Twins?

[396 Midwood Street, Prospect Lefferts Gardens, Flatbush, Brooklyn, c. 1939–1941. From the NYC Municipal Archives Collections. Click for a much larger view.]

I like finding tax photographs with some human interest. Here in Prospect Lefferts Gardens (a Flatbush neighborhood) we have not one but two baby carriages, parked and unattended, as was the practice not that long ago.

Looking at this building made me recall a sentence from the beginning of James Joyce’s “Araby” that describes houses “that gazed at one another with brown imperturbable faces.” The low railing marks what in the Joyce world (and beyond) is called “the area”: “a sunken court giving access to the basement of a house, separated from the pavement by railings, with a flight of steps providing access” (OED ). The term comes up in Ulysses, when keyless Leopold Bloom climbs over a railing and drops down into the area (no steps) to let himself into his kitchen.

I don’t know what to say about the sign next door: ICE BOCK 5 AND 10 15. Should that be BLOCK?

No. 396 was for sale, “fully rented,” in 1943 and 1945, and again in 1952. I’m not sure what “4-5 rooms” means — did one residence have four rooms and one have five?

[The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, December 12, 1943.]

[The Brooklyn Eagle, March 9, 1945.]

[The Brooklyn Eagle, July 19, 1952.]

This building is now gone, replaced by a large brick residence housing a daycare: “Specialize in Infants & Toddlers.” The baby carriages would still fit in.

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More photographs from the NYC Municipal Archives (Pinboard)