Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces Historic District

These two residential courts are located in the most historic section of Flatbush, near the Flatbush Reformed Church and Erasmus Hall. In 1916, Mabel Bull acquired land from the Lott family, and commissioned Midwood Associates, a Brooklyn real estate firm, to develop Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces, a small community of row houses to be sold to middle class families. Midwood Associates chose the architectural firm of Slee & Bryson to design the houses and work continued over a period of four years.

The Federal Revival brick houses that line Albemarle Terrace are raised above street level and set back behind small gardens. The two-and-one-half and three-story dwellings are arranged symmetrically in an alternating pattern, creating a pleasing ensemble, and the trees are planted in the gardens rather than at the curbs, providing a feeling of seclusion. These dwellings possess charming details, such as alternating bay and Palladian windows, dormers peeking out of slate mansard roofs, and entry porches.

Kenmore Terrace, stylistically joined to Albemarle Terrace by a three-story Federal Revival house at its entrance, is designed in the style of English Arts and Crafts row cottages. Modeled after the English Garden City movement, all six houses are shaped in a shallow L-shape, and have a gabled end facing the street.
The scale and enclosed arrangement of Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces imbues the area with a tranquil character that it has retained despite its proximity to the busy intersection of Church and Flatbush Avenues.©2014