Hotel 718 in the press, with some amnesia

A couple news outlets have reprinted the V3's press release about the Hotel 718, the soon-to-be opened hotel on 231 Abolitionist Place, also known as Duffield Street. Here is a sample of how Downtown Brooklyn is now being marketed—this was published in American Banking and Marketing News, SunHerald.com, HospitalityNet and (with slight variation) CityBiz:

The property is within walking distance of MetroTech Center, court buildings and both the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, offering easy access to Brooklyn’s rich cultural amenities. These include the world-renowned Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Frederick Law Olmsted’s masterfully-designed Prospect Park, and countless vibrant and diverse cultural and entertainment attractions day and night.

The biggest irony in these articles is this statement:

The 19-story, $25 million hotel is set to open in November 2011 and will celebrate the heritage and culture of Brooklyn, New York.

For those who aren't aware of the important historical significance of Abolitionist Place, it was the home of several important abolitionists, and is likely a stop on the Underground Railroad in a city that was violently anti-Abolitionist. The home at 231 Duffield/Abolitionist Place was built around 1850, and while it was not as famous at 227 Duffield, it was potentially even more important. The new hotel "celebrated" this history by demolishing the previous building without giving anyone a chance to study the unusual architectural features.

At least Curbed gives a much more insightful and snarky coverage. The photo here is from their article.

V3 Hotel now called "Hotel 718"

Brownstoner reports on the new name of the V3 hotel at 229-231 Duffield Street:

A press release brings new info about the V3 hotel rising at 231 Duffield in Downtown: It's going to be dubbed "Hotel 718" and is scheduled to open in November. The release also says the 128-room property will have a 75-seat bar and restaurant, and amenities will include "spa services, a fitness center and cardio room, and 24-hour Brooklyn-centric concierge services."

Duffield Street photo essay

Here are photos from January 6, 2010.

The new gym:


The hotel at 237 Duffield Street. Several reports a few months ago said that this would be open by the beginning of 2010:



The foundation of the V3 hotel at 229-231 Duffield Street. The previous building had a false wall in the basement that several academics think could have been a stop on the Underground Railroad:


Another view of 229-231 Duffield Street construction:


This building is slated for demolition by the NYC Economic Development Corporation:


This building is also slated for demolition. The ground floor is home to an African-American themed bookstore:


Another set of buildings slated for demolition in order to make way for a mini-park and underground parking lot:


The former site of the Albee Square Mall. This is the planned location of the City Point project, recipient of Stimulus funds. For more on this project, read Feds’ CityPoint bailout is a bad use of taxpayer dollars:

New rendering of hotel at 229-231 Duffield- near exciting MetroTech

New rendering of the hotel at 229-231 Duffield showed up on the V3 website. It's their featured project, and here's the blurb:

The new hotel, will be developed and operated by V3 Hotels and designed by H. Thomas O’Hara, is just steps away from the MetroTech center, the court buildings and the Manhattan Bridge, as well as being minutes from Manhattan by subway or bus. The hotel will have a unique presence along the block of many hotels. The red artesian textured brick and matching mortar will give the building seamless verticality, while the angular facade will give each room a different view floor by floor. The boutique hotel will have 130 rooms that will be comfortable as well as affordable, and more than 1,500 square feet of ground floor retail space.

There's no mention of the Abolitionist homes on either side of the proposed hotel. But it's close to MetroTech and Manhattan! Uh, V3's "ultimate goal," according to their website is

to provide our guests with a hospitality experience that exemplifies a new paradigm in the hotel industry while always respecting and reflecting our communities and neighborhoods.

Griots praise the memory of 231 Duffield

Famoro Dioubate and Missia Saran Diouate of Guinea praise the memory of the Abolitionists who lived at 231 Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The building was owned by Peter and Mary Hawes of Plymouth Church, and the basement included hidden passages that archeologists think could have provided shelter for escaped slaves during the 1850s. This memorial was held at 227 Duffield Street, which was also owned by Abolitionists and is considered a likely part of the Underground Railroad. 231 Duffield was demolished in March 2009 by a private developer who hopes to build a hotel at the site.

Famoro and Missia are Djelis (also known as Griots), who are the living history books of the Mande Empire of West Africa.

You can also see the video by clicking here.

Photos of hidden space at 231 Duffield

Here are some pictures sent by a reader who identified himself as racer x. The first is an image taken from the ground level from the back of 231 Duffield Street looking down- click the image to enlarge. The wall between 231 and 233 Duffield is on the left:




Here are the pipes in the foreground of the photo above. Notice how they go behind the stone wall towards a brick wall (actual outer wall of property):





The photo below shows the view from above the false wall towards the property line. It shows a gap of about five feet:



Several advocates believe that slaves hid in this crawl space. I have spoken to archeologists familiar with buildings of the mid-19th century, and they had never seen any sort of construction like this.

News 12 Brooklyn video of 231 Duffield Demolition

News 12 Brooklyn broadcast the story of the demolition of the Abolitionist home at 231 Duffield Street. To see the story, click here. 

Demolition of Abolitionist home nearly complete

The demolition of 231 Duffield Street continues. The loss of this Abolitionist home was covered in Brownstoner and Curbed. News 12 Brooklyn sent a reporter, but I haven't seen the clip.

To see an annotated Flicker set of photos from 3/4/09, click here. I have included images of other buildings slated for demolition by New York City.

A few people asked for a photo of 231 Duffield Street before demolition began. Here is something I found from about 2005:

Demolition of 231 Duffield moves quickly

V3 has moved efficiently to demolish 231 Duffield Street. This is demolition is the work of a private developer, and it is NOT the same as 227 Duffield, the Abolitionist home owned by Joy Chatel, who succeeded in lifting the threat of eminent domain on her home.




For more photos of 231 Duffield (plus some nearby properties) on March 3, 2009, please click here. A 6-second video of the back of the building can be found here.

For a brief description of the history of 231 Duffield, click here to read yesterday's post. The demolition of this 1850 home was also covered today in Brownstoner here.

In Memoriam: 231 Duffield Street

231 Duffield is still standing, but it has been gutted and looks like its shell will only last a few more days at most. Much of the press attention has focused on 227 Duffield (owned by Joy Chatel) and 233 Duffield, but I wanted to take a moment to remember the historical importance of 231 Duffield.

In this memorial posting about the building, I would like to go back to the NYC Economic Development Corporation report titled “Research Report on the Potential Underground Railroad Associations of the Duffield Street and Gold Street Properties in Downtown Brooklyn.” Before getting to the connection to the Abolitionist movement, here's a bit of background:

231 DUFFIELD STREET (BLOCK 146, LOT 13)

Lot 13 originally was part of the John Duffield estate. By 1829, Lot 13 (along with other adjacent lots) had been acquired by John Duffield’s daughter, Susan Lawrence. It appears that Susan Lawrence never developed the lot during the time she held it…. Lot 13 was purchased at public auction for $550 by Robert Dingee of Brooklyn. It appears that lot remained undeveloped during the time that Robert Dingee owned it, from 1847 to 1850. In 1850, Robert and Frances Dingee sold Lot 13 to John A. Ackeley (also spelled Ackley) for $800. Again, the relatively low price paid for the lot suggests there were no improvements to it at the time. After purchasing Lot 13, Ackeley appears to have built the first house on the property after 1850.

One of the Peer Reviewers hired by the EDC in this study was Dr. Judith Wellman. Her widely used Wellman Scale evaluates the significance of potential Underground Railroad sites. A level three is defined as

Good chance the story is true Abolitionist sympathies, abolitionism or African-American background but no direct evidence of Underground Railroad activity. Potential Underground Railroad affiliation backed by oral tradition and/or some evidence of abolitionist activity, e.g., antislavery society membership, signatures on antislavery petitions or antislavery church membership.

In Appendix B page 3 of the EDC study, Dr. Wellman writes:

I would definitely put the Hawes/Hilles household (231 Duffield) at a level three because of the Hawes connection with Plymouth Church and the Hilles family as African American. Similarly, I would put the Truesdale/Harris household (227 Duffield) at level three because of Elizabeth Harris’s birthplace in North Carolina and Thomas Truesdale’s subscription to the National Anti-Slavery Standard. I was not sure about which households several other members of abolitionist churches belonged to. The Truesdales and Hawes families (especially the Truesdales) deserve further work. Level 3 fits people who have some connection with abolitionism, even if there is no documented connection as yet with the Underground Railroad. Membership in abolitionist societies and churches and subscription to abolitionist newspapers would count as abolitionist connections.

Dr. Wellman commented several times in the EDC report about the significance of the 231 Duffield, and Dr. Cheryl LaRoche supported Wellman in her comments.

Demolition continues of 231 Duffield

The demolition of 231 Duffield continues. The whole block was an important part of Brooklyn's Abolitionist history since many of this reviled community lived on the block. The buildings on this side of the block were connected underground. Here are photos from this evening:





Here is the view from the back of the building:

Demolition begins of historic Duffield Street building

Here are photos of the scaffolding that has been erected around 231 Duffield Street. While most attention has been on 227 and 233 Duffield, one important part of the history of the block is that all these buildings were connected underground. 231 Duffield is controlled by the V3, the same company building the hotel at 237 Duffield, and it looks like they intend to use their demolition permit. Some speculate that escaped slaves may have used other buildings on the block for various purposes, but that they stayed in 231.

These photos were sent by a reader.