59-02 Catalpa Avenue

also 68-55 Forest Avenue, 68-53 Forest Avenue | Ridgewood | built 1909

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.

1891
Paul Stier, who later builds this corner, emigrates from Germany as a teenager
Paul Stier, born in Mecklenburg, Germany, in 1874, came to America alone in 1891 and worked as a mason's apprentice in Buffalo. He moved to Ridgewood in 1902 and became the most prolific builder in what is now the Central Ridgewood Historic District, putting up about half of its row houses; 392 of his 481 buildings there date from 1907 to 1909. All of them, including this corner, were designed by or attributed to Louis Berger & Company.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1909
Paul Stier builds a corner store-and-flats building facing Forest Avenue
Read more
Builder Paul Stier put up this three-story corner building under permit NB 1378-1909, with plans by Louis Berger & Company. It anchors a row of 17 flats buildings at 59-04 to 59-36 Catalpa Avenue. Although its address is on Catalpa Avenue, its main front faces Forest Avenue. Shops on both avenues and in a south extension appear on the 1914 Sanborn map.
“…despite Catalpa Avenue address, main facade fronts on Forest Avenue…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby