Click for larger

In a neighborhood where a majority of the buildings either burned down or had their facades butchered by well-meaning but taste-lacking owners over the decades, the Stockholm Street Historic District, between Onderdonk and Woodward at the foot of the Linden Hill Cemetery, is a refreshing, picturesque respite for those who appreciate history and architecture of a humbler sort.

Lining a street paved with yellow bricks intended to replicate the original golden Kreischer bricks seen on buildings throughout Bushwick and Ridgewood are 36 houses, capped at the street corners with larger apartment buildings. Most have front porches attached to their bow fronts, though the houses, built between 1905 and 1921, are not all completely identical.

All the facades are in perfect condition, their bricks as crisp and sharp as the day they were laid. One of the porches is enclosed and glassed, work that seems quality enough to possibly have been done not long after the house was built.

For those in the market for a house, there is one for sale — $619,500 for a 2-family in what seems to be rather awesome condition, though original details do not abound. Small price for a house in a setting guaranteed not to change?

At Stockholm and Woodward, the ornate St. Aloysius Catholic Church — also constructed of those golden bricks — towers over the block. Other buildings in the area, along with the cemetery, lend their historic aura to Stockholm Street and infuse the immediate area with a charm sometimes missing from our tired, neglected neighborhood. This is a must-see spot for locals — it could serve as inspiration for what some Bushwick blocks could be with a little organization.

view from Woodward	corner of Woodward	doorway detail
reddish facade	porches, toward cemetery	St. Aloysius from Stockholm