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Oscar Hawley Mansion
563 Bedford Avenue

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571 Bedford Ave image

571 Bedford Ave
Post

571 Bedford Avenue, 1958. Deep within Hasidic Williamsburg, 571 Bedford Avenue still remains. This Renaissance Revival mansion was constructed circa 1890. The copper bay window and the highly ornamented dormer window framing on the mansard roof have turned green with age. An early owner of the building (likely until his death in 1910) was Moses May, a beef dealer and president of the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphans Asylum. Today the building houses an Orthodox Jewish religious institution.
Oscar Hawley Mansion image

Oscar Hawley Mansion
Post

Hanover Club, ca. 1911. The Hanover Club was a prestigious German-Jewish Club opened by William Cullen Bryant, a publisher of the Brooklyn Times. It was founded in 1890, housed in the former mansion of Oscar Hawley, a wealthy box manufacturer. In its heyday, the club boasted a bowling alley, billiards club, a restaurant, and a cafe. The alley and cafe were open exclusively to women in the afternoon. During these hours, a gentleman was only allowed inside if accompanied by a lady. The club also hosted dinners in true German spirit, one of which was called the "Thumb bit dinner." At said dinner supposedly, guests dined on steak piled high on slices of bread, all while wearing butcher's aprons and hats. The 400-member club moved to a new building in Crown Heights just one year after they moved into the Hawley Mansion. As the clubhouse changed its scenery, so did the neighborhood of South Williamsburg. When the Williamsburg Bridge was completed in 1909, an influx of Jewish immigrants moved from the Lower East Side to Williamsburg. The former mansion became the Young Israel Association in 1922, an orthodox institution that aimed to provide new immigrants with a space to connect with their community and their religious beliefs. The building is now Bais Yaskov of Adas Yereim.

Photos(9)

Oscar Hawley Mansion image

Oscar Hawley Mansion

Hanover Club Image represented is one of a related set (CLUB 0369, CLUB 0370), some of which may also be described in this new record; Three exterior views, in different sizes, of the Hanover Club located at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Rodney Street. 0370 is a reproduction, retouched, and not dated.
Oscar Hawley Mansion image

Oscar Hawley Mansion

Hanover Club Image represented is one of a related set (CLUB 0369, CLUB 0370), some of which may also be described in this new record; Three exterior views, in different sizes, of the Hanover Club located at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Rodney Street. 0370 is a reproduction, retouched, and not dated.
Oscar Hawley Mansion image

Oscar Hawley Mansion

Hanover Club Image represented is one of a related set (CLUB 0369, CLUB 0370), some of which may also be described in this new record; Three exterior views, in different sizes, of the Hanover Club located at the intersection of Bedford Avenue and Rodney Street. 0370 is a reproduction, retouched, and not dated.
Oscar Hawley Mansion image

Oscar Hawley Mansion

Brooklyn: Oscar Hawley House, Bedford Avenue and Rodney Street, 1922. Later headquarters of the Hanover Club, 1891-1922.
Oscar Hawley Mansion image

Oscar Hawley Mansion

Brooklyn: Oscar Hawley House, Bedford Avenue and Rodney Street, 1922. Later headquarters of the Hanover Club, 1891-1922.
571 Bedford Ave image

571 Bedford Ave

\[#571 Bedford Avenue (East side of avenue between Rodney and Keap Streets).] \#571 Bedford Avenue (East side of avenue between Rodney and Keap Streets).
571 Bedford Ave image

571 Bedford Ave

\[#571 Bedford Avenue (on east side of avenue between Rodney Street and Keap Street).] \#571 Bedford Avenue (on east side of avenue between Rodney Street and Keap Street).
Oscar Hawley Mansion image

Oscar Hawley Mansion

Young Israel of Brooklyn Close-up of facade of Young Israel of Brooklyn, a three-story, brick synagogue in Williamsburg with iron fence, traffic light, and pedestrian (woman) in foreground.
Oscar Hawley Mansion image

Oscar Hawley Mansion

Brooklyn: Rodney Street - Bedford Avenue Rodney Street, south side, at and east of Bedford Ave., showing at the corner the Oscar Hawley Mansion, purchased by the Hanover Club in 1891 for 327,000 and enlarged. Ihh 1922, a Jewish Society known as the " Young Israel of williamsburg" purchased the club forS 35,000. 1922\. Eugene L. Armbruster Collection.
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