Brooklyn Public Library, DeKalb Branch
790 Bushwick Avenue | Bushwick | built 1905
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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.
- 1854
A lantern maker's Italianate villa stands on the corner where the library will rise
Before the library, the corner of Bushwick and DeKalb avenues held a large Italianate villa built in 1854 for William Porter, who made his money manufacturing railroad and ship lanterns. The city bought the 120-by-130-foot lot for $28,000 for a Carnegie branch, picking a spot a block from the shops of Broadway with a school on the same block.
“This site had been occupied by a large Italianate villa constructed in 1854 for William Porter, a businessman who had made his fortune in the manufacture of railroad and ship lanterns.”
- 1905
The DeKalb Branch opens after labor strikes delay construction
Strikes slowed construction, but the DeKalb Branch officially opened on February 11, 1905. Representatives of almost every civic body in the area it served attended the ceremonies. Harrington Putnam, a library trustee, accepted the building for the board and praised the private gift, Andrew Carnegie's, that paid for it.
“Construction was delayed by labor strikes, however the DeKalb branch had its official opening on February 11, 1905.”
- 1905
William B. Tubby's first Brooklyn Carnegie library has a rounded rear apse for its book stacks
The DeKalb Branch was the first of five libraries William B. Tubby designed for Brooklyn's Carnegie program. It is a freestanding Classical Revival building of dark Harvard brick with stone and terra-cotta trim and large double-height windows. A rounded apse at the back holds two stories of stacks. Inside, a reading room occupied one side and a children's room the other.
“Tubby's DeKalb Branch library is in the Classical Revival style, faced in dark Harvard brick ... rounded, apsidal section on that facade…”
- 1999
New mahogany doors and reconfigured front steps mark the 1999 work
In 1999 the front steps and terraces were reconfigured for the second time, after an earlier change in the 1950 renovation. New mahogany doors with glass panels were installed that year to approximate the original double doors.
“…terraces which were reconfigured in the 1950 renovation and again in 1999. The main entrance doors are mahogany ... installed in 1999…”
- 2004
The Landmarks Commission designates the library after a century of service
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Brooklyn Public Library's DeKalb Branch a landmark, with its report dated May 18, 2004. The hearing had been held on February 8, 2000, with a Historic Districts Council representative speaking in favor and no opposition. The report noted that the branch had served the dense neighborhood for a century apart from closures for renovation.
Nearby
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- South Bushwick Reformed Church855 Bushwick Avenue | 8 entries
- Rugged Cross Baptist Church1084 Lafayette Avenue | 4 entries
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