Front gardens at the intersection of Carroll and Hoyt Streets, 1960. Carroll Gardens takes its name from its proximity to Carroll Park and the unique front-garden layout devised by surveyor Richard Butts. The 1973 Historic District Designation Report praises Butts vision: “The tree-lined streets, with long rows of low two-and three-story houses, set back uniformly behind carefully tended gardens, exhibit, to a degree unusual in an urban environment, an awareness of the values of open space, a remarkable degree of architectural unity and a quiet dignity.” The late-1860s draining of the swampland surrounding the Gowanus Canal spurred development east of Smith Street, including the blocks surveyed by Butts. The row of townhouses at the eastern end of Carroll Street, adjoining Hoyt Street, were built in the late 1870s, among the last in the district.

303 President Street (first five-story building from left), February 8, 1960. Nos. 303-317 were built by William J. Bedell in 1876. 303 and 305A appear to have been altered, 305A quite recently. Some houses in this row still have their original cast iron railings and gates.

Carroll Gardens Historic District was designated a landmark in 1973. Check out the distinctive front gardens and bustling commercial streets of the neighborhood.

Hoyt Street, north from Douglass Street, Carroll Gardens. 1942. The building at extreme left is 244 Hoyt Street. Buildings along the east side of Hoyt Street would soon be razed for the construction of the NYCHA Gowanus Houses, completed in 1949.

Set of three rowhouses with connected iron porch, 1933. These houses date to the mid-19th century, appearing on property maps as early as 1855.

The South Brooklyn Christian Assembly, 1960. Built as the Carroll Park Methodist Episcopal Church in 1872-3, the Victorian Gothic structure was set back from Carroll Street, in keeping with the block’s layout. The building was sold to the Norwegian Methodist Episcopal Church in 1891, as the neighborhood — then considered a part of Red Hook — saw an increase in its Scandinavian immigrant population. Sold again to the South Brooklyn Christian Assembly in 1949, the church was included in the 1973 designation of the Carroll Gardens Historic District. Sadly, the church was damaged in a mid-1970s fire and replaced by a pair of townhouses incongruous with the rest of the block’s 1870s architecture.

South Congregational Church, 1922. The South Congregational Church complex at Court and President Streets includes a chapel (1851), the main church (1857), the ladies parlor (1889), and the rectory (1893). According to its 1982 Landmarks Preservation Commission report, the church “fits into a general pattern of towered Early Romanesque Revival style churches, but is unusual for the extraordinary manner in which the brick is modeled on the facade.” The church steeple, pictured here in 1922, was a perennial concern. A 1879 Brooklyn Daily Eagle report observed that “the steeple has always been more or less regarded as insecure” after January winds made “the entire tower rock from side to side.” In 1902, the Buildings Department declared the spire “unsafe” and mandated repairs. The steeple survived until at least 1936, when the Eagle reported that the church had decided to keep the “source of pride and worry.” However, it was dismantled prior to the church’s 1982 Landmark designation and its subsequent conversion into residential apartments.

Carroll Street Bridge, 1960. Opened in 1889, the Carroll Street Bridge is a rare retractable crossing, one of two in New York City and three (as of 2013) still in service in the United States. It opens diagonally, with its span slowly pulled into a reserved pocket on the Gowanus Canal’s western bank. Bridge openings are now a rare event, but were once quite common. According to the New York Times: “As recently as the 1990s, the canal was a major waterway for paint factories, oil depots, sand and gravel suppliers, and warehouses alongside it, and the Carroll Street Bridge had to be opened 500 to 700 times a year.”

By Benjamin Serby The leafy Brooklyn neighborhood of Carroll Gardens is nestled between Degraw Street (or Sackett, depending on your source) to the north and Hamilton Avenue to the south, bounded to the east by either Hoyt or Bond Street (again, answers may vary) and Hicks Street to the west. It’s just a small slice of the borough’s “brownstone belt,” but it packs a wallop, as any pizza enthusiast will tell you. With its deep front lawns, stoop-sitters, and tiny pasticcerias, Carroll Gardens is a unique corner of the city, to be sure — but, in many respects, its past and present tell us much about New York City as a whole. Read the Gotham Center blog post that inspired the walk here.

St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church, 1922. The High Victorian Gothic church was designed by architect Richard Upjohn, who lived just a few blocks north at the corner of Clinton and Baltic Streets. The church was completed in 1884, 17 years after construction commenced.

The Carroll Street Bridge crosses over the Gowanus Canal between Bond and Nevins Street and resides near the border between the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gowanus and Carroll Gardens. Of the 794 bridges and tunnels currently operating under the purview of the New York City Department of Transportation, it is the least-used bridge in the city. Despite this, the Carroll Street Bridge is actually a New York City historic landmark. It is one of only three remaining retractable bridges operating in the United States! It is also the only wooden bridge in NYC used for cars! (More bridge fun facts: one of the other two retractable bridges also resides in NYC, the Borden Avenue Bridge in Hunters Point, Queens). By the 1860s, the Gowanus Canal was becoming a central hub of modern-day industrial activity for the city of Brooklyn. To advance this industrialization, the city built six bridges to cross the canal. One of them was the original and non-retractable Carroll Street Bridge, an old wooden swing bridge, which closed in 1887 due to fears of its imminent collapse. In 1888, Brooklyn Mayor Alfred Chapin and the Brooklyn Common Council announced their plans for a replacement bridge. One request by local landowners for the new design was a retractable span that could slide into the shore to allow an easier passage for boats (the canal was narrower at Carroll Street). The city approved this design and construction began that same year. The new Carroll Street Bridge opened in 1889 at the cost of $29,600 to build and was designed by the Department of City Works engineers Robert Van Buren and George Ingram. Since then, there have been only slight alterations to the structure. One necessary modification came in 1908 when the bridge’s steam motors were replaced by electric motors. Despite being closed twice in the 1970s, as well as an incident in the mid-1980s that resulted in the bridge being stuck in the open position for several years, the Carroll Street Bridge is a resilient little piece of architecture. In 1987, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the bridge an official city landmark.

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church and Female Orphan Asylum. July 4, 1930. Note the American flag hanging from the rectory window, to the left of the church building.

National Packing Box Factory, Union Street, 1960. James Dyckman, a carpenter by training, lost his Front Street box factory to an 1880 fire. He chose to rebuild on Union Street, east of the Gowanus Canal on the site of a former “lime, brick and lath yard.” Dyckman hired architect Robert Dixon to design his new complex, which eventually included five buildings. No. 543 opened in 1889.

The Carroll Street Bridge crosses over the Gowanus Canal between Bond and Nevins Street and resides near the border between the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Gowanus and Carroll Gardens. Of the 794 bridges and tunnels currently operating under the purview of the New York City Department of Transportation, it is the least-used bridge in the city.

343 Smith Street, furthest right on the corner of Smith and Carroll Streets, February 12, 1960. This block of buildings was built 1871-1872. Similar to the other Smith Street blocks in the Carroll Gardens Historic District, this block contains ground floor retail space with apartments above.

Nos. 255-267 Carroll Street, from left, February 8, 1960. These seven houses were all built by William J. Bedell in 1872. The designation report for the Carroll Gardens Historic District notes that "the homogeneity of design in each facade is created by the use of segmental arches over all the windows." Each house is fronted by large gardens, a distinctive characteristic of the district.

Seaway Export Packing Co., 1960. Located just west of the Gowanus Canal, the Seaway company dissolved in 1982. Today, the warehouse space has been converted to a bar and restaurant.

No. 323 Smith Street, on the corner of Smith and President Streets, February 8, 1960. An entrance to Carroll Street Station is visible. 315-323 Smith St. were built in 1870, making them some of the oldest buildings in the Carroll Gardens Historic District. The designation report noted the large ground floor display windows set in wood frames, which served to distinguish the residential and commercial parts of these buildings. The wood frames are still visible today at Nos. 317 and 319.