(Frank S. Lowe, 1905-06) This block and many of its neighbors—those on Sterling Street, Lefferts Avenue and the north side of Lincoln Road between Bedford and Nostrand Avenues—are within the locally-designated historic district, but excluded from the National Register listing since historically they were not subject to the restrictive covenants that characterize Lefferts Manor to the south. This meant that developers were able to erect multiple-family dwellings including these 58 two-family rowhouses erected by the Kingston Realty Company. Architect Lowe designed these buildings to resemble their single-family counterparts, with only one entrance and stoop serving both apartments. The two-family model became especially popular in Brooklyn beginning in the 1890s as an affordable option for families, which could rent out the top floor while occupying the parlor and basement floors, and with developers, who were exempt from tenement house regulations (which only applied to dwellings with three or more families).

(George L. Morse, 1893) This congregation traces its origins to 1856, when a Sunday school for African American children “was started in a small building in the woods” in what is now Prospect Park. Two years later, in 1858, it was formally incorporated as the Society for the Amelioration of the Colored Population in Flatbush. The school—which also hosted occasional prayer meetings, funerals and temperance events—was given in 1871 to the Dutch Reformed Church, which began regular church services. After moving several times, the church settled at its current location in 1893 on land donated by the Lefferts family. A decade later, in 1903, Grace Chapel was organized as the independent Grace Reformed Church. Its graceful building features Tiffany stainedglass windows, also donated by the Lefferts family. The Sunday school (1903-04) facing Bedford Avenue was also designed by Morse.

163-165 Midwood Street, 1924. Nos. 163 and 165 are two in a series of ten homes designed by George Lawton of the firm of Lawton & Field for William A.A. Brown in 1899. Brown was banker, real estate developer, avid horticulturist, and powerful in the local political community. He was also the head of the (Brooklyn-based) Budweiser Brewing Company. This series of homes is similar to a grouping down the block at 117-151, but has Romanesque Revival detail at the basement level, while the others are more neo-Renaissance .

403 Rogers Avenue, 1962. This Tudor style building was likely constructed in the early 1920s. In the ensuing century the large decorative parapets on the corner building (no. 403) have been removed.

Ebbets Field ca. 1929 The Brooklyn Dodgers won nine National League pennants at Ebbets Field during their tenure here (1913-57) but only one World Series (1955). On August 26, 1939, this park was the site of the first televised baseball game. It was also the site where, on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson, the first African-American baseball player in the major leagues, made his debut as first baseman for the Dodgers. With all this history it was a dark day in Brooklyn when Walter O'Malley moved "dem bums" to California at the end of the 1957 season. The field was demolished in 1960. The famous scoreboard clock is now at McCormick Field in Asheville, North Carolina.

North side of Rutland Road between Rogers Avenue and Nostrand Avenue, 271 Rutland Road at center, 1962.

451 Rogers Avenue, 1962. The corner building (no. 451) stands out by being one story taller than its neighbors. It does share many of the same decorative architectural elements of the other buildings that front Rogers Avenue on the wast side between Lincoln Road and Lefferts Avenue. The entire row was likely designed by the same person. Each of the windows on the blockfront have the same decorative lintel above the window with the geometric square patterns with center festoons (carved ornament depicting conventional arrangement of flowers, foliage or fruit bound together and suspended by ribbons). This building, along with the four-story building at the far corner (no. 429), bookend this block and are decorated with an additional stone plaque of torches and wreaths between the top two stories.

This neighborhood was once part of the Town of Flatbush, one of the original six towns established by Dutch and British Colonists in what is now Kings County. Flatbush remained an independent municipality until it was annexed in 1894 by the City of Brooklyn, which then became part of Greater New York in 1898. Up until this point, much of Flatbush was used for agricultural purposes. One of the largest landowners was the Lefferts family, which settled in Brooklyn in 1661. Various branches of the family maintained expansive farmsteads throughout Kings County, as well as in Queens, Long Island and New Jersey. The estate comprising much of Prospect Lefferts Gardens eventually passed to John Lefferts. An early proponent of development, he helped found the Flatbush Plank Road Company in 1855 to improve access to the area. As was often the case in New York City, transportation was the primary catalyst for urban development in the neighborhood. Continuing his father’s efforts, John’s son James Lefferts invested in the Brooklyn, Flatbush & Coney Island Railway Company, established in 1878. Initially serving pleasure seekers traveling between the Flatbush Long Island Railroad terminal and the beach, this became a true commuter line in 1896 when it was extended northward to downtown Brooklyn and eventually crossed the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan in 1901. John Lefferts began to subdivide the estate in 1887 when he announced the sale of 516 lots east of Rogers Avenue. A promotional pamphlet proclaimed that, “the absurdity of devoting lands so desirable, central, and valuable to raising corn and potatoes has finally induced the owner to part with \[the] lots.” The local press pronounced it “the most brilliant auction sale ever made in Flatbush,” which likely encouraged James Lefferts to put an additional 600 lots—most of the remaining farmstead—up for sale in 1893. Perhaps because these lots surrounded Lefferts’ own homestead, he added restrictive covenants prohibiting standard “noxious” uses (primarily industrial) and further stipulating that all buildings would be single-family houses. The lots covered by these covenants consisted of the area between Flatbush Avenue and Rogers Avenue from Lincoln Road to Fenimore Street, and was and is referred to as Lefferts Manor. In 1919 the Lefferts Manor Association was established to enforce the restrictions and preserve the area’s single-family residential character. Though the covenants limited use to single-family houses, the Association and the press were quick to point out that this did not overly restrict the neighborhood’s architectural variety. As one article noted, “the rule has not brought about any monotonous style of architecture. Some of the residences are of imposing size, in stone, stucco or wood. Others are dignified brick buildings in a row.” Outside Lefferts Manor, development was somewhat less constrained. Many blocks were built up with two-family row houses—some closely resembling their single-family counterparts and others more clearly embracing their duplex character. Some contain six-story elevator apartment buildings designed in a variety of styles. Flatbush Avenue in particular has a wealth of small-scale commercial buildings with fine architectural details. By the 1960s the Association began to rely on zoning regulations to enforce the residential character of the neighborhood, and in the 1970s a portion of the neighborhood was designated as a New York City historic district to preserve its architectural character. The Prospect Lefferts Gardens Neighborhood Association was founded in the late 1960s to foster racial integration in the area and to promote the vitality of the greater neighborhood (both inside and outside Lefferts Manor), a goal shared by the many civic organizations that continue to advocate for the preservation of Prospect Lefferts Gardens.

Ebbets Field, 1914.

Ebbets Field grandstand, from Bedford Avenue and Sullivan Place. June, 1929. The Ebbet's Field Ballpark was named after Charles Ebbets, owner of the Dodgers, who began the park's formation in 1905. Buying the land in small pieces, Ebbets was able, for about $100,000, to secure enough land to begin construction on the field. Though initially planned for 18,00 people, it was eventually expanded to be able to seat more than 31,000. From then on, it would serve as the home as the Dodgers from 1913 to 1957 when they left Brooklyn. By the 1940s the stadium began to suffer structurally and was already being overwhelmed by its limited capacity. These tensions, combined with the Dodger's owner Walter O'Malley getting into disputes with Robert Moses over the location of a new stadium, caused the team to be moved to Los Angeles in 1958. The beloved Ebbet's Field, at this point elderly and abandoned, was torn down and replaced by the Ebbets Field Apartments.

Kings County Penitentiary, ca. 1905. Built in the mid 1840s the Kings County Penitentiary was constructed on a large plot of land in what was then an extremely rural part of Brooklyn. The prison and adjacent workhouse was surrounded by a large stone wall (seen at front here). A facility for both men and women, the prisoners worked in a shoe factory on site or in chain gangs on the nearby streets (men only). Like so many of the 19th century detention centers, this one too was awash mismanagement, violence, cruelty towards inmates, and deplorable conditions. The penitentiary was torn down in 1907 after the land was sold to the Jesuits. On the plot they planned a large educational facility that would house a grammar school, high school, and college. The resulting campus was called the Brooklyn College and Preparatory School, though the college only lasted until 1913. Later called Brooklyn Preparatory School, the surrounding area (once the large plot belonging to the prison) was built out with educational facilities and athletic fields. In 1971 the school was sold to the city for a new CUNY location. Today the Brooklyn Prep buildings are part of a much large campus of the Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York.

A walking tour of the "Pigtown" neighborhood, created by Rocco Cetera for #JanesWalkNYC.

January 31, 2019, would have been Jackie Robinson’s 100th birthday. In honor of this occasion, here are some locations in New York City where you can walk in the footsteps of an American hero.

75 Maple Street, ca. 1924. Designed by Albert Morton Grey in 1922, this simple neo-Georgian home was built for Jeanne M. Reynolds. The facade is English-bond brick and the projected bay entrance (which is unusually on the side of the house) remains.

Engine Company 249, August 7, 1962. Engine Company 249 was originally Brooklyn Fire Department Engine 49. It was established on January 20, 1896. After the consolidation New York City, to minimize confusion with the Manhattan firehouses, the Brooklyn and Queens engines had 100 numbers added to the names. So BFD 49 became FDNY 149. During a second reorganization in 1913 the engines were renumbered again, this time to with 200 numbers, making this one Engine 249. The firehouse on Rogers Avenue was the Engine's original building. The land was purchased for $1700 in 1895. The two-story, two bay, brick firehouse was designed by J. T. Lauretzen. A Romanesque Revival style structure of red brick and Indiana limestone, the dominating exterior feature is the rounded tower at tight. The back of the building originally featured six stalls for the horses that powered the trucks. The building underwent renovations in 1926 to modernize the space. In 1996, after 100 years of service, the building was once again renovated. This time the renovations included largely demolishing the structure (leaving only the front wall). A new three-story firehouse was constructed and attached to the original front wall.

135-139 Maple Street, 1925. Check out the address on the steps on no. 135 at left. It is still visible more than 90 years later!

This firehouse is almost the mirror image, although built with different materials, to the landmark Engine Company 40, Hook & Ladder Company 21 (1895) in Windsor Terrace. Lauritzen designed at least eight firehouses in the years just before the then-independent City of Brooklyn merged into Greater New York. This building originally had space for a steam fire engine, a hose truck, a ladder truck and six horse stalls. The projecting tower above the right corner was presumably for drying hoses. Architectural inspiration came from medieval and Jacobean England, particularly the ornate window surrounds and the ogee pediment above the left bay. In 1996 the building was essentially rebuilt, and a third story added, behind the historic façade.

Constructed on the foundations of the old Kings County Penitentiary in 1908, this large, Beaux-Arts style building was built as the Brooklyn Preparatory School by the Jesuits. The school complex then grew to include playing fields and supporting classrooms. The all-male institution provided a superior classical education to students who went on to careers in law, business and the arts. Graduates included William Peter Blatty, author of the Exorcist, and Joseph Califano, United States Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under President Jimmy Carter. Brooklyn Prep’s final class graduated in 1972, after which the building was sold to the City University of New York (CUNY), which opened Medgar Evers College in the complex. The school has flourished and expanded to include a much larger campus along Bedford Avenue and the surrounding streets.

These two teams (which now play on opposite sides of the country) have been rivals since they met at the 1941 World Series. The Brooklyn Dodgers lost to the Bronx-repping Yankees 4-7 in 1941. This spurred rivalry that has lasted decades.