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The Brooklyn Newsboys' Lodging House history site.



Images (Brooklyn).


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Exterior shot 1.

Present-day photo of the Brooklyn LH.

Here we're looking at the building from across Poplar St, some distance down the street. The corner of the LH facing us is the southeast corner.

Note the tall, thin windows and the height of each floor. The interior of the building was said to have been provided plenty of natural light.

My guess is that the alley entrance used by the boys is somewhere along the building's east side, since there was obviously no adjoining structure on that side.

You can also faintly make out the flight of steps leading up from the sidewalk to the front door.

Photo taken from: Halstead Property (listing no longer available)



Exterior shot 2.

Present-day photo of the Brooklyn LH.

From across Poplar St. again, but this time closer to the building's southwest corner. You get a better idea of the front entrance with this photo, though the front door is obscured by trees and cars.

You also get a better look at the high basement, which is faced in a lighter-colored stone than the rest of the building's red brick.

The shorter building to the left to it (from the camera's point of view), with the wide double doors, is also being used as a condo these days. I have no info on how old that building is.

Photo taken from: Halstead Property (listing no longer available)



From above, present-day.

Screencapped from Google Earth.

I have marked the approximate outline of the LH with a faint dashed line. The street running across the bottom of the image is Poplar St. Interestingly, I found out that the back portion of the two buildings just to the east of it also shares the same address (i.e., both the former Brooklyn LH and that back portion are today called 55 Poplar St.). Whether that was true at the turn of the century, thus making the back portion part of the LH as well, I don't know. Those other two buildings--their front portions, at least--have different addresses. I do not know when they were built.

If you'd like a wider view, check it out on Google Earth. Coordinates are 40°42'4.46"N, 73°59'32.46"W.

[Updated Oct. 8, 2007] I've found out that indeed the back portion of the adjoining buildings were not originally part of the LH, despite the present-day address numbers. Also, I've revised the dashed outline slightly along the west side to better fit with the original dimensions of the building. That side of the LH has been modified over the years, so it is difficult to be exact, but this is a reasonable estimation.



Ad requesting donations of clothing.

The Brooklyn CAS, like the Manhattan CAS, would often take out newspaper ads asking for donations of used clothing. This one appeared in the Brooklyn Eagle, Jan. 19, 1895.

It reads: "Wanted--Shoes and cast off clothing at Newsboys' Home, 61 Poplar st, for our poor boys and girls. Please advise us that we may send for same." (Note that the girls referred to in the ad would have been only students at the Industrial School or other children aided by the BCAS, not residents of the LH themselves.)







Screencapped from Google Maps.

The following are all present-day images from Google Maps' new "Street View" feature. As with all views using this feature, there is some distortion of the image.

The front of the building is heavily blocked by trees, so it was difficult to get very clear shots.



Front door.

The front door, from Poplar Street.



Front door, view 2.

View is tilted up as much as feature will allow, to show 2nd-floor windows. Note the extreme distortion of the image, even though the "viewer" is standing right in front of the building.



Back corner.

Because the original image is dark and indistinct, I brightened it.

Looking at the northeast corner, one of the back corners of the building. Note that the north face of the building (which is the back wall) is a uniform pale color that doesn't match the red brick of the other exterior walls. I don't know whether the original back wall had this appearance or not. Given that in present-day, the building shares the same address (55 Poplar) as some of the adjoining buildings (see the overhead Google Earth screencap above), it's possible it has been altered.

The east wall (the one with a row of small attic windows) originally faced an alley.



East wall, partial.

Another brightened image. This is looking at the NE corner again, but from farther east, so we see more of the east wall. You also get a rough (given the distortion) idea of how close the LH is to the Brooklyn Bridge.



Southeast corner.

In this shot, the footprint of the building looks almost square (i.e., the east wall looks almost as short as the south (front) wall), but if you compare it to the overhead Google Earth screencap, you'll see this is not true. According to the building measurements taken in 1899, the LH is nearly twice as deep as it is wide.



Southeast corner, view 2.

Similar to the above shot, but from farther east on Poplar St., to get a better view of the building. Similar to the first shot from Halstead above.







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