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Architects Shampan & Shampan added Gothic flair to their 1924 Art Deco-style building The Woodrow Wilson.
In finish and details, nothing has been overlooked.” There
were no prices listed -- if one must ask, then one obviously
can’t afford it.
The building filled up quickly, with many of the renters
mentioned in Brooklyn’s society pages. The success of the
Martinique was a permission slip to other developers, who
eagerly began building six-story or higher elevator apartment
buildings along Eastern Parkway, on Lincoln Place
and around the park oval. Many of the developers built
multiple buildings here.
By 1929, the Belcher Hyde map of this area shows wall-towall
apartment buildings lining the parkway and surrounding
streets. Some buildings were enormous, others much
more modest, all catering to those of middle-class income
up to the wealthier individuals who would have purchased
houses on the Gold Coast of Park Slope a generation before.
The 1920s are often seen as a golden age for New York City
apartment buildings. Advances in steel construction and
building technology made it possible to build larger and
taller. Real estate sections of the paper that once touted fine
townhouses in the best neighborhoods now shouted out the
glories of apartment living. Every building offered features
and amenities making their address the best of the best.
Many of these ads were specifically written to lure Manhattanites
back to Brooklyn.
Most of these buildings were developed and designed by
first-generation success stories, men who knew what the
majority of their customers – people just like them – wanted.
The apartments had everything: large rooms, the latest
in modern conveniences, full concierge service, maid’s
quarters, elevators, and impressive marble-filled lobbies.
The names of the buildings were impressive too. Past U.S.
presidents, their wives, and swanky upper-class-sounding
monikers abounded, all harkening to the realization
of the American Dream: The Woodrow Wilson, George
Washington, Martha Washington, Coolidge, Harding, and
four named after Abraham Lincoln. There was also the
Traymore, Gray Court, Vassar Hall, Vassar Court, the Park
Lane, and the Copley Plaza Apartments. And then there
was the grand Turner Towers.