295 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.

1881
Charles W. Romeyn designs No. 295 for builder Thomas Kilpatrick
No. 295 Alexander Avenue was built in 1881-1882 as part of a row of twelve brick houses, Nos. 277 to 299, designed by Charles W. Romeyn for Thomas Kilpatrick. Each house rises three stories above a high basement. The Landmarks Preservation Commission found the row unusually well preserved in 1969 and noted that its paired doorways, sharing one frame, give the facade a bolder look than single doors would.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1969
Landmark report recalls No. 295's avenue as "the Irish Fifth Avenue"
The 1969 designation report for the Mott Haven Historic District, which includes No. 295, noted that Alexander Avenue had once been nicknamed "the Irish Fifth Avenue" and "Politicians' Row," though even then many nationalities lived there. By 1969, the report said, the avenue's residents were mostly Puerto Rican families who had recently settled in the area, and it described the district as an oasis amid tall housing projects.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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