Elkins House

This single-family home is known as Elkins House in honor of original residents George and Susan Elkins and is likely the oldest remaining house in the Crown Heights neighborhood that retains architectural integrity. The 2.5-story, wood-frame house was built around 1860 and shows elements of Greek Revival and Italianate styles. The Elkins House was designated a New York City landmark in 2006, shortly before the owner had planned to demolish the building. The Elkins House has been found eligible for listing individually in the National Register; it is a contributing building in the Crown Heights North Historic District, listed in the National Register in 2014. The building has been restored and converted into four luxury duplex condominiums, with a mixture of the old (reclaimed wood stairs, clay brick walls) and new (exposed steel, smart lighting).

George B. Elkins and his wife, Susan Easton moved to Brooklyn from Massachusetts by 1845. George first worked as a merchant in Lower Manhattan but turned to the real estate business by 1861, with an office at Fulton and Clermont in Brooklyn. The Elkins family first lived in Brooklyn Heights and later moved to 1375 Dean St. It is unclear whether the Elkins had the house built or if it already stood on the lot when Susan purchased it in 1859; George W. Folsom owned the lot and the rest of the block from 1855 to 1859. The family lived in this part of Brooklyn by 1860 but on another street (Pacific St. near Kingston Ave.) but moved to this street (Dean near Brooklyn) between 1861 and 1862. This neighborhood previously was part of the Lefferts family's farm, which was subdivided in the 1850s. The earliest estimated construction date for the Elkins House is 1855. The home's address was originally 1275 Dean St; George B. used this address in his newspaper advertisements in the 1870s advertising real estate for sale. A reception for the Honorable Daniel W. Tallmadge (a state legislator from Kings County) was held at the residence of George B. in 1879 at "No 1275 Dean street, between Brooklyn and Kingston avenues."

George B. may have been over-invested in real estate. He purchased a large tract in what was called the "Penitentiary lands" in Brooklyn from Kings County in 1871 for over $33 thousand. He failed to pay the interest on the remaining mortgage when due and lost the property to foreclosure in 1883. Susan Elkins died in 1883. George B. was insolvent at the time of his death in 1886 and owed a number of mortgage debts. He left behind four daughters; his estate's administrators were two of them, Mary C. and Georgiana Elkins. The Kings County Board of Supervisors approved the administrators' petition to forgive the roughly $8,000 debt on the Penitentiary lands in December 1886.

Ida Elkins, one of the daughters of the late George B. and Susan, lived at 1375 Dean St. at the time of her death at age 58 in January 1904. Ida was the youngest daughter and died after a long illness. Another daughter, Georgiana Elkins, lived at the Dean St. home when she died in 1914. A third daughter, Fanny Elkins was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts and moved to Brooklyn as a young child. She graduated from Packer Institiute in 1861 and taught in Brooklyn public schools for many years. Fanny lived at 1375 Dean St. for over sixty years but lived on 88th Avenue in the Richmond Hill neighborhood by the time of her death in 1923 at age 81. Fanny Elkins sold the Dean St. house to the Rev. Joseph Cohn in 1918. The Cohn family owned the house until 1942; it changed hands a number of times afterwards.

The Elkins House is three bays wide with a wide front porch and a flat roof with a shallow overhang. Inside, the cubical-shaped house featured a center hall plan. Although the house was later covered in metal siding and its shutters were removed, it still retained its mid-nineteenth century look, even before the house was saved from demolition and the exterior was restored. The house is considered to be National Register-eligible for its significance in architecture, and its association with the Elkins family and the settlement history of Crown Heights.

Anonymous. "A Deserved Tribute." Times Union (Brooklyn) June 4th 1879. 2-2.

Anonymous. "Supervisors: Final Meeting of This Year's Board." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn) December 31st 1886. 1-1.

Anonymous. "Deaths Reported at the Health Department in the Last 24 Hours: 3, Elkins." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn) January 7th 1904. 7-7.

Anonymous. "Deaths: Elkins." Brooklyn Citizen (Brooklyn) January 5th 1904. Death notices sec, 3-3.

Anonymous. "Deaths: Elkins." Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn) February 13th 1914. Death notices sec, 20-20.

Anonymous. "Former Teacher in Public Schools Dies in R.H. Home." The Chat (Brooklyn) March 31st 1923. 21-21.

Bindelglass, Evan. Proposed Adaptive Reuse of Crowns Heights Landmark at 1375 Dean St. Doesn't Pass Muster with LPC, New York YIMBY. September 23rd 2015. Accessed February 21st 2022. https://newyorkyimby.com/2015/09/proposed-adaptive-reuse-of-crown-heights-landmark-at-1375-dean-street-doesnt-pass-muster-with-lpc.html.

Bindelglass, Evan. Landmark House at 1375 Dean St. to Get Rehab and Conversion to Four Units, New York YIMBY. December 17th 2015. Accessed February 21st 2022.

https://newyorkyimby.com/2015/12/landmark-house-at-1375-dean-street-to-get-rehab-and-conversion-to-four-units.html.

Komaru Enterprises LLC. The Elkins House: A Piece of History, The Elkins House, 1375 Dean Street. Accessed February 15th 2022. https://www.elkinshouse.com/.

McEneny, Daniel. Resource Evaluation: Elkins House, 1375 Dean, Brooklyn NY. Albany, NY. New York State Parks, Recreation, and Historic Preservation, 2015.

NYC Historic Districts Council. Former George B. and Susan Elkins House, Six to Celebrate. Accessed February 21st 2022. https://6tocelebrate.org/site/former-george-b-and-susan-elkins-house/.

NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. Designation Report, George B. and Susan Elkins House, 1375 Dean Street, Borough of Brooklyn, LP-2207. New York, NY. NYC Government, 2006.