Kleiner’s Korner: The Motor Parkway Kiosk That Doubled as a Realty Office
The original Brentwood Lodge (actually a ticket kiosk) was used by a local realtor to promote its new housing development, "Brentwood-in-the-Pines".
As noted by Al Velocci in a previous vanderbiltcupraces.com post, the land to be used for the Motor Parkway was given in exchange for a lodge to be built there as an entrance into the development.
Art Kleiner
What About Brentwood?
Brentwood appears to have had an image problem in early 1913, especially when compared to Lake Ronkonkoma. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Mar. 2, 1913)
I've hiked around Stump Pond over a 100 years later. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Mar. 2, 1913)
The Brentwood Realty Company began promoting its development named "Brentwood-In-The-Pines" in early 1913 and even gave home purchasers a 1913 Ford Touring Car as an inducement to buy (if they bought direct from them and not through an agent). (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Mar. 30, 1913)
A home purchaser would be entitled to this automobile, which would probably be used on The Motor Parkway!
The new development was on the LIRR Main Line and promoted as offering a healthy living environment. (New York Tribune Apr. 27, 1913)
A Developer and the Motor Parkway Team Up
In late 1913 the Brentwood Realty Company received permission to use The Motor Parkway's Brentwood Lodge "to show" their new development, "Brentwood-In-The-Pines". (New York Tribune Nov. 30, 1913)
In exchange for a strip of land the parkway was obligated to erect a lodge and provide access from Washington Avenue. (vanderbiltcupraces.com Apr. 5, 2011)
The Original Brentwood Lodge
The lodge/kiosk built on the southwest corner of the parkway and Washington Avenue.
(C.S. Hammonds, 1914)
Brentwood-In-The-Pines
Good description of the development. (New York Tribune Apr. 26, 1914)
Bungalow style homes made of stucco costing $4,000. (New York Tribune Jul. 26, 1914)
More details provided of the homes to be built. Note that in one month the price rose to $6,000. (The Sun Aug. 23, 1914)
New homeowners in 1914 were using the Motor Parkway to reach the development. (New York Tribune Sept. 13, 1914)
And by 1915 increased usage of the Motor Parkway was noted. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Feb. 21, 1915)
A current view of the intersection of The Motor Parkway and Washington Avenue.
Excitement continues for Brentwood's growth in the spring of 1915 partly due to a trolley line being proposed. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Apr. 17, 1915)
Kudos given to The Motor Parkway for Brentwood's growth. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Jul. 17, 1915)
More information about the various Brentwood lodges can be found here.
Comments
Very good article,
nice to read, enjoyable
Cool information, Art. I grew up in Brentwood, about 40 years after the LIMP closed.
Feel better, Howard
Even though most of my interests with the Motor Parkway usually have to do with its route through Nassau County, I found this article quite interesting. It’s nice to see that the Motor Parkway had some influence somewhere along it’s route for proposed development. It gave motorists a more tolerable and enjoyable ride the further east you had to go. If you had to travel from the city to parts of Queens or Nassau you could probably suck it up and bear the local roads if you had to, but going out further east was a more grueling endeavor in the early days of motoring.
Just this morning I learned of an earlier Brentwood in the Pines dating back to1888. Check today’s Newsday Life section, wonderful feel good story.