Bay Ridge

Come see Victorian houses on Bergen Place and Sedgwick Place

Eye on Real Estate

August 8, 2018 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle
This eye-pleasing Victorian property is divided into two homes, whose addresses are 6635 Bergen Place at left and 6637 Bergen Place at right. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan
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Short streets, long on charm.

Bay Ridge is full of them.

The southwest Brooklyn shoreline neighborhood has picturesque single-block streets and privately owned cul-de-sacs, some of which are pedestrian pathways rather than roads for cars.

Stroll with us in search of these tucked-away treasures, which are sprinkled throughout Bay Ridge from Cannonball Park by the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge to Owl’s Head Park at the neighborhood’s north end.

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Up at the northern edge of Bay Ridge, two single-block streets that stand side by side bear the names of   distinguished area residents of the 19th century.

They are Bergen Place and Sedgwick Place, which both run between 67th Street and Wakeman Place on the block between Ridge Boulevard and Colonial Road.

Bergen Place is named after Teunis Bergen, according to the helpful book “Brooklyn by Name” by Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss.

Bergen, who lived from 1806 to 1881, was a farmer and surveyor who served one term in the United States Congress from 1865 to 1867.

Before that, his varied political and civic responsibilities had included the position of supervisor of the town of New Utrecht, of which Bay Ridge was a part.

Back in those days, Bay Ridge was called Yellow Hook — a name that lost its appeal because of yellow fever epidemics.

While Bergen was New Utrecht’s town supervisor, he presided over an 1853 meeting where a resolution to change Yellow Hook’s name to Bay Ridge was passed, Ted General notes in a comment posted on the website Hey Ridge.

A Hey Ridge story about Bergen says he co-founded the Long Island Historical Society, which today is known as the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Bergen is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery.

Million-dollar homes on a peaceful street

Bergen Place is charming and peaceful, with a mix of homes constructed during different eras.

Our favorite property on the street is a gigantic, fenced-in Victorian mansion on the corner of Wakeman Place that’s divided down the middle into two homes. Window bays on each home have pointy roofs that look like witches’ hats.

The home that’s closer to Wakeman Place is 6635 Bergen Place. The home that’s further away is 6637 Bergen Place.

Another picturesque, old-fashioned house stands on a hill and has a graceful lawn with terrific trees. Its address is 6640 Bergen Place.

To give you an idea of what properties on this street are worth, city Finance Department records indicate that 6641 Bergen Place sold for $1.365 million in April.  

 

A shout-out to Theodore Sedgwick

Sedgwick Place is named after a family of area landowners, among them Theodore Sedgwick, who was a co-founder of Bay Ridge’s Christ Church in the 1850s, the book “Brooklyn by Name” says.

We’re especially charmed by two big, eye-catching old homes that stand side by side on sloping lawns in the middle of the block.

One of them is mustard-yellow 6655 Sedgwick Place, which has a wrap-around porch.

A historic note: A deed we found on the Finance Department’s website describes this property as having belonged to the estate of Theodore Sedgwick and having been sold in 1887 so the proceeds could be distributed to his heirs.   

The other house stands next door at 6663 Sedgwick Place. It’s a classic Victorian, and has a turret with a witches’ hat roof.  

A deed in the Finance Department’s online records also identifies this property as having been included in Sedgwick’s 1887 estate sale.   

By the way, Bergen Place and Sedgwick Place are located less than a block away from Owl’s Head Park.

 

 

 

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  1. Benardo and Weiss’s book is indeed helpful! But they get this one wrong: Bergen Place is named for Michael Bergen, who had a farm bordering Theodore Sedgwick’s property. (Most of Bergen and Sedgwick places are on Sedgwick’s old land, but a few of the northern lots are on what was Bergen’s.) I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael and Teunis were cousins of some kind…