Flatbush Town Hall ARCHITECT: John Y. Cuyler DATE: c. 1875 STYLE: High Victorian Gothic Constructed on historic ground – near the site of the 1776 Battle of Long Island – Flatbush Town Hall is a red brick Victorian building with buff stone trim accentuated by a series of pointed window arches with carved drip moldings ornamented with bosses. A rear addition, consisting of a simple, brown-brick exterior with large, round-arched Georgian Revival windows, was built to house the Homicide Court in 1929-30.

Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church ca. 1925 As in Saint Paul's Chapel, Manhattan, the most noteworthy architectural features of this church are the spire and the interior. Surrounded its little cemetery, it creates a picture of the church, unchanged since it was built, perfect in its original setting.

Chapel and Sunday School of the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church; May, 1923. The large Victorian Gothic chapel was erected in 1871 in order to provide more space for the congregation's Sunday School. It was razed and replaced by the present Church House in 1922.

Jacob Duryea house, Flatbush Avenue, 1892. This wood-frame farmhouse once stood about 100 feet south of the entrance to the Kings Theatre. In the late 18th century, it was the homestead of Dr. James J. van Beuren, a descendent of a family of Dutch doctors active in Flatbush and New York. According the Brooklyn Medical Journal, van Beuren died in 1802. The house later passed to the family of Jacob Duryea, for whom nearby Duryea Place is named. By the late 19th century, the property was surrounded by tracks and structures associated with the Brooklyn City Railroad's Vernon Avenue car barn. The homestead was razed between 1898-1906.

Erasmus Hall High School 899 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn 1904 Founded in 1786 as a private academy, Erasmus Hall High School became the first secondary school chartered by the State of New York and earned the nickname “mother of high schools.” With the rapid growth of Brooklyn’s population at the turn of the 20th Century, the need for a larger school was met by C.B.J Snyder’s design to build a series of Collegiate Gothic style buildings surrounding the original Federal style building to form a quadrangle. These new buildings were built in phases as needed so that classes could continue uninterrupted in the older building. Both the Federal and Gothic buildings were landmarked by the City in 1966, and the original Academy building was also listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. Since 2010, the Landmarks Conservancy, in cooperation with the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, has been an active advocate for the preservation and revitalization of the original Academy building. Notable alumni include Mae West, Barbara Stanwyck, Neil Diamond, Bobby Fischer, and Barbra Streisand.

Constructed in 1796, the Reformed Church of Flatbush, located in what is now an African-America and West Indian community, indicates the influence of English Neoclassicism with its central tower and multi-tiered steeple. At least the third church structure on this site, the current church is surrounded by a much older cemetery containing gravestones of many of the village's most notable families of Dutch descent. Some stones have inscriptions in Dutch. The church itself has some beautiful stained-glass windows with coats of arms and dedications of the Dutch families that used to worship there, as well as an old embroidered Brooklyn coat of arms depicting the official seal of the borough of Brooklyn: "even Draght Mack Maght" (old dutch for: "in unity there is strength," often not spelled correctly in its old rendering). It was also the official seal of the Dutch Republic and the Dutch Reformed Church. The church house across from the cemetery has some notable Tiffany windows. The churches at Flatbush, Flatlands, and Brooklyn (now the Old First Reformed Church in Park Slope) were all established in 1654. However, the minister (domino) of the Flatbush church presided over churches of other villages into the mid-18th century. The Dutch Reformed Church was the one of the most potent forces of cultural identity and connection with the Dutch Republic until after the American Revolution. The Dutch language only gave way to English in Kings County's churches in the late 18th century; an English afternoon service was introduced in Flatbush in 1792. Flatbush was the political and cultural heart of Dutch Brooklyn. its original settlement in the 1630s occurred along the Native-American trail cutting diagonally across western Long Island from Jamaica Bay to the ferry landing at the East River. Known as Ferry Road, then Flatbush Road, and finally Flatbush Avenue, this is one of the great historic thoroughfares of America. The first settlement consisted of 48 farmsteads of 50 acres, 24 on each side of the avenue. Farmhouses faced the roadway, and barns and other outbuildings extended behind them on long rectangular plots. Settlement began along the southern reaches of the avenue near the border with Flatlands, but the positioning of the church at the midpoint of the avenue's course through the township fixed its center.

"Group posing on J. Lott's piazza, centered around woman in rocking chair; Labor Day 1887." - A.V. Martense The scene for this Labor Day photo appears to be the front porch of the Judge John A. Lott House, facing Flatbush Avenue across from Erasmus High School (then Erasmus Hall Academy). The Lotts were one of several prominent families in Flatbush descended from the town's early Dutch settlers. John Abraham Lott, born in Flatbush in 1806, was a lawyer and partner in the prominent Lott, Murphy & Vanderbilt firm, before his appointment to the Kings County Court bench in 1838. Lott was elected to the State Assembly in 1842, and served in the New York State from 1843 - 1846. Following his stint as a legislator, Judge Lott returned to the bench in 1858 as an elected justice of the State Supreme Court, where he served until 1869. Following his retirement from political office and jurisprudence, Lott served as president of the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway. After Judge Lott's 1878 death, the house appears to have passed to his son, Jeremiah Lott. (The Lott family was well represented in Flatbush society — Robinson's 1890 atlas of Kings County shows no less than four Lott estates on this block of Flatbush Avenue, not to mention other properties further afield.) During World War I, "very practical war work \[was] being carried on at the Lott Mansion," including the administration of food conservation programs, according to a June 1918 Brooklyn Daily Eagle report. The house sustained damage in a 1923 fire, and was demolished shortly thereafter.

C.B.J. Snyder was an architect and mechanical engineer who served as Superintendent of School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education between 1891 and 1923. During his tenure he was responsible for the design and construction of more than 350 elementary, middle, and high schools in the five boroughs. Snyder is know for innovating the design and construction process. The resulting schools have been praised for their high quality, longevity, and architectural beauty. Snyder worked in a number of styles, favoring Beaux Arts, English Collegiate Gothic, and Renaissance Revival. Another feature of his buildings were their mid-block location, preferring to keep these places of education away from the busy, noisy, and (perceived) pollution of the avenues. He believed that schools were civic monuments that were necessary for a better society and he focused on health and safety issues, improving the fire protection, ventilation, lighting, and classroom size.

Parsonage of the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church, 900 Flatbush Avenue; ca. January, 1917. While the congregation dates to 1654, and the current church to 1793, the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church's parsonage was added in 1853. The parsonage, which included both Greek Revival and Italianate architectural elements, was moved about 200 feet to the southwest in 1918, and now sits at the corner of Kenmore Terrace and East 21st Street.

Ebinger Baking Plant, 1951. In 1898 George and Catherine Ebinger opened their Ebinger's Bakery on Flatbush Avenue near Cortelyou Road. Specializing in German sweets and pastries, their best-known confection was the Brooklyn Blackout Cake, a chocolate layer cake with chocolate fudge layers, and chocolate frosting covered with chocolate cake crumbs. Though likely produced in the early 20th century, the cake got its famous name during World War II when the city experienced blackout drills. Brooklyn became obsessed with Ebinger Bakery and the business expanded to more than 50 outlets. This large factory space in Flatbush was a complex constructed over 20 years. The first building, which fronts Snyder Avenue was completed in 1912 with an addition a year later. This building, at the corner of Bedford Avenue and Albemarle Road, was completed in the circa 1930. The business thrived through the early mid-century but came under fire for discriminatory hiring practices. The company declared bankruptcy and closed in 1972. Today this building is a storage facility.

🍰🍪🍰🍪 In 1898 George and Catherine Ebinger opened their Ebinger's Bakery on Flatbush Avenue near Cortelyou Street. Specializing in German sweets and pastries, their best-known confection was the Brooklyn Blackout Cake, a chocolate layer cake with chocolate fudge layers, and chocolate frosting covered with chocolate cake crumbs. Though likely produced in the early 20th century, the cake got its famous name during World War II when the city experienced blackout drills. Brooklyn became obsessed with Ebinger's Bakery, and the business expanded to more than 50 outlets in Brooklyn, Queens, and Nassau County. The business thrived through the early mid-century but came under fire for discriminatory hiring practices in the 1960s, and in the same decade, many of their longtime customers moved out of the city. The company declared bankruptcy and closed in 1972, though rumor has it that Entenmann's purchased their recipes.

The last quarter of the nineteenth century brought rapid changes to many parts of Brooklyn, not least to the town of Flatbush and its environs. Flatbush (from the Dutch vlacke bos, flat forest or wooded plain) was one of the original 6 towns making up the city of Brooklyn, and became part of that city in 1894. Four years later Brooklyn would become part of the consolidation of Greater New York City. This story is by Deborah Tint, Special Collections Cataloger, Brooklyn Public Library

Erasmus Hall High School, entrance, 1928. Across the Street from the Reformed Church of Flatbush's churchyard, between Flatbush, Bedford, Church, and Snyder Avenues, was Flatbush's prime educational institution, Erasmus Hall Academy, built in 1787. The school was the direct successor of the first public school in New Netherland dating from 1658, as explained on a plaque next to the entrance. The Livingstons and Vanderbilts led the effort to establish it as the first chartered secondary school in the state, with cross-cultural support from prominent citizens like Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, who himself had married into the prominent Dutch Schuyler family. With a rigorous classical curriculum, the academy not only provided a strong foundation for the professional advancement of Flatbush's sons, but also attracted pupils from across the region and the Anglo-Dutch indies. The original academy structure survives- a hidden and neglected historic gem embedded within the courtyard of the giant Erasmus Hall High School, a Collegiate Gothic-style structure begun in 1905. This public school replaced the academy and produced such famous alumni as Neil Diamond, Bernard Malamud, Beverly Sills, and Barbra Streisand.

Erasmus Hall Academy was founded in 1786 and was the first secondary school chartered by the New York State Regents. The land on which the clapboard structure was constructed was donated to the school by the nearby Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church. Originally a private boys school, it opened in 1787 with only 26 pupils. The school began admitting female students in 1801. In 1896 after decades of falling enrollment due to competition from the City of Brooklyn public schools, the trustees of Erasmus voted to donate the building to the public school system. After this donation and the consolidation of NYC two years later, enrollment boomed and a larger space was needed. In 1904, C. B. J. Snyder, the New York City Superintendent of School Buildings, presented plans to build a large Gothic style building. Called Erasmus Hall High School, it was built in four phases between 1905 and 1940. The original wood-frame building remains in the center of the newer building, and can be seen through the gates under the main tower on Flatbush Avenue.

Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church ARCHITECT: Thomas Fardon DATE: 1793-1798 STYLE: Federal In 1654, under orders from Director General Peter Stuyvesant, the first Dutch Reformed Church was built in Flatbush. In 1793, in the mood of expansion that followed the Revolution, a new church was built. One of the most beautifully scaled church spires in all New York City adorns the tower of this Federal Style church. Built of local stone and Holland brick, the walls rest on a foundation made from stones of an earlier church of 1699, which was demolished to make way for the present structure. The Parsonage, a large, imposing wood-frame residence, was built south of the church in 1853. The Church House was designed by Meyer & Mathieu in 1922. It is a Georgian style structure built of red brick laid in Flemish bond. Members of early Dutch families are interred in the cemetery adjoining the church, which is included in the expanded landmark site.

Third Church of Christ Scientist, November 23, 1930. The Third Church of Christ, Scientist of Brooklyn was established around the turn of the century. Their 1927 church building was designed by Cherry & Matz in a Greek Revival style. The building was sold in 1982 to the Flatbush Seventh-day Adventist Church, which still occupies the structure today.

Suydam-Ditmas House was built about 1700 and torn down in 1911. Hendrick Suydam, born in 1731, purchased the farm in 1759 from the heirs of Jacobus Lott. The house was owned by the Ditmas family until 1909.

The Vanderveer Windmill, east of Flatbush Avenue, ca. 1875. Fittingly, Kings County's foremost windmill was located on the farm of a prominent Dutch family in the Dutch-settled town of Flatbush. Likely built in the first decade of the 19th century (sources vary on the exact yet; some suggest decades earlier), farmer John C. Vanderveer's windmill was originally equipped with 26-foot "sails." Around the early 1830s, the sails were removed and the mill was converted for simple grain storage. Vanderveer's windmill played an unlikely role in the Draft Riots of 1863. Concerned that violence directed at African-Americans would spread from riots in Manhattan to Brooklyn and beyond, black residents of Flatbush took shelter in the windmill as a precautionary measure. Sixteen years later, on March 4, 1879, the windmill caught fire in the early morning hours in a blaze visible from Brooklyn City Hall (now known as Borough Hall).

The Dutch Reformed Church on Flatbush Avenue is the oldest continuously used location for religious purposes in New York City. The original church was a wooden chapel built on this site in 1654 with the authorization of Governor Peter Stuyvesant. The current church building was constructed between 1793 and 1798 in the Federal style by architect Thomas Fardon. The stained glass windows were designed and made by the Tiffany Company. They were installed in 1899 to commemorate the descendants of the original Dutch settlers to this part of Brooklyn. The adjacent graveyard is the final resting place for many members of Brooklyn's most prominent early citizens, including the Ditmas, Livingston, Lefferts, Van Siclen and Vanderveer families.

William Fox Albemarle Theatre, ca.1920. Designed in a modest French Renaissance Revival style, the building was created by Arthur Carlson and Harrison Wiseman, experienced theatre architects. Wiseman designed at least 22 theatres in New York City including a number of Yiddish venues on Second Avenue. A vaudeville and motion picture house, it was managed, initially, by producer William Fox. The movie house remained a single screen venue until a fire in 1984 heavily damaged the building. The theatre closed, was purchased by Jehovah’s Witnesses, and soon reopened as an Assembly Hall, which it remains today.