Title & Ownership Trail
The following ownership milestones have been confirmed through public records, court filings, and primary source research:
Date Event Source
c. 1909 Building constructed by Ralph Leininger / Kingston Realty Co.; architect Arthur R. Koch (NB 5211-1909). Built the year of his marriage to Emma C. Lee. LPC Designation Report (LP-2489); Find A Grave
Feb. 1916 Ralph transfers property to Margaret (Wallace) Leininger and Lola Belle Leininger (daughter-in-law and daughter); mortgage \$16,500; nominal consideration Brooklyn Daily Times, Feb. 16, 1916 (Conveyances); Block 1243
Nov. 14, 1924 Lola Belle Leininger Clifford dies in childbirth, age 26; title presumably reverts or transfers Find A Grave; newspaper obituary
By 1935 Title held by or reverted to Ralph and/or Emma Leininger (Ralph dies April 17, 1935, at Park Place) Newspaper obituary; Find A Grave
1935--1938 Property held by widow Emma C. Lee Leininger Estate notice (newspaper)
March 23, 1938 Emma C. Lee Leininger dies (age 62); estate valued at \$39,687.63 gross. Park Place appraised at \$8,500. Estate notice (newspaper); Find A Grave
1938--c. 1940 Property distributed through Leininger estate to Lee family heirs (Emma's siblings: Edward C., Hannah C., Florence Lee Bennett) Estate notice; 1910 U.S. Census (Lee family); 1919 Brooklyn Citizen (Lee-Bennett wedding)
By 1940 Dr. Rachelle Goldberg and Johann Goldberg in residence at Park Place 1940 U.S. Census
1945 Daughter Alla Goldberg wins Juilliard cello scholarship while living at Park Place Brooklyn Eagle, Oct. 19, 1945
1948 Johann Goldberg purchases 300-acre estate with ten-room lodge at Chichester, NY (Catskills) New York Times, Oct. 10, 1948
June 1951 Rep. Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. speaks to 250 people at Park Place (United World Federalists) Brooklyn Eagle, June 14 & 16, 1951
1967 Johann Goldberg dies New York Times obituary of Dr. Rachelle Goldberg, July 27, 1991
1972 Dr. Rachelle Goldberg retires from medical practice New York Times obituary, July 27, 1991
1974 Deed transferring title from Dr. Rachelle Goldberg to Bertin & Clarice Edmund; title insured by Chicago Title Insurance Co. 1974 survey (guaranteed to Bertin & Clarice Edmund); court record (Marsh v. Edmund, 2025)
March 21, 2003 Deed recorded PropertyShark / ACRIS
March 21, 2003 Mortgage recorded PropertyShark / ACRIS
2017 Recorded document Public record summary
2020 Recorded document Public record summary
2023 Recorded document Public record summary
Asset Protection: A Pattern from Inception
A striking feature of Park Place's title history is the pattern of asset protection that began almost from inception. In February 1916---just seven years after building the house and seven months after his son Austin's marriage to Margaret Isabella Wallace---Ralph Leininger transferred the property out of his own name and into the names of Margaret (Wallace) Leininger and Lola Belle Leininger, his daughter-in-law and daughter. The conveyance was recorded at nominal consideration with a \$16,500 mortgage (Brooklyn Daily Times, February 16, 1916; Block 1243).
This was almost certainly a deliberate asset-protection strategy. Ralph had already experienced catastrophic financial loss---the Darlington Company bankruptcy had left him with \$410,000 in liabilities---and as a prolific real estate developer with ongoing exposure to market risk, placing his personal residence in the names of family members shielded it from potential creditors. The metes and bounds in the conveyance record trace the distinctive L-shaped lot (w 10.4 x s 175.7 x e 50 x n 70.1 x w 32.8 x n 105.5), confirming this was the full property including the rear extension.
The \$16,500 valuation in 1916 provides an important benchmark: the house was worth nearly twice what it would be appraised at in Emma's 1938 estate (\$8,500), reflecting both the pre-Depression premium and the severity of the Depression-era decline. After Lola Belle's death in childbirth in November 1924, title presumably reverted or was transferred back, as Emma held the property at the time of Ralph's death in 1935.
Ownership Narrative
Ownership sequence: After Ralph Leininger's death on April 17, 1935, the property remained with his widow, Emma C. Lee Leininger, until her death on March 23, 1938. Her estate notice confirms the house at Park Place was appraised at \$8,500---a Depression-era valuation well below its original construction value. The estate was distributed among her brother, two sisters, stepson Austin M. Leininger, two step-grandchildren, a grandniece, a niece, five friends, and the Brooklyn Home for Aged Men.
The Lee family heirs (1938--c. 1940): Emma's family was of Scandinavian descent---her father was from Norway and her mother, Hanna C. Lee (c. 1851, born in Denmark), headed the Lee household in Brooklyn's Ward 23. The 1910 U.S. Census identifies Emma's siblings as: Edward C. Lee (born c. 1878, New York), Hannah C. Lee (born c. 1880, New York), Charles R. Lee (born c. 1884, New York), and Florence Lee (born c. 1889, New York---later Florence Lee Bennett, who married Sanford Tiffany Bennett in 1919 and was described in the Brooklyn Eagle as "a sister of Mrs. Ralph Leininger of Park Place" and "well known in musical circles"). The "brother" and "two sisters" named in Emma's estate notice correspond to these siblings. One or more of them---or the estate acting collectively---likely sold Park Place to the Goldbergs between 1938 and 1940, closing the final gap in the ownership chain.
By 1940, the U.S. Census confirms Dr. Rachelle Goldberg (née Baratz) and her husband Johann (Jochanan) Goldberg in residence at Park Place. The Goldberg acquisition---within roughly two years of Emma's death---coincided with the period when Crown Heights was becoming a major center of Jewish professional and community life in Brooklyn. Dr. Goldberg sold the property to Bertin & Clarice Edmund in 1974, two years after her retirement and seven years after Johann's death in 1967.
The Goldberg Family at Park Place
Dr. Rachelle Goldberg (née Baratz, c. 1900--1991) was born in Ekaterinoslav, Russia (now Dnipro, Ukraine) and graduated from medical school in Moscow in 1923 at approximately age 23. She emigrated to the United States in 1924 and received her New York medical license in 1933. She opened a private psychiatric practice in Brooklyn and was associated with Brooklyn Women's Hospital, Brooklyn Jewish Hospital, and Maimonides Hospital. She also worked for the city's well-baby clinics for 30 years, retiring in 1972. She died on July 27, 1991, at age 90, at the Jewish Home and Hospital for the Aged in Manhattan.
Her husband, Johann (Jochanan) Goldberg (born March 10, 1899, Ekaterinoslav, Russia---died 1967), was also from the same city as Rachelle. He was naturalized as a U.S. citizen on May 22, 1924, in Brooklyn (Certificate No. 134895)---the same year Rachelle emigrated---suggesting the couple came to America together or within months of each other. Johann was a music teacher. The 1930 U.S. Census shows the family living in Brooklyn (Districts 0501-0750)---not yet at Park Place---with Johann (listed as "John," age 31) as head of household, Rachelle (age 29), their daughter Alla (age 2, born c. 1928 in New York), and a boarder, Mae Surgan (age 30, single, also born in Russia). By 1940, the U.S. Census confirms the Goldbergs in residence at Park Place.
The 1950 U.S. Census (April 8, 1950) provides the fullest picture of the Goldberg household at Park Place. Johann (age 51, occupation: "Teacher, Music") and Rachelle (age 49) headed an extended family that included Machlga Gillen (age 62, born c. 1888 in New York, widowed, listed as "Mother"), Henry Sillen (age 43, born c. 1907 in Wales, divorced, listed as "Brother," occupation: Housing, City of NY), and Charles Sillen (age 35, born c. 1915 in New York, single, listed as "Brother," occupation: Lawyer). Alla, then approximately 22 and likely pursuing her music career after Juilliard, was no longer in the household. The 15-room house was being used to its full capacity as a multi-generational, extended family home---a pattern that would repeat when the Edmund family later housed uncle Ossin and his family on the upper floors.
In October 1948, the New York Times reported that Johann Goldberg of Brooklyn purchased a ten-room lodge on 300 acres at Chichester, N.Y. (Ulster County, Catskills)---a substantial country estate reflecting the family's affluence during their years at Park Place. Johann died in 1967 at approximately age 68.
Their daughter, Alla Johanna Goldberg (October 28, 1927--May 18, 2007), was named after her father. A gifted cellist, she won a Juilliard School of Music scholarship in October 1945 at age 17 while living at Park Place (Brooklyn Eagle, October 19, 1945). She was one of only 42 scholarship recipients and one of just three from Brooklyn that year. The other two Brooklyn winners both went on to distinguished careers:
Winner Scholarship Career
Alla Goldberg, Park Place Cello Career details not yet fully documented; died May 18, 2007, age 79
Milton Rosenstock, 323 5th Ave Composition Tony Award-winning Broadway conductor (Finian's Rainbow, 1948); musical director for 29 Broadway productions including Funny Girl, Gypsy, Oliver!, Bells Are Ringing, and Can-Can; music director of the American Ballet Theatre (1917--1992)
Samuel Baron, 8688 Bay 16th St Conducting One of America's foremost flutists; founding member of the New York Woodwind Quintet; flutist and director of the Bach Aria Group; professor at Juilliard, Yale, and SUNY Stony Brook; National Flute Association Lifetime Achievement Award (1996) (1925--1997)
Alla later resided in Manhattan and was survived by three grandchildren and one great-grandchild at the time of her mother's death in 1991.
Park Place as a Civic Venue Across the Eras
Like the Leiningers before them, the Goldbergs used the house's grand ground-floor spaces for civic and political gatherings. On June 15, 1951, Representative Franklin D. Roosevelt Jr. spoke at a meeting of the Brooklyn Council, United World Federalists, held at Park Place. The Brooklyn Eagle (June 14, 1951) announced the event at "the home of Mr. and Mrs. J. E. Goldberg, Park Place," and the follow-up article (June 16, 1951) reported that "Roosevelt told the 250 persons gathered in the home of Johann and Dr. Rachele Goldberg, Park Place, about his new bill introduced in Congress" favoring global disarmament. Other speakers included Alan Cranston, national president of the United World Federalists (later a longtime U.S. Senator from California), and Maj. Gen. Hjalmar Riiser-Larson, commander-in-chief of the Norwegian Air Force during World War II. The event drew 250 attendees---a testament to the scale of the house's ground-floor living spaces.
The tradition of Park Place as a venue for life's milestone events has continued into the Edmund era. In approximately 2000, a family wedding was held at the house---extending a practice that began with the Lee-Bennett wedding in 1919. Across its 117-year history, the house has served as the setting for political receptions (1913), weddings (1919, c. 2000), and civic gatherings hosting national political figures (1951).
The Goldberg era (c. 1939/40--1974): For approximately three decades, Park Place was home to a Russian-born psychiatrist affiliated with three Brooklyn hospitals, a music teacher who owned a 300-acre Catskills estate, and their Juilliard-trained cellist daughter. The Goldbergs' tenure at the house coincided with Crown Heights' peak as a center of Jewish professional and cultural life in Brooklyn.
Lot-Line History
In the 2025 Kings County case Marsh v. Edmund, the court addressed a dispute between 1077 Sterling Place (Lot 52) and Park Place (Lot 24) regarding a claimed rear strip of land beyond a concrete wall. The court determined, based on deeds and surveys, that the disputed area fell within Lot 24---confirming the full lot depth belonging to the Park Place property.
Primary Source Clippings
