Between Bushwick Avenue and Broadway
Block 3387, Lots 60-65

979-987 Hancock Street (2011) Credit: Dianne Pierce O’Brien

985-991 Hancock Street (2011) Credit: Dianne Pierce O’Brien

Year Built: 1886-1898
Building Type: Rowhouses
Architect: Unknown
Builder: Unknown
Original Owner: Unknown

979-989 Hancock Street is a row of six three-and-a-half-story tenements with stoops on the right side of their front facades, located between Bushwick Avenue and Broadway. All are covered in vinyl siding with most front facade ornament removed and sometimes replaced with modern architectural detailing, making it is difficult to determine their original architectural style. The stoops and intact windows hint that these structures may have been built in the Gothic Revival style. Because of the similarity of the row and the typical development patterns of the area between 1886 and 1898, one can assume that these structures were probably built concurrently as a speculative development venture.

According to the United States Census of 1900, there were multiple families living in each tenement, most as renters, a couple with servants. Almost all the residents were born in New York with parents from the United States, Ireland, England, France, and Germany. Occupations included a policeman, a mailman, merchants, clerks, salesmen, and a machinist.