Detail of Childs Restaurant in Coney Island, July 2007

(FORMER) CHILDS RESTAURANT BUILDING, 2102 Boardwalk (aka 3052-3078 West 21st Street),
Brooklyn. Built 1923; Dennison & Hirons, architects.
Landmark Site: Borough of Brooklyn

On September 17, 2002 the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation as a Landmark of the (Former) Childs Restaurant Building, and the proposed designation of the related Landmark Site (Item No.2).

The hearing had been duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of law. There were 28 speakers in support of designation, including Coucilmember Dominec Recchia, and representatives of the Friends of Terra Cotta, the Municipal Art Society, the Landmarks Conservancy, the Historic Districts Council, Place Matters, Coney Island USA, City Lore, the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association, the Tile Heritage Foundation, and Brooklyn Pride. Also in favor of designation were curators from the Cornelius Low House Museum in Middlesex County, New Jersey who had mounted an exhibition on the type of architectural terracotta used on this building, and numerous artists, architects and residents of New York and specifically Coney Island. Assemblywoman Adele Cohen submitted a statement in favor of designation. In addition, the Commission has received letters from Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, the Friends of Cast Iron Architecture, and the Bay Ridge Conservancy in support of designation. The Commission also received a letter from Community Board 13 which took no position on the matter but requested that a public hearing be held in Brooklyn. Hundreds of letters and postcards from other New Yorkers have also been received, both in favor and against designation of this building. Two owners of the building, Robert and Carol Ricci, spoke in opposition to designation and presented letters from two other owners, Dina and Cara Ricci, who are also opposed to designation. Subsequently, the owners wrote another letter to the Commission, rescinding their opposition to designation.

Summary: Constructed in 1923, this restaurant building on the Boardwalk of Coney Island was designed by Dennison & Hirons in a fanciful resort style combining elements of the Spanish Colonial Revival with numerous maritime allusions that refer to its seaside location. This spacious restaurant building originally had a roof-top pergola and continuous arcades on two facades to allow for extensive ocean views. Clad in stucco, the building's arches, window openings and end piers feature elaborate polychrome terra-cotta ornament in whimsical nautical motifs that include images of fish, seashells, ships, and the ocean god Neptune. The terracotta was manufactured by the Atlantic Terra Cotta Company, from models by Max Keck, and coloration by Duncan Smith. The architectural firm of Dennison & Hirons used terra-cotta ornament on many of its designs, but they were more commonly conceived in a classical or Art Deco style. For this restaurant, the firm chose elements from the Spanish Colonial Revival style, (relatively rare in New York City) which included areas of flamboyant, three-dimensional ornamentation and round-arched arcades, and made it appropriate to the resort style befitting “the world’s largest playground” – Coney Island. This building, with its large size, showy ornamentation and location on the Boardwalk, is a rare reminder of the diversions that awaited the huge crowds who thronged to Coney Island after the completion of the subway routes to the area.

Childs Restaurant, which grew to be one of the largest restaurant chains in the country, was founded in 1889 by brothers William and Samuel Childs. Originally intended to provide a basic, clean environment for wholesome food at reasonable prices, the company eventually varied its restaurant designs and menus to reflect the unique location of each outlet.

Text from: www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/childs.pdf