and more expensive than stops in Flatbush. Part of the those in Tennis Court. original rail line remains today as the Franklin Avenue Shuttle. Since Alvord had much more room, they were also farther The Brooklyn, Flatbush and apart. Both established suburban Coney Island Railroad also enclaves with only single family expanded from a summer tourist houses allowed. Both assumed line to a year-round commuter their clients were too wealthy to rail to Manhattan including stops need or want tenants, anyway, at Parkside Avenue and Malbone and during their tenure with Street, now Empire Boulevard. their developments, they were Parts of the line through Flatbush right. Alvord sold the remainder were depressed into an open cut of his lots, as well as control of below grade. This evolved into his covenants, in 1905, and moved today’s B and Q trains. With this on to new projects in new places. convenient transportation, it was now possible for someone living These men and their contem- in Flatbush to easily commute to poraries were concerned with Manhattan to work. controlling what their new neighborhoods would become. Turning farmland into streets of Deed restrictions and covenants homes was the next logical step. were legal documents holding a James Lefferts owned the family builder or homeowner to certain land and possessed more than standards, both in housing and enough money to finance his its occupants. Lefferts’ covenant development. And since it was covered what was in its day, his, he could set the rules. the usual list of approved and Lefferts wasn’t the first person to banned uses. ever draw up deed restrictions The deed prohibited stables, or covenants, and he wasn’t pig-pens, forges, iron foundries, the only Flatbush developer Tennis Court fertilizer, gunpowder, saltpeter, postcard to do so. Between 1886 and candle, soap, ink, glue and varnish Ebay, photographer 1889, local developer Richard factories, as well as tanneries, unknown, 1910 Ficken developed an upscale breweries, hospitals, theaters, suburban enclave called Tennis Court, next to the Prospect Park Parade Grounds. Ficken’s deed restrictions regulated the size of the houses there, the price of construction, as well as the required distance of each house from the street. Similar, yet even more upscale restrictions and rules were established a few years later by Dean Alvord, who created Prospect Park South. His

21 Map of 516 Lots apartment buildings and Deed restrictions were a way (Lefferts Manor) tenements. There were also rules of assuring a “certain kind of PLGHC regarding the placement of fencing. neighborhood” and by extension, photographer one for only a certain kind of unknown, 1887 Lefferts mandated that the owner. In this case, a solidly houses be at least 14 feet from the middle to upper-middle class Maple Street rows curb, be built of brick and stone, owner. Lefferts Manor was to Museum of the City with bay windows and bow fronts be eight blocks of single family of New York Wurts projecting only three and a half housing, creating an uncrowded Brothers, 1925 feet beyond the 14 foot setback. suburban enclave within a They had to be constructed at growing city. There would be no Rutland Road a cost of no less than $5,000, Author’s own issues or concerns with tenancy photograph which was above the average for or boarders. Lefferts advertised Suzanne Spellen housing at that time. that the houses would be of “the photographer, 2012 highest quality in construction Most famously, for homeowners to- and workmanship.” Maple Street— day, Lefferts instituted a single-fam- two houses ily home restriction. There would Museum of the City As Lefferts was planning the of New York Wurts be no two or three-family homes, Manor, the land he sold outside Brothers, 1925 no apartment buildings within the of those eight blocks was also Manor, no rooming houses, and no beginning to be built upon. dividing up of single family homes Suburban-style Queen Anne and into multiple units. Free Colonial-style frame houses began going up in the 1890s.

22 They were followed by rows of area disappeared, replaced Midwood Street Renaissance Revival masonry by apartment buildings with PLGHC row houses beginning in 1895. storefronts on the ground floors. photographer unknown, 1908 As the 20th century progressed, Development started in earnest more row houses were built in in the Manor between 1897 and Interior the larger neighborhood, most of 1899, when 160 houses were built Midwood Street Martin Friedman them two-family houses, as well within the Manor and along photographer, 2018 as six-story apartment buildings. Lincoln Road. Development By the Great Depression, large halted in 1903, during a serious Lefferts Avenue apartment buildings lined many financial depression called the PLGHC of the nearby streets, especially Panic of 1903, but was up and photographer on the corners, and facing running again by 1905. The period unknown, 1906 Flatbush, Bedford and other between 1905 and 1911 represents avenues, with construction the largest number of houses moving eastward. built; 507 homes. Most of these were Renaissance Revival-style Flatbush Avenue, which was just stone-faced rowhouses in both outside of the Manor, developed brownstone and white limestone. as a major commercial street, with all of the shops, theaters, Development ebbed and flowed tenements and all of the other again. Between 1915 and 1925, 87 establishments James Lefferts more houses were built, almost all managed to keep out of his red or soft golden brick Colonials enclave. The mansions in the or Tudors, including some larger,

23 Brooklyn Eagle Ad Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, illustrator unknown. Dec. 31, 1898

free-standing Colonial Revival placed in Brooklyn’s newspapers homes on large lots. The last empty by the various developers. lots were filled around 1927, with Census data shows them to be the very last house finished in 1952. primarily Protestant, of English, German and Scandinavian The first people to become backgrounds. There were also homeowners in Lefferts Manor a fair number of descendants of were middle class to affluent the old Dutch Flatbush families. buyers, primarily from other parts of Brooklyn, drawn to the This population was employed community by the many ads as physicians, corporate lawyers,

24 business owners, stockbrokers, wholesale and retail merchants, real estate brokers, builders and contractors. There were also clerks, seamstresses, secretaries, stenographers, teachers, chemists and skilled crafts people. Most of the households had at least one live-in servant, many had two. generation of Manorites were Lefferts Just outside the Manor, in the getting itchy feet, and many Homestead two-family houses and in the wanted to move on. Automobiles moving to were America’s newest Prospect Park apartment buildings, lived Brooklyn Eagle people who were factory workers, fascination, and those who photo, Brooklyn laborers, and those holding lived in the Manor could afford Historical Society, a vehicle. Many now desired to photographer other working class professions. unknown, 1918 Wealthier homeowners also lived leave the city and head to Long just outside the Manor. Island or Westchester where even newer and more exclusive James Lefferts never saw the suburban communities were completion of Lefferts Manor. being established. He died suddenly in his office on November 5, 1915 at the age Other Manorites were getting of 60. In 1918, the Lefferts family older and wanted to downsize. donated their farmhouse to the New homeowners, for both the City of New York. An apartment older homes, and the ones still building was planned for the being constructed, were coming corner of Flatbush and Maple into the neighborhood. Some and the house was right in the of them wanted to do what they middle of the site. wanted with their properties and tried to test the boundaries The City moved the house to and restrictions of the covenant, Prospect Park, where it now especially in regard to multiple stands in the park on Flatbush family use. But there remained a Avenue, near Ocean Avenue and core group of Manor homeowners Empire Blvd. Today the Lefferts who wanted to maintain the Historic House is a museum, with restrictions which they saw as interactive exhibits and historic re- beneficial to their neighborhood. enactments, based on the tales told in Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt’s This led to the creation of the book. This house is one of the very Lefferts Manor Association few Dutch Colonial-era houses left (LMA), which incorporated in Brooklyn. in 1919 as a homeowner’s organization founded to provide 1918 was also a watershed year fellowship and neighborhood for the Manor in other ways. The improvement. But in great part, development was now twenty the LMA was founded to uphold years old and was still under the covenant against those who constant construction. The first would weaken or destroy it.

25 Living with the Covenant in the Manor

ames efferts Exerpt of the J L was very serious declared quite openly that this single family about his covenant. Between restriction existed and was backed covenant from 1897 and 1915, as chairman of up by law. If you wanted a house March 1938 Lefferts Manor his board, he sued at least four that you could subdivide, buy one Association different developers who were outside of the eight blocks of the Yearbook, building in the Manor over issues Manor. The surrounding blocks page 6 regarding his restrictions. One held plenty of opportunities. The builder didn’t adhere to the Manor was special. 14 foot setback, while another told potential buyers that they The single-family covenant held could have a tenant. After James up under dozens of court cases Lefferts’ death, the Lefferts Manor brought by the LMA between Association took up his mission the 1930s and 1960s. All court with equal zeal and used the cases ruling on the issue upheld court system when they had to in the covenant. In 1960, a property order to uphold the single-family owner named Irving Fass, who restriction on the neighborhood. lived at 25 Rutland Road, received a building permit to turn his While some could perceive this house into a two-family. He was restriction as a threat to the sued by the LMA. idea that one should be able to do what one wants with their In court he argued that the nature property, the case can also be of the neighborhood had changed made that Lefferts Manor always so much that the covenant

26 should be abandoned. Besides, buying in the Manor. They were the Building Dept. had issued not welcomed by all, with older his permit. The court disagreed, residents remembering parents upholding the restrictions. In not allowing their children to play addition, the court also observed with or bring home, Italian or that the covenant and at the time Jewish children. Even a postman of the decision, the zoning as well, complained about having to protected the single family nature deliver mail to Jewish families he Rutland Road of homes in Lefferts Manor. considered to be Communists. Author’s own photograph As we all know, nothing stays For New York City, the years Suzanne Spellen the same in Brooklyn, and that following World War II saw one photographer, 2012 includes the makeup of our of the greatest demographic neighborhoods. The end of shifts this country has ever Midwood Street Martin Friedman World War I and the Veteran’s known. It was the beginning of photographer, 2018 Funds that were given to large scale middle class suburban Caucasian servicemen enabled development, especially in the many Irish Catholic blue collar dozens of newly created towns on workers to buy into the Manor. Long Island. New housing was still going up on all of the Manor blocks. Backed by federal funding through the GI Bill, white The 1930s and ’40s saw people servicemen and their families left of Jewish and Italian descent Brooklyn and the rest of NYC for

27 new working class suburbs like life, leaving more houses for sale. Levittown. There, instead of living African-American people began in a crowded apartment building, moving into neighborhoods like one could have a small house, Lefferts Manor. with a yard, a car and driveway and neighbors who looked just For a rising population of middle like you. Levittown, like many class African-Americans, Lefferts Manor had the same attraction for them as it did for white homeowners. These newcomers to the Manor were teachers, civil servants, doctors, dentists, nurses and other professionals. Many were more economically qualified to live in the Manor than some of those who fled.

For black folks, moving to the Manor was a return. James Lefferts’ ancestors had worked their African bondsmen on this land, and after the state ended slavery in 1827, generations of of the post-war suburbs, was One family freed people of African descent purposefully segregated to keep restriction is lived and worked in greater zoned by the out people of color, and in many Flatbush. Grace Church was City of New York cases, non-Christians. in 1960 founded by and for them, but Back in Brooklyn, the post-World when Prospect Park was laid out, War II years and on into the they lost their first home. This 1950s saw the arrival of African- was the beginning of the African- American buyers, including those American exodus from this part of Caribbean descent, as well of Flatbush, as further housing as other minorities. Non-white development by James Lefferts veterans had a much harder time and others quickly pushed them securing GI funds, and were out of the area. locked out of the new suburbs, By 1893, when the new Grace but many neighborhoods in Reformed Church building the city that were now losing was completed on the corner populations, were opening up, of Bedford Avenue and Lincoln often to the horror of remaining Road, on Lefferts-donated land, white homeowners. there were no African-American Also, many of the original members left. The church was homeowners in the Manor were now the domain of upper middle aging and passing away. Their class white congregants. It was children and grandchildren still patronized by members didn’t want the homes, as they of the Lefferts family, who too, were looking at suburban donated many of the Tiffany stained glass windows to the

28 church and built the nearby that she could remember the Sunday School. Another house Manor before the houses, when it of worship, the Church of the was “swampland.” Evangel, was founded in 1907 by a group of Caucasian women from His was only the second African- Stuyvesant Heights who came American family to move on his to Flatbush to escape African- block of Rutland. At the time, his American worshippers at their neighbors were predominantly Lewis Avenue Church. Little did they know African-Americans would one day be the majority at their new church as well.

During the 1950s, not everyone in the Manor was happy with the new racial integration. Several long-time Manor residents interviewed in 1978 and 1991 recalled minor annoyances such as trash dumped on their cars, and being snubbed, yet many others remember being welcomed by their neighbors. People found that German and Italian, with a The Davis family there were as many commonalities sprinkling of Jewish and Irish in the 1950s as there were differences. homeowners. He noted that the Neighbors became friends and turnover of homes was very slow, African-American homeowners until the 1960s, when a large were encouraged to join the number of older homeowners Manor Association and other died, and were replaced by black neighborhood endeavors. African- homeowners. Americans have been elected officers, including presidents, in Mr. Davis, who served on the the LMA since the mid-1950s. Board of Lefferts Manor, believed that people were much more James Davis was a long-time aware of the covenant and the Manorite, representing one of rules of the LMA than they are the African- American families today and were much more that moved to the neighborhood cooperative in abiding by them. “I in the 1950s, where he purchased joined LMA,” he said, “because I 87 Rutland Road. Interviewed in felt there was strength in numbers. the early 1990s, he remembered I would not have been here had it driving through Lefferts Manor not been for the Association.” The in 1953, just after he and his LMA, he would later note, was wife got married. They thought here for his best interest, and most that the Manor would be a fine of his neighbors felt the same place to live. His first neighbor way. “If you get the neighborhood had a brother who was a Greek behind you, you don’t have to shipping magnate. She told him worry about the covenant.”

29 The Holmes Case

ronically Unhappy with this decision, Holmes Defense I , the restrictive Committee covenants, which in other Holmes and his supporters brochure— neighborhoods had specific organized the Holmes Defense inside text and Committee, still protesting back cover language barring occupation of homes by minorities, had little that the covenant was racially effect here, because the Lefferts discriminatory. Lending their Manor covenant was designed to names and support to the cause keep the Manor a single family were Protestant and Jewish neighborhood, not a racially or religious leaders from all over ethnically segregated one. Brooklyn, as well as the local branch of the N.A.A.C.P. They This unusual covenant was put to continued to argue that the only the test in 1949 by what came to reason Mr. Holmes had been be known as the “Holmes Case.” sued by the LMA was because he Richard and Almeida Holmes, was a Negro. They also argued who were African-American, that other homeowners in the purchased a home on Rutland Letter from Manor had been renting out Lefferts Manor Road in the Manor. They then rooms, and no one had said or Association began advertising rooms for rent done anything about it before. supporting the in the Amsterdam News, the covenant 1952 city’s most-read black newspaper. The protests and the Committee Another Manorite saw the ad and existed until the end of May reported it to the Lefferts Manor 1952. The end was triggered by Association, which sued Richard the Committee’s publishing of a Holmes. The case came to court pamphlet with a cover illustration the next summer, in 1950. depicting a tree with a noose, with roots labeled “segregation, According to the Brooklyn Eagle, anti-Semitism, discrimination which covered the trial, over 125 and bigotry.” As time had gone by, people attended the proceedings. some of the supporters, especially Mr. Holmes and his lawyer argued the religious leaders, had begun that the covenant should be illegal to become disillusioned by the because it discriminated by race. fight, and found that many of the The court found otherwise, as claims of discrimination were there was no language in the misrepresented and unfounded. covenant regarding race, only the The pamphlet was a bridge too far. mandate to keep the Manor an enclave of single family homes. Seven prominent Brooklynites, representing most of the religious and civic entities resigned from the Committee, followed

30 a couple of days later by even more high-profile resignations. The spokesman for this group, the Rev. Karl Chworowrsky of the Fourth Unitarian Church issued a statement saying that, “the Holmes case does not represent a case of clear and evident discrimination, that its exploitation by the Holmes Defense Committee has unnecessarily disturbed and agitated our community, and in our honest opinion, has rendered a distinct disservice to the spirit of peace and neighborliness among us.”

The Holmes Defense Committee quietly dissolved, and the Manor’s single family covenant survived. The covenant holds strong, cementing the special status of Lefferts Manor to this day. The single-family restriction has never been successfully challenged in court. Racial, ethnic and religiously motivated restrictive covenants across the country have all been overturned and are rightfully illegal. But since the beginning, the Manor has been open to any who could afford to live there and become a part of this special enclave.

31 Life in Lefferts Manor

Today, Lefferts Manor includes and some of the surrounding 677 buildings: 568 contributing blocks, creating the Prospect residential buildings, a garden Lefferts Gardens Historic District. and 109 contributing garages. A garage is considered to be In their report, LPC’s preservation “contributing” to the historic historian and author Andrew district when it is original to Dolkart declared, the Manor’s initial design, such “Prospect Lefferts Gardens always as the garages behind various has been a well-cared for and houses on Maple Street. In 1979, stable community. The early the city’s Landmarks Preservation residents of the area were solid Commission (LPC), with the middle-class and professional people, overwhelming approval of the many of whom lived in the District majority of the homeowners, only a short time, as they established bestowed Historic District themselves and moved to larger designation on Lefferts Manor houses. Today, the District is one

32 of the few successfully integrated LMA since 1982, making him the middle-class communities in New longest serving board member, York City. The row houses of the along with long-time resident neighborhood did not see the post- Mary Miller who only recently war decline of many of Brooklyn’s resigned from the Board as well brownstone areas. The buildings as the late Carole Schaffer. remain in excellent condition and are now attracting a middle-class Stephen McGill was president of population that is seeking many of the LMA in 1992, after moving to Christa and Joe Foster at home the same neighborhood attributes Midwood Street in 1987. Stephen as the original residents.” Andrew Strawcutter, served during the centennial photographer, 1993 celebration of the founding of the One of the first Asian families, Lefferts Manor neighborhood. Olga Tong the Tongs, moved to the Manor Prior to moving to the Manor, he Andrew Strawcutter, in the early 1950s. Olga Tong was photographer, 1993 had always lived in apartments. white, her husband Chinese. They He confessed that living with suffered mild harassment from Stephen McGill good, friendly neighbors, “just one or two parties, and that soon self portrait, 2019 over the fence,” was new to died away. Olga was active in the him when he first arrived. Like Lefferts Manor Association and Bob Marvin many in the neighborhood, he delivering flats served on the board between 1955 came there to live, not invest for annual flower and 1965. Interviewed in 1991, she barrel planing day in real estate. No one told him said that while she was on the photographer about the covenant until the unknown, 1989 board, the biggest problem was closing. He notes that things are development on Flatbush Avenue. changing in the neighborhood, They felt that Fred Trump’s Patio but is philosophical about those Gardens Apartments, built on the changes, noting that “life changes,” site of the old Vanderbilt estate and Lefferts Manor remains a in the 1960s, was the beginning of “beautiful area of Brooklyn.” trouble. The covenant protected them; she told the interviewer. Today, Dorothy Burnham is “We are very happy with each one of Lefferts Manor’s oldest other,” she said. “Keeping the homeowners, along with Ms. covenant is a very important thing.” Vera Biddle. Sixty-plus years in the Manor has left Ms. Burnham Homeowners such Bob and with many fond memories. She Elaine Marvin, who moved to and her family moved to the the Manor in the mid-1970s, neighborhood because of its fine found the neighborhood to be single family homes. She also welcoming and affordable on a wanted to be near Prospect Park schoolteacher’s salary. They were and the Botanic Gardens. She eager to live in and raise their felt the covenant was a good idea, son in a truly integrated urban and one that should be upheld. neighborhood. After almost 50 years of community participation, Ms. Burnham remembered the in and outside of the LMA, they period in the 1960s when white remain as enthusiastic about families fled the neighborhood, the Manor as ever. Bob has making way for more black been a board member of the homeowners. At first there were

33 not many African-Americans in Manor now have more financial the LMA, but she was a long-time resources than some of their member, happy to be helping to long-time neighbors. While improve life in the neighborhood. newcomers may undertake She was proud, she stated, to major renovations, some of be in a “community in which the older residents do not have people connected trying to do the wherewithal to do similar something for themselves and upgrades. But it was noted that the neighborhood as a whole.” the single-family covenant— the “signature component” and Another long-time resident, “central factor in the community,” Hein Juergensen and his wife has functioned to keep the Shirley bought in the late 1970s. neighborhood economically He remembered the many stable and unified. Democratic politicians who lived in the Manor at that time who Christa Foster, a resident since were able to keep the majority of 1966, who served on the LMA Prospect Lefferts Gardens zoned Board, pointed to one of the for detached family homes. He unifying activities that has remembers telling his wife that brought the entire neighborhood the Manor was what “America together—the annual Prospect will be in 10 or 15 years,” referring Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood *House Tour now to white liberals moving into Association’s (PLGNA)* house hosted by LMA predominantly African-American tour. Every year, since 1969, neighborhoods. As white residents, the House Tour Committee he and Shirley were minorities in encourages homeowners in the the Manor in the 1970s. neighborhood to participate and open their homes to visitors. Juergensen noted that there was some condescension from Many Manorites, including the some of the new arriving white Marvins, got their introduction homeowners towards African- to the Manor and surrounding American people in general, and blocks through these tours. Bob Manor owners in particular. He and Elaine have worked on mentioned the feeling that some every tour since 1975. The houses of them thought of themselves chosen by the committee are as brave “pioneers,” who were not all within the confines of the “saving” the neighborhood. This Manor, but encompass much of was something many of the the greater PLG neighborhood, African-American owners quite showcasing the different styles resented, as they had already and periods of architecture that “saved” the neighborhood before make the neighborhood so special. the newcomers got there. Most of the houses feature The feeling of us v. them is fine period details such as rich sometimes experienced even natural woodwork, fireplace now, commented another mantels, casework, wainscoting, long-time resident, who noted stairways, stained glass and that many newcomers to the more. Some houses have been

34 carefully modernized to suit their neighborhoods more than any Rutland Road owners, while others remain very newspaper article or real estate ad. Tudor house much like they were when built. As Christa Foster noted, the tours 45th Annual House All are proudly shown off to the brought in people from all over and Garden Tour, photographer paying tourgoers. Brooklyn and the rest of the city. unknown, 2015 The tours, Bob Marvin Today, in 2019, the Prospect remembers, were started to Lefferts Gardens Annual House Kitchen on Midwood Street advertise the newly named Tour is one of the few surviving 48 th Annual House Prospect Lefferts Gardens. At the annual house tours, joined these and Garden Tour, time, blockbusting techniques days only by Park Slope and Martin Friedman photographer, 2018 by unscrupulous real estate Bedford Stuyvesant. (Boerum concerns were drumming up Hill and Fort Greene have house Back yard on fears of encroaching racial tours every other year). Midwood Street integration, causing many white 48 th Annual House The LMA also has many other and Garden Tour, homeowners to run, selling Martin Friedman their homes for less than what activities besides enforcing photographer, 2018 they were worth, which were the covenant. Each year they then resold at great profit to purchase flowers and plants African-American buyers. The for the 300 barrels located house tours were an answer to throughout the neighborhood. that—proof that integration was During the holidays, the LMA not to feared, and that PLG was a distributes wreaths to its members. beautiful place to live. They also have a referral service for trades and other professional The tours were hard work, services. Neighbors can find but a great success. Other member-vetted carpenters, neighborhoods in Brooklyn were plumbers and electricians. Today, also having tours or would start the emphasis is on community, to soon afterwards, all promoting not just covenants, helping to their neighborhoods. These keep Lefferts Manor the tight-knit tours did more to advertise the and special community it has beauty of the various brownstone always been.

35 Missing Ben Edwards

Ben Edwards supported his family as a real estate broker, but he seemed to spend so much more of his life as the unofficial mayor and one of the chief “doers” of Prospect Lefferts Gardens. He developed an amazing ability to work with recalcitrant politicians and the entrenched city bureaucracy. When others For many years, PLGNA’s house couldn’t get things done, Ben tours could always count on the could. He had their respect, and presence of Ben Edwards. He he got results. could generally be found just outside the Manor, at the starting The Lefferts Manor Echo, the point of the tour, selling tickets, neighborhood newsletter, called handing out tour brochures Edwards “one of the hardest or just talking to friends and working, most committed, and neighbors. He was a fixture—as productive public servants much a part of the proud history Brooklyn has ever produced.” of the Manor as the buildings. He was always there, a slender, “Edwards was without peer,” elegant and handsome dark- the Echo continued. “ He was skinned man, confident in his a first-class expediter who knowledge and authority. could oil the rusty cogwheels of government bureaucracy and tap Ebenezer “Ben” Edwards was the right people to advance this born in Trinidad in 1944 where community’s agenda.” he became a talented and in- demand graphic artist, as well as Ben didn’t just work with the a militiaman in the Trinidadian people in the Manor. He was Army. He immigrated to the an advocate for the entirety of United States and in 1997 Prospect Lefferts Gardens. He purchased his home on Maple helped get the Ocean on the Street, in the heart of Lefferts Park houses landmarked. This Manor. Seemingly in no time, he is an architecturally significant was president of the LMA, and group of row houses on Ocean remained in office for 20-plus Avenue, across from Prospect years; longer than anyone else in Park, nestled between much the one hundred year history of later apartment buildings, and the organization. part of greater Prospect Lefferts

36 Gardens. The homeowners faced his house, when a pickup truck an uphill battle to get themselves hit him on December 10, 2018. He landmarked. Ben attended was rushed to the hospital with meetings, advocated with the severe head injuries. He died two powers that be, and worked with weeks later on December 28th. the group until the houses were He was only 74. landmarked in 2009. The outpouring of grief and sense He persuaded the Landmarks of loss to his family and his com- Preservation Commission to munity family was tremendous. issue advice, not fines to many Tributes and stories of his exploits of the homeowners in the were told around tables and meet- Historic District who broke the ing rooms and at services. Ben Commission’s rules on replace- Edwards will be missed. “He did a ment windows. He argued that lot of things behind the scenes that many of these residents did not people never knew about,” Patricia have the funding or knowledge Baker at CB9 explained. She was to adhere to historic standards. proud to have been mentored by Instead of fines and censure, the Mr. Edwards. She remembers him LPC was able to help homeown- saying, “Sometimes a leader is ers remain compliant. He pressed someone who gets people to work the city until they produced and together and knows who to go to, installed long-promised Bishop’s to get things done and bring issues Crook streetlights in the Manor. to a resolution.” And he worked with then-Bor- ough President Marty Markowitz For the members of LMA, to get grant-funded wrought iron PLGNA, and for all those in the tree guards for the entirety of PLG. greater Prospect Lefferts Gardens community, that leader was Ben It’s said that the busiest people Edwards. He left a great example are the ones who get things done, for those who follow him. Before and Ben Edwards was certainly his death he told the LMA that busy. In addition to his service he was looking forward to the with the LMA, he also was a 2019 centennial celebration of long-standing member of the 71st the Lefferts Manor Association. Precinct Community Council and James Lefferts and Ebenezer the Treasurer for Community Edwards. Two men of vision and Board 9. Edwards was a stalwart, action. While they may seem to quiet presence throughout this be odd travel-mates, they share Flatbush community. a commonality in loving the community they helped create One would hope that someone and nurture. The Lefferts Manor like that would have a much community both loved will longer life and be able to enjoy continue past its centennial year, the fruits of his success and the onward to the future. accolades of neighbors for many years, but this was not to be. Ben This neighborhood history is Edwards was crossing Flatbush dedicated to Ben Edwards. We Avenue, less than a block from thank you, sir.

37 4 1

2 3

6 7

1661 1827 1896 Family of Lefferts Pieterse NYS emancipation of slaves 3 James Lefferts establishes the immigrates to New Netherlands 1 single-family covenant and building 1855 restrictions for Lefferts Manor 7 1664 John Lefferts (1826—1893) helps The English conquer New Netherlands found Flatbush Plank Road Co. 1896 City of Brooklyn incorporated 1687 1865—1895 Lefferts Pieterse buys 58 acres Prospect Park developed 4 1898 in Midwout (now Flatbush) which Five boroughs of NYC consolidated becomes the Lefferts farm 1883 Brooklyn Bridge opens 5 1911 1698 Brooklyn Botanic Garden opens Lefferts Pieterse owns three slaves 1887 May 13 8 and more acreage John Lefferts begins to sell farmland for development 1918 1776 Lefferts Homestead moved to Battle of Brooklyn, August 27, 1893 Prospect Park, February 13 Peter Lefferts fights as a lieutenant John Lefferts’ will subdivides the in the Flatbush militia, Lefferts last of the farm which will become Homestead is burned by the Lefferts Manor 6 revolutionaries to prevent British occupation, later rebuilt 2

38 9

13 10 12

1918 1969 1993 Malbone Street Wreck, November 1. PLGNA begins first Prospect Lefferts LMA celebrates the founding of Ninety-three are killed in a subway Gardens House & Gardens Tour Lefferts Manor with an exhibit in the accident under the intersection of Homestead Flatbush Avenue and Malbone Street 1979 (renamed Empire Boulevard) NYC Landmarks Preservation 1996 Commission recognizes Prospect 71st Precinct Halloween Parade 1919 Lefferts Gardens Historic District 10 through Manor blocks starts 13 Lefferts Manor Association formed September 25 to enforce the single- 1980s 2001 family covenant Flower barrel planting started by World Trade Towers attack, LMA 11 September 11 14 1950 Holmes case upholds covenant but 1991—1992 2009 damages community feeling NYU Program in Public History NYC LPC recognizes Ocean on the studies Lefferts area history Park Historic District 1957 Brooklyn Dodgers leave nearby 1992 2014 Ebbets Field for Los Angeles 9 Lefferts Manor added to National NYC LPC recognizes Chester Court Register of Historic Places 12 Historic District 1960 Lefferts Manor zoned single family by NYC 10

39 Sources and Bibliography

The Brooklyn Daily Eagle—various dates and articles. John H. Petito, Covenants, Control and Community, New York University, 1991 (New York University Charmaine Smith-Campbell, Transformations: Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, Records of the Church and Community in Lefferts Manor, New York Public History Program). University, 1992 (New York University Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, Records of the Public History Lefferts Manor Echo, “Tribute Special, Spring 2019—A Program). Salute to the Leadership of Ben Edwards, Quiet Dignity, Cool Under Fire, and a Love of Community.” Charmaine Smith-Campbell, Taped interview of Milford Prewitt, Echo Editor Olga Tong, 1991, Oral History, (New York University Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, Records of the Lefferts Manor Echo—various dates Public History Program). and articles

Dominique M. Carson, Interview notes for Materials on Holmes Case, Lefferts Manor conversations with Christa Foster, Dorothy Burnham, Association Folder, Brooklyn Collection, Brooklyn 2019 Public Library

Carlene Braithwaite, Interview notes for Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historic District Designation conversations with Stephen McGill, Bob Marvin, 2019 Report, New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, 1979. Carlene Braithwaite, Notes from Taped Interview by John H. Petito of James Davis, Oral History Suzanne Spellen, “The Lefferts Family, Flatbush (circa 1991), New York University Archives, Elmer Branch.” Brownstoner.com. December 7, 2010. https:// Holmes Bobst Library, Records of the Public History www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-life/walkabout-the-l-3 Program). Suzanne Spellen, “The Lefferts Homestead,” Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt (1889), The Social Brownstoner.com. January 20, 2012. History of Flatbush, and Manners and Customs of the https://www.brownstoner.com/history/ Dutch Settlers in Kings County. past-and-present-the-lefferts-homestead

Paul Morin, Notes from Taped Interview of Hein Lefferts Manor Assn. v. Fass, 28 Misc. 2d 1005 (Kings and Shirley Juergensen, Oral History (circa 1978), Cty, 1960) New York University Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Library, Records of the Public History Program).

40 Recommended Further Reading and Selected References

In addition to the references in the article in this Yearbook, the following are some materials of interest for those who would like to read more about the history of the Lefferts Manor Association and Lefferts Manor.

Krase, Jerome, Self and Community in the City Howard Merlin, May Witte, Louis Wolff (recorded c. 1978) (University Press of America, Inc., 1982) John and Mary Gallagher (recorded c. 1991) Krase, Jerome; Densena, Judith, Race, Class, and Group Interview of Conyer & Green (recorded c. 1978) Gentrification in Brooklyn: A View from the Street Louis Wolff (recorded c. 1978) (Lexington Books, 2016) Herbert King (recorded c. 1991) Voices of Lefferts, The Flatbush-PLG Community May Witte, Herbert King (recorded c. 1978) Writing Journals (Volume 1, Nos. 1 and 2 and Volume Lawrence Frost, Howard Merlin (recorded c. 1978) 2, Nos. 1 and 2) (Journals containing photographs Hein Juergensen (recorded c. 1991) and oral histories and stories from those who live work and engage in creative arts in the Flatbush- Other Materials PLG Community which includes Lefferts Manor). Dahnhardt, Ulrike, Presentation, “Public History Workshop: Transforming the Fields: Flatbush from Cudahy, Brian J., The Malbone Street Wreck (Fordham Dutch Farms to Urban Homes” (May 3, 1992) University Press, 1999) Smith-Campbell, Charmaine, A Middle Class New York University Archives, Elmer Holmes Bobst Neighborhood in Brooklyn, 1898 — 1948 Library. This Archives contains a collection of material from the records of the Public History Brooklyn Public Library Program of New York University. As part of the Archives in the Brooklyn Collection including folders program, an Introduction to Public History Program containing content on: was created, and involved a yearlong collaboration, Lefferts Manor Association (LMA), History of focusing each year on a different New York City Community neighborhood. In 1991 — 1992, in cooperation with Lefferts Manor Association (LMA) Lefferts Manor Association and coinciding with the centennial celebration for the creation of the Prospect Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood neighborhood, the Program turned its attention on Association (PLGNA) Lefferts Manor. Below is a sampling of materials Prospect Lefferts Gardens (PLG) in this collection. Access to the collection may be In the Brooklyn Historical Society: (Text TK from arranged through the New York University Archives. Mary) Recorded Interviews; Records of the Public History Voices of Lefferts: The Flatbush–PLG Community Writing Program, New York University, Journal (Vol. 1, Nos. 1 and 2 and Vol. 2, Nos. 1 and 2) (Journal containing essays, photographs, and oral Lefferts Manor Workshop histories by, of, and about those who live and work in Martin and Mireille Langeman (recorded c. 1978 or the Flatbush-PLG community, including Lefferts Manor). 1991)

41 Single-Family Covenant

Below is the pertinent language of the “single-family covenant”—parts of the restrictions of record contained in the chain of title for the homes in Lefferts Manor:

“And the said party of the second part for himself, his heirs, executors, administrators and assigns, covenants and agrees to and with the said parties of the first part, their sucessors and assigns that neither he nor his heirs, executors, administrators or assigns will erect or cause or suffer or permit to be erected on any part of the premises above described any building or erection other than a private dwelling for one family only . . .”

Observations on the Single-Family Covenant

“Due to the efforts of the Lefferts Manor “There is a renewed interest in the unique Association, founded in 1919, the area has history of the neighborhood. There may be a remained one of the few in New York City continuing role for the covenant as a source of where the original deed covenants are still unity and protection in Lefferts Manor . . . “ in force, thus giving much of this eight block Professor John Petito, Postscript to Covenants, section of the Historic District a special Control and Community, New York University, cohesiveness. “ Public History Department, December 30, 1991 Prospect Lefferts Gardens Historic District Designation Report, pg. 7 (City of New York “ . . . after more than a century, [the 1979) covenant] seems to have morphed from a legal instrument into an intangible sense of “. . . thanks to the [one-family] covenant in community.” Lefferts Manor, it has been one of the most David Stoelting, Lefferts Manor neighbor, “The stable communities in all of New York City.” Covenant,” Voices of Lefferts: The Flatbush–PLG Representative Yvette Clark, Lefferts Manor Community Writing Journal, Vol. 2, No.1, Spring Echo, May 2011 2019, pg. 36.