Butcher shop on Avenue J: "Shop with Confidence," July 20, 1958.

Van Nuyse-Magaw House ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: c. 1800 STYLE: Dutch Colonial This unpretentious frame house is an excellent example of a Dutch Colonial farmhouse of the early 1800’s with some Twentieth Century modifications. This rectangular two and one-half story sturdy, shingle-covered dwelling has great architectural character. Johannes Van Nuyse (1736-1826) erected this Van Nuyse homestead at the west end of his father’s eighty-five acre farm. George C. Case purchased the house in 1916 and moved it to its present site, removing the kitchen wing and adding new dormer windows at about the same time.

Joost Van Nuyse’s son, Johannes, built this house between 1800 and 1803 at what became 1447 Ocean Avenue. It passed to his son, Jeromus, who died childless. His estate sold the house to Robert Magaw, whose namesake ancestor, the Revolutionary War figure Colonel Robert Magaw, surrendered Fort Tryon to the British. The Magaws held the property until the early 20th century when the surrounding farmland was subdivided for development. In 1919 the old house — minus its kitchen wing — was moved to 1041 East 22nd Street, a few blocks east of its original location, and turned sideways to fit its new, narrow lot. Its distinctive gable end is, therefore, the street facade. It became a landmark in 1969 and remains a private residence.

Avenue H Station House DATE: 1906 STYLE: Colonial Revival, Queen Anne The Avenue H station on the BMT line, originally the Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railroad, built in 1906, is the city’s only shingled wooden cottage turned transit station house. Often compared to a country train stop, it originally served as a real estate sales office for developer Thomas Benton Ackerson to sell property in the adjacent neighborhood of Fiske Terrace, an early twentieth-century example of planned suburban development. The structure, with a hipped and flared roof and wraparound porch evokes in miniature the area’s Colonial Revival and Queen Anne houses.

Brooklyn Public Library, Midwood Branch, 1958. Midwood Library was founded in 1912 as a deposit station in a Coney Island drug store. The branch moved several times over the years. In the 1950s, the Midwood branch was one of nine libraries to receive a new building constructed by the City. The mid century construction is obvious in the style of the building, including the softly angled wall at the front, uniform metal framed windows, and silver metal signage.

1501 Avenue J, 1958. This corner view from 1958 shows the usual suspects that make up this south Brooklyn neighborhood commercial thoroughfares: barber shops, dry cleaners, clothing stores, and banks. The bank building at no. 1505 is occupied at this time by a Manufacturers Trust Company Bank. Today is it a Valley National Bank.