St. Augustine's Home for the Aged

797 Bushwick Avenue | Bushwick | built 1931

Open on the map5 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1872

    June

    The Little Sisters of the Poor move into their new home for the elderly on Bushwick Avenue

    After arriving in Brooklyn in 1868 and outgrowing their first house, the Little Sisters of the Poor moved in June 1872 into a new residence at Bushwick Avenue and Chestnut Street. Bishop Laughlin, the head of the Brooklyn diocese, backed the order. The new home could shelter more than 150 poor elderly people, while the Sisters themselves lived in a separate residence nearby.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  2. 1872

    A. Wanner designs a four-story home with a central chapel and separate wings for men and women

    The original complex, designed by A. Wanner, had a chapel at the center of a four-story building. Its east wing housed the men and its west wing the women, each with its own dining room, sitting room, offices and bedrooms. Later additions came from the Parfitt Brothers in 1888 and from H. Murphy in 1938.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  3. 1876

    March 8

    A basement fire in the men's wing of the old-age home kills 19 residents

    At the time, 115 women and 76 men lived in the home. The fire began in the basement of the east wing and climbed a wooden stairway, cutting off the only exits. The Sisters got most of the men out, but 19 bodies were found, and some residents died after jumping from windows; neither wing had a fire escape. The Sisters buried the 19 in the Flatbush RC Cemetery and, helped by donations, soon rebuilt the east wing.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  4. 1970

    The Little Sisters of the Poor close St. Augustine's Home, and the city turns it into a school

    Rising city building requirements from the late 1960s would have made the changes the home needed too costly for the Sisters, so they closed it in 1970. The residents moved to other facilities run by the order and by Catholic Charities. The next year the Sisters leased the complex to the city for a school, and the city later bought it for $650,000, making it PS 386.

    Source: brownstoner.com

  5. 2013

    Contractors renovate the exterior of the Bushwick Leaders school building, which is not a landmark

    In spring 2013, a reader noticed serious exterior work on the former old-age home that housed Bushwick Leaders High School. The Department of Buildings application listed facade brick replacement, repointing, new parapets and roofing, window replacement and plaster repairs, with Nelligan White Architects as the architect. Brownstoner noted that the building is not landmarked, so the facade's future was uncertain.

    Source: brownstoner.com

Further reading

Nearby

All 17 buildings with stories in Bushwick