Lefferts Historic House

Brooklyn, New York

2024 - present

In Prospect Park sits an 18th-Century Dutch Revival house. Not only was it home to one of the most prominent Dutch families in New York State, but it was also home to the Africans / Black people whom the Lefferts enslaved and whose labor the Lefferts exploited and thus accumulated wealth. The Prospect Park Alliance, who manage the building on behalf of the owner, the City of New York, began a Mellon Foundation-funded initiative, ReImagine Lefferts, in 2021, to explore how to incorporate into the interpretation of the site the story about the enslaved Africans who the Lefferts enslaved at the house from approximately 1689 - 1827 (138 years).

A goal of the ReImagine Initiative is to understand the lived experiences of the enslaved Africans in the house, in particular the North Kitchen Wing, formerly the South Kitchen Wing. When the house was a few blocks south at the corner of present-day Flatbush and Maple Avenues, it was rotated 180 degrees. This was true until 1917, when the City acquired the house from the Lefferts and contracted to move the house to the Prospect Park Alliance for the Alliance to steward the historic site.

Services Provided:

  • Research-based digital storytelling of the major phases of construction change over time of the house and buildings

Resources:

  • Prospect Park Alliance, “Lefferts Historic House”: click here

Services Provided

    • In-person site visit

    • Site visit report detailing existing conditions and general recommendations for stabilization repairs

    • Architectural drawings: floor plans and elevations of existing conditions in Revit

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