153rd Precinct Station House
153rd Precinct Station house/Cypress Hills Station [handwritten on recto]
Exterior view of precinct house in Cypress Hills. Scrapbook page from "Views of Queens County" by Eugene Armbruster.
153rd Precinct Station House
153rd Precinct Station house/Cypress Hills Station [handwritten on recto]
Exterior view of precinct house in Cypress Hills. Scrapbook page from "Views of Queens County" by Eugene Armbruster.
153rd Precinct, ca. 1910.
This small fortress-like building was constructed in 1891 and designed by George Ingram, whose medieval-style police stations dot the borough. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle described his works as “Palatial Homes for the Wielders of the Club." This Cypress Hills building is the twin of the station at Fourth Avenue and 43rd Street in Sunset Park. They both have large corner turrets and deep entrance pavilions.
Following its service as a police facility (called at various points the 153rd, 75th, and 17th precincts) , it was the People’s First Baptist Church in the 1970s. While some of Ingram's creations still function as police stations, both the Sunset Park and Cypress Hills buildings have been empty and largely abandoned for the last few decades.