59-12 Catalpa 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.

1909
Paul Stier's crews of immigrant bricklayers lay the brick and stone of houses like this one
To build houses like 59-12 Catalpa Avenue, Paul Stier hired two local masons, James Reilly and John MacDonald, who oversaw about 50 bricklayers, many of them German and Italian immigrants. They laid the face brick and the stone trim. The Kreischer brick used in Ridgewood was mostly smooth, light-colored iron-spot brick set with tight, flush joints, and Kreischer's rock-faced brick supplied details such as bands and panels.
“Paul Stier hired a pair of local masons, James Reilly and John MacDonald, to supervise a staff of 50 or so bricklayers…”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1909
Paul Stier builds 59-12 Catalpa Avenue, a beige-brick bowfront in his row of 17
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This three-story flats building over a basement went up about 1909 for Paul Stier under permit NB 1378-1909, one of 17 at 59-04 to 59-36 Catalpa Avenue designed by Louis Berger & Company. Its beige iron-spot brick front curves into a full-height bay, with brownstone and limestone trim. The front door is historic and the basement windows may be historic; the stoop has been painted.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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