Historical Significance & Architecture
Historic District Designation
Park Place is officially located within the Crown Heights North III Historic District, designated by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) on March 24, 2015 (LP-2489). The district encompasses more than 600 buildings---primarily single- and two-family row houses, flats buildings, and apartment houses built from the 1870s to the 1930s---protecting the neighborhood's distinct Renaissance Revival, Romanesque Revival, Colonial Revival, and Beaux-Arts architectural heritage.
The Crown Heights North III Historic District is the third and easternmost phase of Crown Heights North landmarking, joining the original Crown Heights North Historic District (designated April 2007) and Crown Heights North II (designated June 2011). Together, the three districts protect over 1,600 buildings.
Regulatory implication: As a building within a designated NYC historic district, any exterior alteration, reconstruction, demolition, or new construction affecting Park Place requires prior approval from the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Architect, Builder & Construction Date
Standard NYC Department of Finance tax records list the Year Built as 1899. However, this is a common administrative placeholder for older Brooklyn properties. The LPC's official architectural designation report attributes Park Place to the architect/builder Arthur R. Koch, with the building constructed circa 1909, tied to New Building Filing No. NB 5211-1909.
Important discrepancy: Public real-estate aggregators universally cite 1899. The LPC historic-district record for the specific address cites c. 1909 with a corresponding new-building filing and names Arthur R. Koch. For house-history purposes, the LPC building entry is the more authoritative source for the specific building's construction origin. The 1899 figure may reflect generalized assessor data, earlier row development timing on the block, or a public-record approximation rather than the precise new-building filing date.
Key finding: A contemporaneous newspaper obituary confirms that Ralph Leininger, founder of the Kingston Realty Company, lived and died at Park Place. Leininger was the speculative developer who built the house---likely for his own use as a personal residence---with Arthur R. Koch serving as the architect of record on the new-building filing. This makes Park Place the home of one of Crown Heights' most significant builders.
Development Context
During the early 1900s, Crown Heights was experiencing a massive construction boom, transforming into one of Brooklyn's premier residential neighborhoods. The area around this block was heavily developed by Leininger's Kingston Realty Company, which built many of the elegant two-family and multi-family rowhouses along Park and Lincoln Places. The LPC designation report identifies nearby groups on Park Place designed by architects including Henry F. Claudius (c. 1895), August Norberg (c. 1899), Harold Dangler (c. 1901--02), and Axel S. Hedman, among Brooklyn's most prolific practitioners of the Renaissance Revival style.