47 Plaza Street West is often described as Brooklyn’s own Flatiron Building – and the similarities are striking: Both have a triangular footprint, but 47 Plaza Street West is a little more complex – its eastern side gently curves to follow Grand Army Plaza’s perimeter. The 1928 Brooklyn apartment building and the 1902 Manhattan office building both overlook a pedestrian plaza and a park (though the Brooklyn Plaza and park are MUCH more impressive). Both buildings are in Renaissance style – though 16-story 47 Plaza Street West is Italian Renaissance to 21-story Flatiron’s French Renaissance.
Brooklyn’s Flatiron has something that the original lacks – a sibling on the same block. Berkeley Plaza, the 14-story apartment building at 39 Plaza Street West, was also designed by Rosario Candela, in the same style, at the same time.
47 Plaza Street West Vital Statistics
- Location: 47 Plaza Street West at Union Street
- Year completed: 1928
- Architect: Rosario Candela
- Floors: 16
- Style: Renaissance
47 Plaza Street West Recommended Reading
- Wikipedia entry
- City Realty review
- Prewar Passion blog
- Donco Designs archive
- St. Francis College feature