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

Offerman Building

Offerman Building

Offerman Building

Neighborhood: Downtown Brooklyn
Address: 503 Fulton Street

Design and Construction
Located on the Fulton Street Mall between Bridge and Duffield Streets, the Offerman building is a landmarked Romanesque Revival style structure designed by architect Peter J. Lauritzen. The Offerman Building was one of the tallest buildings in the borough at the time of construction. The lots that comprise the site for the Offerman Building were acquired in two phases, so the building was constructed in two phases. The first eight lots were purchased in 1889 and 1890 for $235,000. The construction ground breaking began in 1890, hence the 18 and 90 above the Fulton Street entrance (photo above). In 1892 ten additional lots were acquired, increasing the length of the building wing that fronted Duffield Street. A stone relief reading “1890 OFFERMAN BUILDING 1892” commemorates the starting dates for each phase of construction.[1] Referred to as a "sleazy alteration" by the AIA Guide to New York City, the street level facade on Fulton Street is a contemporary addition.[2] Most of the stone and terracotta architectural detailing above the pedestrian level remains intact.

Peter J. Lauritzen
Born in Denmark in 1847 and trained at the Polytechnic School of Copenhagan, Architect Peter J. Lauritzen worked in Washington D.C. in the 1870s prior to moving to New York City in 1883. The architect gained notoriety when his unsolicited entry to the Manhattan Athletic Club design competition was selected as the winning proposal.[1] In Brooklyn he was known for designing the Union League Club building in Crown Heights, as well as several fire houses throughout the borough.[2] Lauritzen lived near the Offerman residence in Williamsburg and like Offerman he was socially active in Brooklyn. Lauritzen was a member of the Union League and Hanover Club.[1]  

H for Henry Offerman

Henry Offerman 
Henry Offerman (1823-1896) was a wealthy businessman. By the time he began engaging in real estate development, he was already a successful industrialist. Offerman was president of the Brooklyn Sugar Refining Company on the East River waterfront at South 2nd Street in Williamsburg. Offerman had been an elder of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church at 63 Schermerhorn Street and supported related causes like the German Hospital Society of Brooklyn. In addition, he was involved with several German shooting clubs and helped to found the first national sharpshooters tournament in 1895.[1]

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Sources:

1. Postal, Matthew A. NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Designation Report 15 March, 2005
2. White, Norval, Willensky, Elliot, and Leadon, Fran AIA Guide to New York. Oxford University Press, 2010
3. Morris, Montrose "Building of the Day" Brownstoner 28 August 2012