Above, a Queen Anne-style apartment building on Lafayette Avenue in Bed Stuy. Right, the Berkeley and Grosvenor
Apartments on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights. Photos by Susan De Vries.
HISTORY
MAJOR TALENT
Brooklyn's renowned architects Parfitt Brothers made their mark on the quickly developing
borough at a time when the field of architecture was in its infancy.
story by SUZANNE SPELLEN (AKA MONTROSE MORRIS)
Deep in the heart of Somerset, the town of Frome in
England is renowned for the quality of its woven woolen
goods, its arts school and the quality of the decorative
objects produced by its foundries. Three brothers born
and raised in the design haven left England for America
in the latter half of the nineteenth century and rose to the
top of Brooklyn’s pantheon of great architectural firms.
Parfitt Brothers may sound like contenders for a Country
Music Award, but their music was the sound of saws
and hammers and they created some of Brooklyn’s most
beautiful and striking buildings.
Henry and Walter Parfitt arrived in America in the early
1870s. Research conducted by architectural historian
Gregory Dietrich and Parfitt family members, as well
as newly published family photographs, has recently
rounded out the firm’s and family’s story. We now know
that Henry received his training at the Frome School of
Art between 1866 and 1869. Walter worked under his
carpenter father’s instruction and may have also received
engineering training at Frome’s Mechanics Institution.
The brothers came to Brooklyn at an opportune time.
The city was growing rapidly, and the field of architecture
was finally getting some professional and public regard.
Architects were in demand to produce superior products
worthy of the third largest city in America. The new firm
of Parfitt Brothers opened their office in the prominent
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