281 Alexander Avenue

Mott Haven | built 1882

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.

1882
No. 281 rises in Thomas Kilpatrick's row of twelve brick houses across from the 1860s row
No. 281 was built in 1881-1882 as part of a row of twelve three-story houses on Alexander Avenue's west side, designed by Charles Romeyn for Thomas Kilpatrick. The Landmarks Preservation Commission saw the row as an early try at planning a whole block, with each house's bracketed cornice returning against the party walls while keeping one level along the street.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1969
No. 281 is one of only two houses in its row to have lost its original stoop ironwork
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When the Landmarks Preservation Commission surveyed the Kilpatrick row in 1969, it found that every pair of stoops kept its original iron handrails and heavy cast-iron newel posts except the pair at Nos. 281 and 283. Otherwise the commission judged the twelve-house row unusually well preserved.
“All the paired stoops, except those at Nos. 281-283 retain their original iron handrailings and imposing cast iron newel posts.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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