Herman Behr Mansion

Herman Behr Mansion

Upper Facade

Neighborhood: Brooklyn Heights
Location: 82 Pierrepont Street

Architecture
This Richardson-Romanesque Style Mansion turned condos was built in 1889 at a cost of $80,000. Prominent Brooklyn architect Frank Freeman was commissioned by Herman Behr to design the imposing structure. Other buildings designed by Freeman include the Brooklyn Fire Headquarters, Eagle Warehouse, and Brooklyn Union Gas Company Headquarters. The Behr Mansion was described by New York Times journalist Christopher Gray as “one of the real treats of Brooklyn Heights, a Romanesque color-fantasy of salmon brick, terracotta and rock-faced sandstone with crazy animal ornament reminiscent of modern, violent comic books – grimacing lizards, lions and dragons”. A complete, five paragraph, architectural description can be found in a Brooklyn Daily Eagle article from 1890.

Tiled Roof and Terracotta Trim

Stone Turret With Stained Glass Upper Window Panes

The Behrs
Herman Behr (1847-1934) was a 19th and early 20th century industrialist. He immigrated to the United State from Germany with his family at the age of three.  After leaving his job as a glue jobber in 1872, Behr started his business producing sand paper. He began in a one-room shop but quickly grew his enterprise into one of the leading sand paper manufacturers in the country. The other notable Behrs include two of his sons. Herman’s son Max was a professional golfer and his son Karl was a pro tennis player. Karl was also famous for having survived the sinking of the Titanic. He had been pursuing Helen Monypeny Newsom, his sister’s friend, as she traveled abroad. Her mother had taken her on a trip to Europe in an effort to discourage their relationship. The plan didn't work since the couple eventually married. For their trip home they all boarded the Titanic. Below is Karl’s tale of how they escaped the doomed vessel.

“I knew exactly where the lifeboats were, so we went to the top deck. All was perfectly calm. We waited while the first boat was being filled and lowered. We went in the second boat. At that time we supposed there were plenty of lifeboats for all the passengers. One of the ladies asked Mr. Ismay whether the men could go with her. I heard Mr. Ismay reply quietly: 'Why, certainly, madam.’ We all got go into the boat. Even then it was not filled, and Mr. Ismay ordered an officer and two or three more of the crew to join us. We were apparently the last passengers on the top deck.”

Covered Hotel Style Entrance

Rear Enlargement for Former Hotel and Side Entrance

After the Behrs Left
In 1919, after Herman Behr and his family moved upstate, the mansion was sold. It was then enlarged and converted into a hotel known as The Palms.  During the hotel’s decline, it was run as a brothel.  According to an old newspaper article by the Phoenix, author and legendary prohibition era madam Polly Adler "reportedly found a home there". In 1961 the Palms was shuttered and the property was sold to become the "Franciscan House of Studies". It was used as a home for Franciscan Monks until it was bought by a developer in 1976 and converted into a condo building with 26 units.

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Sources:

1. White, Norval, Willensky, Elliot, and Leadon, Fran AIA Guide to New York. Oxford University Press, 2010
2. Gershun, Martha "Franciscan Mansion Sold to Become Apartments" The Phoenix 13 May, 1976
3. Carlson, Jen "The Brooklyn Apartments That Have A Titanic History" Gothamist 21 July, 2013
4. Taylor, Chuck "Pierrepont's Beloved Herman Behr Mansion Shrouded in Netting" Brooklyn Heights Blog 15 August, 2012
5. Gray, Christopher "Streetscapes/Frank Freeman, Architect; After a Century, a Fond Remembrance" New York Times 26 February, 1995
6. Santoro, Lisa M. "The Many Lives of the Herman Behr House" Curbed 4 May 2016
7. "H. Behr & Co., 29 Tiffany Place, Brooklyn, NY, 2014" Waltergrutchfield.net

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Bushwick's Lipsius - Cook Mansion

Lipsius - Cook Mansion

Lipsius - Cook Mansion

Neighborhood: Bushwick
Address: 670 Bushwick Avenue

Architecture
Built in 1889, the Lipsius - Cook Mansion is a red brick building designed by architect Theobald Engelhardt in the Romanesque Revival style. Engelhardt was a well-known, prolific Brooklyn architect active around the turn of the last century. Some of his other landmarked buildings include three of the Pencil Factory Buildings, Greenpoint Home for the Aged, Northside Savings Bank and William Ulmer Brewery in Bushwick. As an observation, I’d like to note that the Cook Mansion has a very similar spooky quality to the Greenpoint Home for the Aged. The Mansion’s features include a rusticated stone base, terracotta and stone trim, a mansard roof with pilastered dormers and an imposing tower on one corner of the home. Similar to some of Engelhardt’s other buildings, this one has a storied history. 

Lipsius - Cook Mansion Past & Present

The Owners
The mansion was originally built for Catherina Claus-Lipsius, owner of the Claus Lipsius Brewing Company that formerly operated at Bushwick Avenue and Forrest Street. The Brewery (also designed by Engelhardt) was one of fourteen breweries on “Brewer Row”. Its claim to fame was for creating the recipe for Brooklyn Lager. A successful business venture, the brewery’s profits allowed Catherine to commission the imposing mansion that she sold to Dr. Frederick Albert Cook in 1902.

Cover Image from 1909 North Pole Expedition Booklet

Photo Claimed by Cook to Show he was the First at the North Pole

A Columbia Medical School graduate, Dr. Cook was an explorer, as well as a man of tall tails. He accompanied Robert Peary on his 1891-1892 arctic expedition and Belgium explorer Adrien de Gerlache’s Antarctic expedition. Upon returning Dr. Cook claimed that he was the first to summit Mount McKinley in Alaska and the first to reach the North Pole. Both claims were false. Cook’s claim of reaching the North Pole in April of 1908 was refuted by Peary, who is credited as being the first to reach the site in 1909. Regardless, Cook’s stories and hyperbole made him a sensation and he earned millions by selling photographs and stories to newspapers, as well as lecturing around the world. 

Dr. Frederick Albert Cook ca. 1906

In 1923 Cook was convicted of mail fraud for overstating potential oil yields from a tract of land for a Texas Oil Company he represented. Although, the land eventually yielded a far greater volume of oil than Cook originally claimed. The sentence was considered harsh and there is speculation that the Judge in the case was biased due to a possible connection to the Peary family. Dr. Cook served out his six years and was released in 1930 with his reputation in shambles. President Roosevelt pardoned him in 1940 shortly before his death.

Cook sold the house to an Italian family in 1920 that sold it in 1952 to a Catholic Religious order known as the Daughters of Wisdom. The order used the building as a convent until 1960 when they sold it to a doctor. According to Brownstoner the house was also used as a clinic and was abandoned prior to being repurposed for its current use as a four-unit apartment building.

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Sources:

1. Brian Merlis & Riccardo Gomes Brooklyn's Bushwick & East Williamsburg Communities Gomerl Publishing, NY 2012
2. Kurshan, Virginia "Cathrina Lipsius House (aka Dr. Frederick A. Cook House)" Landmarks Preservation Commission Report 25 June, 2013
3. Spellen, Suzanne "Building of the Day: 670 Bushwick Avenue" Brownstoner
4. Tietjen, Lib "The Lipsius Cook Mansion" History / Your Story 7 October, 2013
5. Hybenova, Katarina "Spooky Mansion on Willoughby Avenue Named a City Landmark" Bushwick Daily 8 July, 2010