Brooklyn Public Library, ca. 1908. The original building of the library seen in this circa 1908 postcard was built in 1896 for the Bay Ridge Free Library. That institution was established in 1880 by the Bay Ridge Reading Club. In 1901 the library became a part of the Brooklyn Public Library system. The building presently seen on the site was constructed in 1960. (Isn't it obvious?)

The Bay Ridge Theatre ca. 1939 7120 3rd Avenue Designed by Robert T. Rasmussen, 1915 Bay Ridge once had many theaters, but like most of the others, the Bay Ridge Theatre ceased to function as a theater in the early 1960s. The building, however, has retained much of its ornament, including arched windows, fluted pilasters, and the theater’s name carved below the dentilled cornice.

Muspratt Mansion, 1931.

Public School 102 ca. 1914 Designed in the Italian neo-Renaissance style of brick and limestone, P.S. 102’s architectural gem is its 71st Street façade, whose decorative details include a dentilled cornice, wreath medallions, bracket lintels, arched windows and an arched doorway with columns and a triangular pediment. This site was previously home to the Bay Ridge District School No. 2, a red frame Queen Anne style schoolhouse built in 1883.

Bliss Castle Bliss Castle was built by Eliphalet Williams Bliss, a wealthy industrialist who lived in Bay Ridge in the mid 19th Century. He bought the 26 acres of land that Bliss Castle stood on in 1866 from a former Mayor of Brooklyn. He renovated an existing mansion but added a number of architectural features including the observatory tower (which was called Bliss Castle.) Upon his death, he willed his estate to the city and it is now Owl's Head Park.

Bay Ridge Theatre, c. 1915. Built in 1915 and designed by Robert T. Rasmussen, the Bay Ridge Theatre was one of a number of movie houses in the neighborhood. Hubert Selby Jr., author of "Last Exit to Brooklyn" and "Requiem for a Dream," grew up across the street from the theatre and set one of his short stories there. The theatre was closed by the 1960s and for some time housed a bingo hall. The current uses of the building include a McDonald's, a Rite Aid, and a New York Sports Club gym. (The reuse of historic buildings, particularly theatres, as gyms is not an uncommon occurrence around the city.)

Facade of Bay Ridge of Brooklyn Public Library, ca. 1905.

7119 Shore Road, May 30, 1958. In the early 20th century Shore Road was lined with old 19th century mansions, dilapidated smaller homes, and vacant lots. In 1928 the street was rezoned between 77th and 101st Streets to allow for the construction of new apartment houses for the burgeoning neighborhood. No. 7119 (at the corner of 72nd Street) was one of the first buildings to be erected in the fall of 1931. The six-story, Art Deco apartment house was designed by M. Rothstein, who also created a lovely Deco apartment house in Forest Hills and single family, vernacular homes in other parts of Brooklyn. When opened the building offered a roof garden, a recreation room in the basement, concealed radiators, and fireplaces in the living rooms, along with its sweeping views of the Narrows. The owners of the building also arranged for a private bus to ferry tenants to and from the 59th Street Station of the BMT Fourth Avenue line (today's N and R).

Barkaloo Cemetery, 1966. The Barkaloo Cemetery is Brooklyn's smallest burial ground. The Barkaloo family were early Dutch settlers of the area and established their private graveyard in 1725. According to a marker (placed in the mid 20th century), the land is the final resting place of at least 21 people, including Revolutionary War soldiers Simon Cortelyou and Harmans Barkaloo. Its most recent burial dates to 1848! Helpfully perhaps, the tiny graveyard seemed to be mostly forgotten for decades around the turn of the 20th century. While Bay Ridge grew around it, the plot remained, though losing headstones to theft and deterioration. It was surveyed in 1916, and a 1923 article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle noted its shrinkage: "As the years went by…it grew smaller. By dead of night sometimes, sometimes by noonday’s glare, laborers came and emptied the graves of their ashes and then closed in the plot by making its circumferential fence a bit smaller." In 1923 the Daughters of the American Revolution got involved, cleaning out the plot and placing markers for the two Revolutionary War veterans. (Research suggests that the DAR actually re-creating the graveyard on nearby available space, not necessarily the historical outline of the plot.) Today the small plot remains well kept behind an iron fence, tucked up to the back side of the large Xaverian High School.

Christ Church Bay Ridge - Ralph Adams Cram & Bertram Goodhue, 1908–10 The congregation of Christ Church was estab- lished in 1851 at 67th Street and 3rd Avenue, but later moved to its current location at 75th Street and 4th Avenue. The Gothic Revival building was donated by Eliphalet W. Bliss, who also donated his estate for the future Owl’s Head Park. The old building, whose wood frame was stuccoed in the 1960s, was purchased by the congregation of the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, which still operates there.

"#221-225 68th Street, Brooklyn. #221 at left, 1958."

7200 Ridge Boulevard ca. 1941 Designed by Ernest Flagg, this 422-unit, six-building complex contained architectural features that were avant-garde for its time, including reversible fans below the windows and exterior window shades, both now removed, as well as innovative uses of concrete as finished ceilings and for a vaulted auditorium. Its most pronounced exterior feature is the pendant Carpenter Gothic cornice at the eighth floor. The complex was socially innovative, as well, as it included a tea room, auditorium, swimming pool, bowling alley, tennis and handball courts, and a nursery school to allow the building’s mothers three hours of daily free time.