Then and Now: Rogers Ave Firehouse

Here’s the firehouse on Rogers Ave between Rutland Rd and Midwood St in 1947 and 2023.

My favorite Brooklyn historian, Suzanne Spellen, took a look at this building in 2011. She lets us know that the building’s architecture is “eclectic” (which means they just did whatever they wanted), but the cute details are "Flemish,” which is a great thing to mention if you’re walking by with someone you’re trying to impress. She also says it was built on land purchased from the Lefferts family in 1895–96, in the short period between when Flatbush became part of Brooklyn, but before Brooklyn was part of New York. Some juicy details (punctuation changed for clarity):

When it was built, the firehouse had room on the first floor for the steam fire engine, hose truck, and ladder truck. There were six stalls for the horses, and a feed and equipment room. The second floor had a company room, offices, a dormitory for 12, and shower/bathrooms. [Architect Peter] Lauritzen’s designs included all new, state-of-the-art firefighters’ amenities, including (for the first time) hot running water for showers. This time period also saw the institution of a paid fire department, for the first time. Each man working at this house would have been on a 24-hour-a-day schedule—six days on, one day off.

The doors were enlarged for the bigger trucks in the 1920s, and the entire building — except for the façade — was redone in the 90s. Despite the work, the photos from the 40s and today look nearly identical, except for the bricked-in windows on the upper right (and all the cars its firefighters park on the sidewalk). The trolley’s been exchanged for a bus, but what strikes me as most interesting is that the traffic is going the opposite direction, like a river flowing the wrong way.

(1947 photo: photographer unknown, from a print I own)