677 Lafayette Avenue House

677 Lafayette Avenue | Bedford-Stuyvesant | built 1931

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.

1890
March 27
Moses Albert Scull buys the property at 677 Lafayette Avenue and hires architect L. C. Holden for a townhouse
Scull bought the property on March 27, 1890, and commissioned New York architect L. C. Holden to design his townhouse, with plans filed on June 12, 1890. By May 1892 the Brooklyn directory listed M. Albert Scull, who according to directories was in the cement business. His family kept the house until 1916.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1890
The house is a late Romanesque Revival townhouse of brick and brownstone facing Tompkins Park
The report describes the building as three stories over a high basement, in late Romanesque Revival style. Its lower stories are rock-faced brownstone, reached by an L-shaped stoop, while brick and terra-cotta trim appear above. It faces the north side of Tompkins Park, which Olmsted and Vaux designed.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1977
July 12
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates 677 Lafayette Avenue, citing its role in protecting the nearby magnolia
On July 12, 1977, the Commission designated the house as a landmark, after a May hearing at which seven witnesses spoke in favor and none against. It cited the house as a fine late Romanesque Revival example facing Tompkins Park. It also noted that the house had helped protect the Magnolia Grandiflora tree, itself a city landmark.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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