Civil War Vets, Horse Traders, Salesmen, Dancers & Lives of Service
By Joe Enright
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| 1940: 15 Waldorf Court (NYC Tax Photo) |
Some of the most ornate homes in Victorian Flatbush were built near the Brighton line. If you doubt me, take a look at the “Japanese House” at 131 Buckingham Road. Why would you build a mansion alongside a railroad?
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| The Japanese House at 131 Buckingham Road |
Some have suggested that at the dawn of the Progressive Era, the railroad – newly electrified in 1899 – was considered a symbol of progress. Perhaps that’s why the Germania Real Estate & Improvement Company designed Courts in West Midwood to surround their malled centerpiece, Glenwood Road: because the Courts afforded more views of the smokeless single-car electric trains that clanked by.
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| Early 1900s BRT Brighton Train Car. Summer! |
In fact, when 15 Waldorf Court was being erected by John Corbin and his architect, Benjamin Dreisler, in 1906, the railroad 200 feet to its east was about to become even more visible.
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1905 Aug 2 Corbin & Driesler File New Buildings Plans Including 15 Waldorf Ct
100 Feet East of Rugby Rd aka East 14th St |
Ever since its initial run in 1878, the Brighton locomotives began a gradual descent near Glenwood Road in order to pass under the LIRR Bay Ridge line just south of Avenue H. But in 1906 the Grade Elimination Project began to elevate the same track-bed of the privately-owned Brooklyn Rapid Transit (BRT) to pass over the LIRR.
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| 1906 BRT & LIRR Briefly Crossed at Grade South of Ave H |
Because of the Courts’ design, only a few homes directly bordered the tracks, which would prove to be fortuitous given the hubbub of the "Big Dig" from 1906 to 1908, a momentous undertaking not foreseen in 1900 when Germania first designed the Courts.
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1909 Map. Blue Line Far Right = Brighton RR.
Red Middle Right = 15 Waldorf Court
Yellow = Wood Frame Houses. Pink = Brick
Blank=Undeveloped Clumsy Color Mark-Ups = Joe Enright |
Over the next 113 years, 15 Waldorf Court was home to only six families, four of whom were short-timers. The first owner was Charles H. Hawxhurst, a City water meter inspector, who in July 1906 obtained a $4,750 mortgage to finance the purchase.
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| Mortgage Filing. Note Misspelling of Spouse's Surname - One of Many Misspellings Frustrating Intrepid Researchers! |
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| 1900 Census: Charles H. Hawxhurst Family on E 17th St |
He was a Civil War veteran who bragged about seeing a Washington-bound Abe Lincoln in Manhattan in 1861.
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| 1862 Oct 9 Charles H. Hawxhurst Returns to Brooklyn |
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| 1907: Proud Vet |
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| 1907: Hawxhurst Reminisces |
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| 1910 Census: The HAWXHURST Family at 15 Waldorf Ct |
Six years after moving in, Hawxhurst, nearing retirement, apparently swapped homes with Albert Horstmann, who had a more modest abode eight blocks away – with no driveway – on East 22nd Street. Hawxhurst passed away in Marlboro, New Jersey, only months after moving there in 1920.
Two notes about Charles Henry Hawxhurst before moving on. He was instrumental in getting a new Presbyterian church built at the corner of East 23rd Street and Foster Avenue in 1908, on land donated by the widow of Benjamin Stephens, after whom Stephens Court was named. The Flatbush Presbyterian Church has been much in the local news lately as a result of its sale to developers and a recent push for landmarking.
Secondly, Hawxhurst got his job as an inspector after passing a civil service test and he was given additional points for his service in the Civil War. But when he applied for retirement in 1915, he was denied because he had "no mental or physical defect which would warrant his retirement." He was then 73 years old! He appealed and a year later was allowed to shuffle off with a $600 annuity ($14,000 in today's coinage).
Albert Horstmann, the second owner, had an interest in West South Midwood that was soon apparent. He had registered a new Ford automobile in 1912 and immediately after moving to Waldorf Court, he built a garage. In addition to houses, Horstmann also traded horses, a very profitable business in southern Brooklyn, given the racetracks in Sheepshead Bay, Brighton Beach and Gravesend. But the Progressives declared war on gambling and by 1910 every Brooklyn racetrack had been closed due to State legislation prohibiting horse betting.
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| 1900: Ocean Parkway in Flatbush - Horses Still Ruled |
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1900: Shultz's Race Track (Green Oval) Along Coney Island Ave
From Avenue I to Avenue K |
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| 1908: T. B. Ackerson |
However, there was still the bridal path on Ocean Parkway that led to Prospect Park, where thousands of equestrians sauntered every month
and stables still abounded throughout our area. Four years after Horstmann’s daughter was wed in the home, in April of 1915 by a Lutheran minister, the family sold the house and moved to Brightwaters in Suffolk County, which had just been developed by T. B. Ackerson, the father of Westminster Road, and one of the most-celebrated builders of Victorian Flatbush.
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| An Ackerson House in Brightwaters |
Suburban flight has a long history! In Brightwaters, Albert bought a livery and sold horses until retiring to Merrick where he died in 1943.
The third family also lasted about six years at 15 Waldorf Court. Frederick G. Speckels was a statistician for a fire insurance company. William Morris, the brother of Speckels spouse, Virginia, was waked in the home after passing away there in 1923. Soon thereafter the Speckels moved to East 23rd Street in South Midwood where Frederick died in 1934.
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| 1920 Census 15 Waldorf Ct - Speckels Family |
From the Roaring Twenties to the end of the Eisenhour Era, the house was occupied by William & Agnes Hecht. He was a salesman, then an assistant manager for an electric alarm company.
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| 1930 Census 15 Waldorf Ct - HECHT Family |
Their daughter Madeline married Kenneth Smith, a Harvard grad, at the Packer Institute Chapel in 1930 and the newly-weds rode out the Depression at 15 Waldorf Court.
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| 1930 Madeline Hecht Wedding |
William Hecht served on the Board of the West-South Midwood Property Owners League and he and Agnes were feted at a 50th wedding anniversary party hosted by Madeline and Kenneth in 1953 at the old Pierrepont Hotel on Montague Street.
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| 1940 Census 15 Waldorf Ct - HECHT Family |
In the mid-1950s the house passed to Ethel Cahan and Irving Rubinstein who were wed in 1957 in Manhattan.
Both were very successful in the retail apparel business. Ethel, a widow, owned a shop on West 56th Street in Manhattan where she met a “major macher” divorcee, Irving. After settling in West Midwood, Ethel moved her business to Avenue M and in May 1958 Irving Rubinstein, who had held leadership positions in Jewish charitable organizations for many years, was elected President of the B’nai B’rith lodge representing New England, New York and eastern Canada. After retiring to Palm Beach, Ethel and Irving remained generous funders of the Anti-Defamation League and the Jewish Arts Council until they too passed away within a year of each other in the early 1990s.
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| 1988 Ethel & Irving Rubinstein host ADLFunction, Palm Beach |
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| Cora Cahan |
Ethel’s daughter, Cora Cahan, became a notable dancer and a longtime New York arts administrator. She served as president of the non-profit that gave us the New Victory Theater on 42nd Street, and as I write this, she has just joined the Baryshnikov Arts Center as its new president and chief executive.
In 1966 Ethel Cahan sold 15 Waldorf Court for $28,000 to Mike and Ella Weiss. Mike grew up in an apartment building at East 17th Street & Avenue H, attending Hudde JHS and Brooklyn Tech while making after-school deliveries for a long-gone drug store just west of the underpass at Avenue H.
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| 1940 Mike Worked at Drug Store on Far Right in 1950s |
Ella Friedman meanwhile grew up on Argyle Road near Beverly Road and attended Walt Whitman JHS and Erasmus. They met as teenagers attending a Flatbush youth group and both went to Brooklyn College. Upon graduation, they were married and began careers as teachers, renting an apartment on Nostrand Avenue near Avenue K while pursuing graduate degrees.
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| 1982: New York Daily News Profile |
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| 1983: 15 Waldorf Court (NYC Tax Photo) |
Envisaging a family and a house, they wanted to stay in Victorian Flatbush and when they saw Waldorf Court it was love at first sight. Two children, Janna and Ethan, followed and both attended PS 217 where Ella became active in the PTA, eventually serving as President. Her career in education, meanwhile, morphed from classroom to management to board room as she became a powerhouse for Brooklyn College and the Brooklyn Arts Council.
Mike was no slouch either. Originally a physics teacher at Brooklyn Tech, he was appointed Assistant Principal and after two decades in education, began a second career in government which included ten years with the NYC Department of Transportation where he eventually served as First Deputy Commissioner before leaving to become the Executive Director of the MetroTech Business Improvement District.
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| 2019: 15 Waldorf Court |
Looking back on their decision to stick it out and fight for Flatbush while others around them fled, Mike and Ella concluded: “The best move we ever made.” Flatbush is grateful they stayed.
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| 1979 Daily News: Mike Fights Back |
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Mike & Ella Weiss
You can’t be more Flatbush than Mike and Ella Weiss. They are not independently wealthy. They do not own sports teams, breweries, horse farms or realty portfolios. Instead, they own an unassuming wooden frame cottage house you might pass a hundred times and never notice. But they have led lives of service that have enriched all of us in Flatbush in so many ways.
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| Ella & Mike |
Shortly after moving to Waldorf Court, Mike Weiss joined the Board of the West Midwood Community Association. Soon thereafter he was elected President for five years and has provided invaluable continuous support ever since. In 1975, Mike helped found the non-profit Flatbush Development Corporation (FDC), serving as unpaid Board President, promoting better housing, youth programs, commercial revitalization and crime control. Within a few years FDC was able to wrangle $20 million of public investment, stabilizing the area and helping to create one of the few economically and ethnically integrated neighborhoods in the City. And as Mike is always quick to point out, “Ella helped every step of the way during my 15 years at FDC, particularly in planning and organizing events.” Mike also was a member of Community Board 14 for over a decade, serving as its Vice-Chair for a while. He was a founding member of the Brooklyn Tech Alumni Foundation where he played a major role in getting Tech their first athletic field and helped to raise millions of dollars for teacher training, student trips and school equipment.
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| Mike Weiss |
Meanwhile Ella, while still active at PS 217, became Director of Community Relations for the Brooklyn College Performing Arts Center and later joined the Board of Directors there. She has also served as Executive Director of the College’s Office of Alumni Affairs and Assistant Vice-President of External Affairs. She raised millions of dollars for the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts (BCBC) and secured funding to rebuild the College’s library before moving on in 2012 to become President of the Brooklyn Arts Council.
Were we to list all of the Weiss’s contributions here, we'd exceed our storage threshold. Thanks, Mike and Ella, for fighting for Brooklyn when Brooklyn wasn’t cool.
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| Mike & Ella Weiss: Long May They Run |
