The Matthew Clarkson Mansion, later home to the Midwood Club and the Union League Club, Flatbush; ca. 1880. Built in 1836 for Matthew Clarkson, a member of the prominent Flatbush family, this temple-fronted classical mansion once sat on a large tree-lined plot west of Flatbush Avenue. Following Clarkson's death in 1883, at the age of 87, the mansion became the first home of the Midwood Club, a gentlemen's social organization founded in 1889. The Club would eventually buy out Clarkson's heirs and assume ownership of the building. By 1917, the Midwood Club's membership had declined considerably and the club itself was on the brink of extinction. That year, the Union League Club, formerly located at Grant Square, took over the former Clarkson mansion and restored its place in Brooklyn social life. In 1937, the building became the Y.M.C.A.'s Flatbush chapter. After a January 1940 fire caused significant damage, the once-proud 104 year old estate was sold for development and razed.

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.

Rubble from the demolition of No. 816 Flatbush Avenue, at Caton Avenue; July 17, 1929.

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.

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.

William and Lulu Norwood House, September 1, 1958. This nearly 5,000 square foot home was constructed in 1906 for real estate broker William Norwood and his wife. A number of architectural features present a Northern Italian Villa style, including the porch, tower, and the deep eaves (or part of the roof that overhangs the edge of the building). The rest of the home is a solid Colonial Revival. Despite the large home, the oddly- shaped lot has almost no backyard space as the subway (today's Q train) runs directly behind it and the rail infrastructure was present prior to the home's construction.

Flatbush Trust Company, undated postcard. Organized in 1899, the Flatbush Trust Company was the first bank in the neighborhood. While the largely agrarian nature of Flatbush in the 19th century hadn't required banking, the influx of people and business (particularly real estate development) to the area created a new need. The bank building seen here opened in 1903 and overall the Trust Company was a major success. They opened a second branch at Flatbush and Church Avenues in 1905 and by 1908 held $3.2 million in assets by 1908. The building here was expanded and drastically renovated in the 1920s when it became a branch of the American Exchange Irving Trust Co. Today it no longer stands, and its date of demolition is unknown.

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.

Adjacent to the Q train tracks, you might spy a clearing in the woods. The Knickerbocker Field Club was established in 1889 in the Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. Its original structure was a two story Colonial Revival Style building clad in clapboard and shingles, with a deep porch supported by Doric order columns. A fire in 1988 destroyed a portion of the building. The Field Club was the last standing portion of the area's Tennis Court development, yet was not considered worthy of landmark status. The remains of the original structure were demolished in 1992, replaced by a new clubhouse, still operating under the name "Knickerbocker Field Club."

St. Paul’s Church in the Village of Flatbush, June 4, 1961. The present St. Paul’s, a Gothic structure dating to 1877, replaced the wooden 1836 church, termed “a neat and handsome edifice” in Peter Ross’s 1902 “History of Long Island.”

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.

RKO Kenmore, June 11, 1961. Built as a vaudeville house for the B.F. Keith Circuit in 1928, the theatre was originally called the Keith-Albee Kenmore. The auditorium had 3,025 seats under a 60-foot-wide dome. The balcony design included murals painted by children's book illustrator, Willy Pogany, who also created interior art for Manhattan's Beacon Theatre. The building's Italian-born architect Eugene DeRosa created more than 30 theatres around the city. The exterior was designed in a subtle Colonial Revival style. The theatre continued to present vaudeville until the early 1930s. In 1932 it became a single screen movie theater. It remained a movie theatre until 1999, and was split into a four-plex in the late 1980s after being sold to the Cineplex Odeon chain. A gang-related shooting occurred in 1999 during a showing of the movie 'The Life,' which left one person dead and two others injured. The NYPD closed the theatre. A few years later the building was sold and gutted for a Modell's Sporting Goods Store.

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.

BMT Brighton Line tracks, viewed from the Albemarle Road pedestrian bridge, July 2, 1962.