What’s Your Building’s Name?

Some buildings go through life anonymously. They go up, they provide shelter, and eventually they come down – all without a christening. Not so the Selben Arms on 6th Avenue. Or 8th Avenue’s Ramona. Or the Brazilian-sounding Alessandro next door. Building names can be found on edifices around Park Slope. Some, like 401 8th Avenue, the Roosevelt Arms, conjure grandiose imagery – something the developers were undoubtedly counting on to help them find tenants.

Then there are names which evoke a building’s history. Think the Ansonia Clock Works Factory, now a historic landmark, or the Ansonia Warehouse building (which has also served to store voting machines, and only recently became a co-op) across the street. The Prospect View, on Flatbush and 7th, gives a pretty straightforward description of what you get.

Some names, like The Mildred on Union just east of 8th Avenue, are even less assuming. Who wouldn’t feel comfortable living there? Suspicions might be aroused by The Olga of 6th Avenue, as it seems to be operating under the assumed name “M. Louro.”  A Russian pretending to be Portuguese living in New York?  This could be another international incident in the making.

Any other Park Slope building names stand out? And do you know the history of yours?