Kent Avenue, west side, between Myrtle and Park Avenues, showing Public School No. 157, 1929. Constructed in 1906, P.S. 157 is elaborate Gothic Revival-style building designed by C.B. J. Snyder. The school suffered neglect, water damage, and misguided alterations throughout the 20th century. The original structure included an ornate parapet with 40 terra cotta “learned” owls attached. In the early 21st century, an architectural firm undertook an extensive renovation that recreated more than 5,000 units of terra cotta, including the parapet and owls.

NYPD 88th Precinct ca. 1929 ARCHITECT: George Ingram DATE: 1889-90 STYLE: Romanesque Revival The former 4th (now 88th) Police Precinct Station House is an impressive example of Romanesque Revival style architecture. It replaced an earlier station house at Myrtle and Vanderbilt Avenues. Completed in November 1890, the 4th Police Precinct Station House was designed by George Ingram, a civil engineer who was associated with the Brooklyn Department of City Works in the 1880s. Faced with red pressed brick and sandstone, the fortress-like exterior is well-preserved, including a picturesque turret that rises asymmetrically above the entrance porch. The 4th Police Precinct originally had a separate patrol-stable-and-cells building which was demolished in the mid-1920s. This structure was replaced by a three-story brick extension that was designed by architect Thomas E. O’Brien, a lieutenant in the police force, to create the impression it was constructed at the same time as the earlier building

Crossing guard outside Ack’s Bar and Luncheonette at the corner of Classon and DeKalb Avenues, October 25, 1957.

St. Mary’s Episcopal Church ARCHITECT: Richard T. Auchmuty DATE: 1858-59 STYLE: Gothic Revival St. Mary’s Church is a beautiful Gothic Revival structure reminiscent of an English rural parish church. Built in 1858, it was designed by a relatively unknown architect, Richard T. Auchmuty, in accordance with the religious philosophy of ecclesiology. This movement laid out a strict set of rules for the design of Episcopal churches, which required the honest use of the best materials, the orientation of the church on an east-west axis, and the exterior design to reflect the plan and construction of the interior. In addition to its handsome form, St. Mary’s has beautiful ornamentation and attractive pointed-arched and rose windows.

P.S. 157, The Benjamin Franklin 850 Kent Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn 1909 Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, architect C.B.J. Snyder’s goal was to build a world-class public school system for New York City. Constructed in 1909, P.S. 157, an “H” design pioneered by Snyder, is a fine example of the Colligate Gothic style of architecture reminiscent of the classical architecture of Oxford, Bryn Mawr, and Princeton. The building’s parapets are accentuated with 40 terracotta owls, representing “wisdom.”

817-827 Bedford Avenue, March 30, 1958. The A.D Freed Oil Company seen at right at no. 823 survived in this location until 2015 when it was replaced by a new glass-front multi-family residential unit.

Engine #209 Taaffe Place, 1957. The Brooklyn Fire Department Engine 9 was organized in 1869 at 159 Taaffe Place (formerly Graham Street) in a building that had formerly housed the volunteer Engine 12. In 1892, Engine 9 was called to a massive fire at a series of buildings on Nostrand Avenue, and its firefighters performed a number of daring rescues. The engine company moved into a different building in 1966, and was eventually disbanded in 2003. The building at 159 Taaffe Place still stands and has a faded sign "American Refractories" above the large rolling metal gate. The top floor looks to be a residence.