Quarters A, Commandant's House

24 Evans Street | DUMBO | built 1901

Open on the map3 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

  1. 1806

    The Navy builds Quarters A as the Federal-style home of the Navy Yard commandant

    Quarters A went up around 1806 as the residence of the commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. The clapboard house has four bays across the front and five along the side, with a wraparound verandah, a rooftop observation deck, an attached greenhouse and an oval dining room. Brownstoner says Charles Bulfinch is thought to be the architect, but no real documentation backs that up. Another addition followed in 1905.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  2. 1841

    Commandant Matthew C. Perry lives in the house, ten years before sailing to Japan

    Matthew C. Perry was commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard and lived in Quarters A from 1841 to 1843. About a decade later he sailed to Japan and signed the treaty that opened the country to the West. Every later commander of the Yard has lived in the house as well, and it overlooked the yard through the Civil War, the Spanish-American War and both World Wars.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  3. 1965

    The city landmarks the house over the Navy's objection, a year after the Navy Yard closes

    The Navy Yard closed in 1964, and the commandant's house was sold to a private owner; it was still privately held when Brownstoner wrote about it in 2012. When the brand-new Landmarks Preservation Commission moved to designate the house in 1965, the Navy objected, but the designation went through regardless. The house also appears on the National Register of Historic Places and is a National Historic Landmark.

    Source: brownstoner.com

Nearby

All 12 buildings with stories in DUMBO