Williamsburg

Which way to the Fillmore Place Historic District?

Eye On Real Estate

September 14, 2016 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Welcome to Fillmore Place, an intriguing block-long Williamsburg street. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan
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This must be the place. As in Fillmore Place.

If you go to the movies at Williamsburg Cinemas, you’ve probably walked right past the sweet Williamsburg street. It’s a short block away from the theater. Take a right turn off Driggs Avenue, and there you are.

Fillmore Place, which was landmarked in 2009, is just one block long, with Driggs Avenue on one end and Roebling Street on the other.   

Several buildings on Driggs Avenue were included in the Fillmore Place Historic District — one of many landmarked spots in Williamsburg that you might not be familiar with, but are worth a look. See related story.

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Fillmore Place is made up mostly of handsome three-story Italianate-style rowhouses that were largely built in the 1850s.

Their architecture is similar to that of single-family rowhouses constructed in that era in middle-class and upper-class neighborhoods, the city Landmarks Preservation Commission’s designation report about the historic district notes.

But in reality, the Fillmore Place properties were constructed as “flats buildings” —  multi-family residences for working-class tenants.

The historic district’s most famous resident was the author Henry Miller. As a child, he lived with his parents at 662 Driggs Ave., which belonged to his grandfather, Valentine Nieting.

Today, the owners of 662 Driggs Ave. are Nancy Wechter and Dennis Tomkins, city Finance Department records indicate.

Another property in the historic district, 17 Fillmore Place, is slated for renovation.

Earlier this month, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to approve the reconstruction of its front façade.

Property owners David Alexander Barlow and Jessica Ho appeared at a commission hearing with their structural engineer, Francisco Perez, to outline their plan.

The three-family building’s front wall is off plumb, and its upper section is bulging.

The facebrick is going to be removed, cleaned and stripped of paint and used to rebuild a new wall.

Also, the fire escape on the front of 17 Fillmore Place will be removed because a new sprinkler system is being installed.

And outside the house, a canopy and protection fence that look a bit like a white metal cage with a roof will be removed. In their place, a fence railing resembling 17 Fillmore Place’s original one will be installed.  

Barlow and Ho bought 17 Fillmore Place for $1.4 million in 2012, Finance Department records indicate. Her name appears on the deed as I-Chieh Ho. 


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