You can create posts on any image on the platform. Posts appear under their associated photos in Urban Archive. The first post that is written about a location is automatically pinned to the location page. On any post you write, your organization’s name will be added to the bottom of the post to ensure proper accreditation. You can create a post by going to any image and clicking the “🖋️ Create a new Post” button. Similarly, you can edit a post by clicking “Published” to reveal the “Edit” option.

Forsythia in bloom at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity, Brooklyn Heights, April 7, 1961.

Brick house with wooden colonnade, 1941. During the 1950s, Hicks Street was transformed by the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway trench, to the south. These buildings have since been demolished. Ironically, the lot is now occupied by a seven-story parking garage.

Grace Church, ca. 1975. As the City of Brooklyn’s population swelled in the mid-19th century, Grace Church was built to serve the needs of Brooklyn Heights-based Episcopalians who found the East River ferry journey to James Renwick’s Grace Church on Broadway too arduous. For the Brooklyn Grace, congregants enlisted Richard Upjohn, the architect of Manhattan’s Trinity Church and the nearby Church of the Pilgrims on Remsen Street, among others. Construction on the Gothic structure was completed in 1848, with the first service held on December 10. In 2013, the church leadership made a stunning discovery as workers began refurbishment work on the sanctuary ceiling: bold, bright, and hand-painted star motifs dating to about 1866. At some point in the intervening years, the stars were painted over by a more sedate faux bois (fake wood) motif. Today, the striking 19th century painted ceiling has been restored.

The Brooklyn Club, boarded up following a serious fire, 1971.

You can create posts on any image on the platform. Posts appear under their associated photos in Urban Archive. The first post that is written about a location is automatically pinned to the location page. On any post you write, your organization’s name will be added to the bottom of the post to ensure proper accreditation. You can create a post by going to any image and clicking the “🖋️ Create a new Post” button. Similarly, you can edit a post by clicking “Published” to reveal the “Edit” option.

160 Atlantic Avenue Designed by Ebenezer L. Roberts This stately building was originally constructed in 1871 for the South Brooklyn Savings Bank, which moved to a larger building at 130 Court Street (site # 13) in 1922. The bank had a number of influential board members, including merchant James Van Nostrand and businessman and politician James S. T. Stranahan, who, during his time as president of the Brooklyn Park Commission, was largely responsible for securing funding and support for the creation of Prospect Park. The Neo-Grec style, Tuckahoe Marble-clad building features round and square pilasters, corner quoins, arched windows supported by colonettes, and a bracketed cornice. Many of its original details have been lost, however, including a two-story pedimented temple front entrance and a balustrade with decorative urns on the roof. The ground floor has also been remodeled. The bank interior had been clad in marble and black walnut woodwork, but was refurbished many times over the years to accommodate new uses. The buildings are located in the Cobble Hill Historic District.

You can create posts on any image on the platform. Posts appear under their associated photos in Urban Archive. The first post that is written about a location is automatically pinned to the location page. On any post you write, your organization’s name will be added to the bottom of the post to ensure proper accreditation. You can create a post by going to any image and clicking the “🖋️ Create a new Post” button. Similarly, you can edit a post by clicking “Published” to reveal the “Edit” option.

The Brooklyn Club, having sustained serious fire damage, 1971. This Italianate mansion likely dates to the 1850s (though the New York Times cited a construction date of 1816 in its report on the fire, possibly citing a partial structure), and by the turn of the century was the home of merchant E. Le Grand Beers. In 1915, it was purchased by the Brooklyn Club, an elite gentlemen’s dating to 1865. The club sustained heavy damage in the February, 1971 fire, but was rebuilt. However, the era of patrician social clubs had passed and in 1995, the building was sold to the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue. For the next four years, the remaining club members met in the private rooms of Foffe’s and Gage & Tollner, before a voting to disband in 1999.

Sometimes deciphering a neighborhood name can be pretty simple. It doesn't take a genius to puzzle out how Brooklyn Heights or the Navy Yard got their names, but other 'hoods have a little history behind their monikers. This story examines the background of some of Brooklyn's neighborhoods.

1840s row houses on Warren Street in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, October 9, 1960. These three-story row houses were built by John Greacen, Jr. between 1845-47, on land purchased by his father, John Greacen, Sr. in 1832. The elder Greacen lived in both Nos. 225 (far right) and 229 (second from right — No. 227 is obscured by the angle of the photograph). At the time, Warren Street was known as John Street, named for the father-and-son duo who spurred its development.

Side view of No. 46 Willow Place from State Street, December 7, 1958. This mid-19th century column-fronted house is the only\* surviving structure of a former row of four, opposite the extant "colonnade row" on the block's east side. \*No. 42 retains parts of the original structure, but its columns have been removed while other elements have been substantially altered.

Though its name seems to suggest otherwise, Saint Ann's is a non-sectarian school known for its non-traditional education style. How it came to be named after a Saint comes from its eclectic history.

Row houses on Willow Place, October 19, 1959.

Packer Collegiate Institute ca. 1922 One of the earliest of our many ivy-covered Collegiate Gothic buildings. The exterior of this structure, designed by Minard Lafever and published by him in his Architectural Instructor, was particularly expressive of the functions within. A recent addition has been intelligently carried out completely in character with the original.

Clinton Street row houses, following the construction of the Insurance Building (extreme right), August 5, 1934.

Foster Building, New Year’s Eve 1958. Built in 1898, the four-storefront-wide brick building retains much of its original detail, including pediments above each of its four residential entrances and the bold “Foster” name on a panel above the shared cornice. The origin of the Foster name is unclear; it was built by William B. Tubby for owners Mary J.F. Pratt and Ida F. Grampton.

St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church and School, 1934. Designed by Patrick Charles Keeley, the Romanesque Revival church was dedicated in 1860. The St. Peter’s School at 101 Warren Street was added in 1866. The church closed in 1975 and was converted into condominiums, retaining much of its exterior features.

274 Hicks, 1959. Founded in 1886 as Engine 24 of the City of Brooklyn, the firefighters originally fought blazes in a horse-drawn engine. The current building was constructed in 1903 (five years after the fire company had become part of the New York citywide department following consolidation). Described as a "Gilded Age mansion for NY’s Bravest," the building is a Renaissance Revival structure. It was designed by the firm of Adams & Warren, who largely built massive mansions for well-heeled Long Islanders. The copper-clad dormers and roof tiles, green with age, are especially eye-catching on a block with older and very attractive townhouses.

Berean Buildings, 1922. The Berean Buildings — three adjoining three-story brownstone structures — were erected in 1867 at the northwest corner of Court and State Streets. The buildings, included street-level storefronts and large hall for social functions, lectures, and performances. The Brooklyn branch of the New York Conservatory of Music was an early tenant, and late 19th century newspapers included advertisements for music lessons held there. From 1903 to 1922, the newly created Children's Court was held here. Part of the Court of Special Sessions "Inferior Courts," local courts that dealt with "neighborhood affairs," the Children's Court was for legal matters concerning children under the age of 16. Until the late 19th century, criminal courts tried both youth and adults. The Brooklyn Children's Court was among the first efforts at juvenile justice reform. Since 1924, the Berean Buildings have hosted a succession of theaters: first, as the Boro Hall Theatre, a vaudeville house equipped with a new Kimball organ; from 1949 to 1967, as the Teatro Amor, showing Spanish-language films; and finally, from 1968 to 1989, as the Cine-Art Theatre, which showed pornographic films with occasional live strip shows. The building was torn down in the 1990s, and the current large multiplex UA Court Street Stadium 12 opened in 2000.

Grace Church ca. 1974 Located in a quiet backwater of the most fashionable section of the Heights, this Gothic church is unusually low, long, and narrow. However, the nave and side aisles, spanned by trusses, are well suited to the Episcopal service. The apse is well expressed on the exterior, and its traceried window is a prominent feature of the east end.

Northeast corner of Court and Amity streets, New Year’s Eve 1958. Built for grocer Thomas McGlinn in 1848, a 20th century remodel added 160 Court Street’s signature black marble storefront.

Apartment building at the corner of Amity and Clinton Streets (No. 173 Amity), February 8, 1960. Built in 1900, No. 173 Amity features curved bays matching its neighbors on Clinton Street, and a combination of limestone and brickwork on its Amity Street facade, interrupted by two-story bay windows. The Landmarks Preservation Commission cites the influence of the Chicago World’s Fair in its architectural “eclecticism.”

103-105 Montague, ca. 1978.

The New York City Housing Authority was founded in 1934. Today it owns approximately 178,895 apartments. Before NYCHA, low and middle-income housing was constructed and operated by private entities, including philanthropists and worker's unions. This collection highlights some of the unique affordable housing projects built prior to NYCHA.

St. Charles Borromeo Church ca. 1980 New York Catholics ranked parishes in terms of status. The Church of St. Charles Borromeo founded in Brooklyn Heights in 1849 was the Sixth Catholic Parish in Brooklyn. While it wasn't the first, it was regarded as "select," according to the anonymous inscription on the reverse of a stereoscopic view card depicting the church. The note continues: "The church is also frequented by the most wealthy Catholics, showing however nothing remarkable inside or out. Even the organ is of small capacity." The present church was dedicated in 1869, in the red Philadelphia brick edifice trimmed with Belleville stone, and in the English Gothic style, designed by Patrick C. Kelley, a premiere Catholic architect of the day.

Grace Court Alley, Brooklyn Heights, June 17, 1974.

219 Clinton Street, 1960. Described in the 1969 Historic District Designation Report as “without a doubt the most imposing property in the Cobble Hill Historic District,” 219 Clinton Street includes the first electric passenger elevator built in a private building, dating to an early 1890s renovation of the 1844 home.

Berean Buildings, Court Street, April 13, 1931. By then, the former court house had been converted to the Boro Hall Theatre, a vaudeville house.

No. 260 Hicks Street (red door) at Joralemon Street, June 17, 1974.

Abrahim Sahadi opened A. Sahadi & Co. on Washington Street in Manhattan in 1890. In the first few decades of the 20th century, the store catered to the sizable Syrian and Lebanese populations that lived on the "Lower West Side." Construction of the Hugh L. Carey Tunnel (formerly the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel) pushed the thriving business out of the neighborhood and into a storefront on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. There the three generation family-owned and run business continued to grow. They purchased a factory building in Sunset Park in the 1980s to house their expanding wholesale business. And from the small storefront seen here in 1958 at 187 Atlantic Avenue Sahadi Importing Co. has grown into the two adjacent storefronts at nos. 189 and 191.

Intersection of Joralemon and Court Streets, with Borough Hall (at left) and the Fulton Street Elevated tracks (in the distance), July 23, 1907. The entrances to the soon-to-be opened IRT subway station at Borough Hall are visible on either side of Joralemon Street, flanked by the iconic subway globe lights. The manure noticeable on the street testifies to the continued employment of horses for the transportation of goods (if no longer people).

Willow Place, nos. 43-49, May 14, 1936. Built in 1846 by an unknown architect, Colonnade Row is a series of Greek Revival houses. Four structures remain on this side of the street, while the across the street, one colonnade home survives. The surrounding three structures have been renovated in a 20th century modern style. The homes at nos. 43-49, with their single long porch and tall columns, have been painstakingly preserved.

Colonnade Row ca. 1936 This Greek Revival residential row between Joralemon and State Streets in Brooklyn, dating perhaps to the mid 1840s, had a single occupant in each house, all of Irish descent: Meehan at No 43, Sullivan at No. 45, McKenna at No. 47, and Dowling at No. 49. In a decrepit state at the time of Abbott's photograph, all the houses have been rehabilitated and survive today.

Engine 224 firehouse and carriage houses next door, Hicks Street, June 18, 1962.

St. Ann’s Church (now part of Packer Collegiate Institute) Begun in 1867, St. Ann's was designed by James Renwick, one of the 19th century’s great American architects who also designed St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Grace Church in Manhattan. The church is one of the best examples of “Ruskinian Gothic” in New York. Ruskin, the famous Victorian art critic, advocated using color in architecture often through polychrome stone and brickwork. Here, this is accomplished with alternating bands of rough New Jersey brownstone and smooth, yellowish Ohio sandstone. As with St. Patrick’s, Renwick designed a grand central entrance with magnificent stained glass windows and two flanking entrances all topped with freestanding gables. The interior was built to seat over two-thousand. Large, undisguised cast-iron columns run down each side of the nave supporting the gallery and roof. There is also cast-iron wainscotting along the side aisle walls. St. Ann's is among the earliest American churches to use cast iron in such a way. Organized in 1787, St. Ann’s is the oldest Episcopal parish in Brooklyn. This church was its third home, and the parish wanted a to build the largest and most imposing church in Brooklyn. The new church was expensive, and the parish went into debt to to build it. By 1878, the debt amounted to over $135,000, the church was delinquent on its payments, and Union Dime Bank began foreclosure proceedings. Only a last minute gift of $60,000 from a wealthy banker kept the parish in their church. Wall Street benefited St. Ann’s church again in 1951 when the daughter of Hetty Green, the “Witch of Wall Street” left it a surprise bequest of $500,000. However, nothing could stem the steady decrease of the congregation. In 1967, the parish sold the church to Packer Collegiate school and moved up Clinton Street to The Church of the Holy Trinity, renaming it St. Ann’s and the Holy Trinity. The church building remained closed for years until 2003 when Packer extensively renovated the interior to accommodate classrooms and offices.

124-128 Atlantic Avenue Built in 1854, this Italianate commercial building was originally home to the area’s largest dry-goods store, Journeay & Burnham. The business was known for stocking fine quality fabrics and fashionable clothing. The business moved to Flatbush Avenue near Fulton Street in 1892, and closed in 1907. The building was subsequently home to the Atlantic-Pacific Chandlery Manufacturing Company, suppliers of ship provisions. The company’s name remains above the storefront, providing a reminder of Atlantic Avenue’s nautical past and its link to New York City’s bustling harbor. These buildings are located in the Cobble Hill Historic District.

Townhouses on Henry Street, opposite Hunts Lane, October 19, 1959.

The four wood-frame houses at 7-13 Columbia Place were originally called "Cottage Row." A series of nine homes were built in the 1840s and of the original nine these four remain. In the late 1840s, these homes were occupied by the families of a milkman, a fur merchant, a painter, and a boat pilot at South Ferry. By the late 19th century, no. 9 was occupied by Michael Allen, a local Democratic politician who survived an assassination attempt by a disgruntled Republican opponent. Despite several questionable exterior alterations (in the photo from 1959 nos. 7, 9, and 13 are clad in asphalt shingles), the homes today likely look closer to their original design and construction than at any point in the last century.

Bay window and garden on the Congress Street side of 367 Henry Street, Cobble Hill; December 15, 1958. This Italianate brownstone was one of three constructed between 1850-1853 for merchant Charles F.A. Hinrichs. The sheetmetal bay window, painted black, was a later addition.

"View of west side of Court Street between Amity Street & Congress Streets looking south. Whelan Drugs on corner right."

Colonnaded Row Houses ca. 1970 Collectively impressive, these very small two-story houses would have had a mean, undistinguished appearance had they not been united by their colonnade. This was an early instance of town planning and was doubtless inspired by Underhill's grander Greek Revival colonnade- long since vanished- on Brooklyn Heights overlooking the harbor.

Brooklyn Bar Association, ca. 1977. Considered an excellent example of French Second Empire architecture, this four-story building was the former home of Charles Condon. The build date for this structure varies depending on the sources. Some say 1856, while others suggest an 1870s date makes more sense for the ornate mansard that tops the home. The Brooklyn Bar Association has occupied the house since the 1970s.

Located at 170 Joralemon Street, between a rapidly changing downtown Brooklyn and the historic residential neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, The Packer Collegiate Institute is a designated New York City landmark.

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Church of the Pilgrims (later Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral), March 1, 1929. The Romanesque Revival Church of the Pilgrims was designed by prolific ecclesiastical architect and Brooklyn resident Richard Upjohn, with two years of construction completed in 1846. In 1934, the Episcopal congregation merged with Plymouth Church, on nearby Orange Street, and shifted services there. Meanwhile, a few blocks west, the Maronite Catholic Our Lady of Lebanon congregation was established in a Hicks Street townhouse in 1903. Forty years later, Our Lady of Lebanon purchased the former Church of the Pilgrims. Today’s church features many notable details contributed by the patrons of the Maronite Catholic community, including marble and onyx flooring from the French and Lebanese pavilions at the 1939 World’s Fair. Furthermore, the doors of the Church were taken from the famous steamship Normandie that burned in New York s harbor. In the background of P.L. Sperr’s 1929 photo, skyscrapers on Court Street, opposite Brooklyn’s civic center are visible under construction.

Street-level decking for the construcion of the IND Fulton Line's Court Street station, at Court and Schermerhorn Streets; November 20, 1930. At right is the German Evangelical Church, a Romanesque structure completed in 1890 to accommodate the City of Brooklyn's growing German population. The church shuttered in 1969 and was demolished in 2006.

In the late 19th-century housing conditions for the poor in Brooklyn were crowded, unsafe, poorly ventilated, and lacked amenities. This story shows one of the first efforts in our borough to create affordable and pleasant housing for those who struggled to pay the rent.

Rear view of Nos. 52 and 50 (left) Remsen Street, from Grace Court Alley; December 7, 1958.

Medical Arts Building, 1929. The Medical Arts Building was completed in 1927 to the designs of Mortimer E. Freehof, an architect of a number of Brooklyn Heights apartment buildings. The Art Deco structure is rendered in a tan brick. Its decoration (which gives it a bit of a Gothic feel) is fun and whimsical with lions bracketing the balcony whose sole purpose seems to be to highlight the building's carved name, while plaques of intertwined cranes separating the windows.

North side of Atlantic Avenue, center building, is Montero's Bar and Grill, 1958 Opened in 1939 in a space across Atlantic Avenue, Montero's is the last of the longshoreman bars in a neighborhood once filled with them. An iconic Brooklyn dive, it has a classic neon sign out front, and the dark interior is decorated with model ships and other maritime trinkets.

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Haddon Hall cigar shop, Montague Street, June 7, 1959.

The Pam-Pam restaurant at the corner of Montague and Henry Streets, October 12, 1959.

By the start of the 19th century, the urbanization of Brooklyn was happening at a breakneck pace. What had once been quiet Dutch farming villages was now a thriving area. Brooklyn Heights was the first incorporated village in the original city of Brooklyn. In the 1820s the prevailing architectural style was the elegant but simple wood-frame Federal style home. The entire neighborhood, starting with a couple of dozen homes in the 1810s and growing exponentially, was built in wood. Given the strong historic preservation ethic and legal protections that were enacted in this neighborhood during the mid 20th century, many of the older homes that had made it until then, still stand today. This walk will take you past some of Brooklyn’s oldest and most well preserved wood-frame homes. 🏠 It was inspired and informed by the excellent work done by The Wooden House Project!

My Archive Spring 2019 "Outside Dr. Altchek's office (see the sign on the building) with two of the neighbors. Dr. Altchek was known in the neighborhood as the doctor who treated everyone, and at the time, several of his patients that were infants when he treated them were mature adults still living in 2002." —Jane Wolff

Court Street buildings, including the unusual Neo-Tudor at No. 93, June 21, 1959. The steep, shingled gable and detailed brickwork at No. 93 stand out from the neighborhood's more common brick and brownstone structures, and the Art Deco skyscrapers closer to Borough Hall. The Tudor outlier was built by architects Martyn Weinstein and Samuel Malkind in 1927. Its exposed beams have long since been covered by stucco and, at present, the building is without Landmarks protection.

You can create posts on any image on the platform. Posts appear under their associated photos in Urban Archive. The first post that is written about a location is automatically pinned to the location page. On any post you write, your organization’s name will be added to the bottom of the post to ensure proper accreditation. You can create a post by going to any image and clicking the “🖋️ Create a new Post” button. Similarly, you can edit a post by clicking “Published” to reveal the “Edit” option.

The morning after a fire a No. 130 Montague Street, May 17, 1974.

Since the founding of the city, Brooklyn has had many civic groups dedicated to encouraging education. In the mid-19th century, a number of libraries emerged that would form the basis of the Brooklyn Library today. This is the story of how it came to be.

260 Hicks Street, 1958. Originally built in 1847 as one in a row of 21 homes by William and Harriet Packer, 260 Hicks originally matched the style of its immediate neighbors west on Joralemon Street. The building was expanded and made into a mansion in Queen Anne and Romanesque Revival styles in 1887. The brick home has been drastically and unfortunately altered, since the late 1880s work. The architectural details at the third story have been removed and the fourth floor has been expanded to a flat roof with brick and mortar that does not match the original materials. Given the historic photographic evidence seen in the collection of photographer John Morrell the alterations happened between 1958 and 1964, perhaps when the building was converted from a single family to multi-unit residence.

Joralemon Street, Brooklyn Heights, November 9, 1959. Some things are not as they seem: the Greek Revival townhouse at No. 58 Joralemon Street (center, with dark windows) was once a residence, but is now the site of a subway ventilation system and emergency exit from the Joralemon Street Tunnel.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music, opening in 1861, was the Athenaeum’s greatest rival, and BAM was larger, closer to the homes of the Heights elite, and attracted first class orchestras and performers. The Athenaeum adapted, and became a meeting place for organizations, rallies, and revivals, as well as a more traditional lecture and performance venue. It worked for a long time, until 1902, when the City of New York took over the third floor, which contained the auditorium and ante-rooms, as a courtroom for the Court of Special Sessions. The court stayed until at least 1932.

Joralemon Street, north side, west from Hicks Street, to the East River. 260 Hicks Street is the corner building, at right, with the double chimney, 1935.

The Brooklyn Academy of Music, in its original location on Montague Street, circa 1895. Performances began in this building in 1861. On the morning of November 30, 1903, as stagehands were preparing for an event, a small gas explosion ignited the stage and scenery. The wooden interior was engulfed by flames quickly and by the time the fire was extinguished, the only thing standing was the brick exterior walls, and a number of adjacent buildings were heavily damaged. BAM would reopen five years later in 1908 in a new group of buildings in nearby Fort Greene.

Gothic Revival Houses (2-8 Willow Place) ca. 1975 Despite their individual porches, these charming town houses have a remarkable feeling of unity and coherence. This is due to the very original window treatment, where the recessed spandrels with their chevron patterns lend a vertical emphasis, foreshadowing the spandrel panel arrangement later employed on high buildings.

Hotel Bossert, ca. 1919. Once referred to as the "Waldorf-Astoria of Brooklyn" the Hotel Bossert was an opulent apartment hotel built by millionaire Louis Bossert, a Bushwick lumber tycoon. The Italian Renaissance Revival building, designed by Helmle and Huberty, opened in 1909 but was expanded in 1912 to include a grand ballroom. The crown jewel of the building, at least in terms of society, was the Marine Roof. This two-story restaurant and club offered spectacular views of Manhattan and was a glitzy marine-themed hot spot, where you might spy flamboyant NYC Mayor Jimmy Walker or your favorite Brooklyn Dodger. The club became an official hangout for the Brooklyn Dodgers. A number of players lived in the building and in 1955 they famously celebrated their World Series win over the Yankees. The building was sold to the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1988 and served as a short term residence for guests and visitors. During the recent sell off of Brooklyn Heights properties by the Witnesses, this building was purchased by an equity firm. An Argentinian hotel chain will run the new Esplendor Bossert, which has thoroughly renovated the hotel's interior grandeur, including a new rooftop bar. The hotel’s long-delayed opening was scheduled for March 2020, but has been delayed indefinitely by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Gundolt Carpet Workroom, 1962. The single story workshop and adjacent three-plus story facility were built from “clinker brick,” dark, dense bricks produced at very high heat. Once unfashionable, clinkers rose to popularity as a building material during the Arts and Crafts movement. The taller building at right was built in 1920 as a stable and parking facility for the Riley & Latimer trucking company. The design included a three-story elevator shaftway, in order to accommodate wagon storage on the roof itself. Riley & Latimer closed around 1936. A 1947 ad for Gundolt Carpet touts “good pay” and “steady work” for carpet sewers.

135 Joralemon Street, 1925. Although a few blocks south of the main cluster of remaining wood-frame Heights homes, this two-story home with attic and twin dormer windows is a remnant of a period when all of Brooklyn Heights was populated by Federal style buildings. The intricate ironwork on the broad porch (though not original) calls out this building as special even among its early wood-frame brethren. And, but for dedicated owners and a considerable sum of money, this house might have been lost just in the last decade. A substantial fire gutted the home in 2004, causing extensive damage, and many in the neighborhood worried about its survival. But, by 2008, it was beautifully restored inside and out.

Clinton Street, Brooklyn Heights, February 12, 1960. This Brooklyn Heights street scene includes No. 182 Clinton Street (center, second from corner), known as the New York residence of Bill W., the founder of Alcoholics Anonymous. A World War I veteran and stock speculator who lost money in the 1929 crash, Bill was a sufferer of alcoholism who began his recovery in 1934. The next year, Bill began to host growing meetings of recovering alcoholics like himself at his Brooklyn home. Since Bill's death, the building has become a nondescript landmark (contrary to local legend, the stoop has nine steps, not twelve), unlike Bill's Akron, Ohio home, which has been converted to a museum.

Brooklyn Union Gas Company ARCHITECT: Frank Freeman DATE: 1914 STYLE: Neo-Classical The substantial neo-Classical style Brooklyn Union Gas Company Building was constructed in 1914 as the new headquarters for the borough’s oldest and most important utility company and was designed by noted architect Frank Freeman. The Brooklyn Union Gas Company traces its origins to 1824 when a group of entrepreneurs including Joseph Sprague and Alden Spooner proposed establishing the Brooklyn Gas Light Company. Competition between the gas companies grew particularly heated in the 1880s but all seven of the major Brooklyn firms eventually merged in 1895 to form the Brooklyn Union Gas Company. As an indication of its success, in 1912 the company began to plan for a new headquarters and inaugurated this building in 1914. Frank Freeman’s design for the Brooklyn Union Gas Company Building employs the Classically-inspired architectural vocabulary that characterized many of Freeman’s post-Columbian Exposition commissions. Much of the building’s architectural decoration is also symbolic of the structure’s original role as the headquarters of an important gas company, depicting such devices as flaming torches and blazing oil lamps.

Naples Restaurant, Montague Street, October 7, 1958.

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Clinton Street, Brooklyn Heights, 1927.

Plate 7: Map bounded by Pierrepont Street, Henry Street, Pacific Street, Buttermilk Channel, 1855.

The Brooklyn Athenaeum and Reading Room was founded in 1852 by a group of prominent Brooklyn citizens as a library and respite for young men. There they could gather for instruction and that "innocent relaxation," which the wear and tear of mercantile life so imperiously demands, according to its first president, John Taylor, in his first annual report. The three story building, designed by William Field, had commercial storefronts on the ground floor, including a book store, the reading room and library on the second, and the concert/lecture hall, which could hold 2,000 people, on the third.

The townhouse at 31 Grace Court housed two of the country's most illustrious writers and thinkers. Playwright Arthur Miller lived there in the 1940s when he wrote "Death of a Salesman" and "All My Sons." In 1951, Miller sold the house to W. E. B. Du Bois, the great author, intellectual and co-founder of the NAACP. At the time, Du Bois' political activism placed him under McCarthy-era scrutiny and he was soon the subject of a federal indictment for failing to register the Peace Information Center as an agent of a foreign government. Miller, whose own politics led to his being blacklisted, sold Du Bois the house just before the trial commenced. Charges were ultimately dismissed after the defense attorney told the judge that "Dr. Albert Einstein has offered to appear as character witness for Dr. Du Bois". During the decade that Du Bois and his wife Shirley Graham lived here, the house became gathering place for progressive politics and cultural icons, Paul Robeson would regularly drop in and play their piano. To the great annoyance of the US government, diplomats would regularly visit the Du Bois household, until after the Russian foreign minister's visit, when the State Department ruled 31 Grace Court off-limits for UN delegations.

The Riverside apartments were built in 1890 by William Field & Son and financed by philanthropist Alfred Tredway White, whose motto was “philanthropy plus five percent. ” White accepted a limited return on his investment in exchange for building affordable housing for Brooklyn’s poor and working-class families. The Riverside buildings occupied only 49 percent of the lot, which allowed space for an internal courtyard. White’s progressive ideas about housing were years ahead of the law, and more generous as well: in 1895 the New York Tenement House Law was changed to require that a new tenement occupy no more than 65 percent of its lot. The Riverside received praise from Jacob Riis, who wrote in his 1890 book, How the Other Half Lives: “Its chief merit is that it gathers three hundred real homes, not simply three hundred families, under one roof.” Although four of the nine buildings in the Riverside complex were demolished to build the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, the LPC nonetheless included the Riverside apartments in the 1965 Brooklyn Heights Historic District designation. What survives looks much like it did in the 1890s, red brick, arched windows, terra-cotta accents, and black wrought-iron balconies.

Brooklyn Gas Co., cooking class, ca. 1913. The new headquarters for the Brooklyn Union Gas Company opened in 1914 at 180 Remsen Street. As the headquarters, it included a ground floor showroom for gas appliances, the president's private offices, and large spaces for public gatherings and classes. A February 1915 gas-focused journal noted the graduation of the domestic science division. It notes: "The course consists of six lectures. At the conclusion of the course each student will receive a certificate certifying that she is able to scientifically conduct a household."

Five attached row houses, Nos. 136-144 Clinton Street (right to left), at Aitken Place, 1922. According to photographer Eugene Armbruster, the Italianate row houses were built by Wm. Evans in about 1845. City directory records confirm the houses were completed by 1855. The two houses at right were torn down ahead of the 1925 construction of the 12-story Insurance Building. Likewise, the corner building, No. 144, was replaced by a single-story Art Moderne structure in 1937. The St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church is visible at extreme left.

St. Ann & the Holy Trinity was built as The Church of the Holy Trinity by Brooklyn paper manufacturer Edgar Bartow, who wanted a magnificent edifice for the City of Brooklyn with pews that were rent-free. Bartow chose architect Minard Lafever to design the church and adjoining chapel and rectory, which are considered to be the finest achievement of Lafever's career. An important example of Gothic Revival architecture in America, the richly ornamented church is notable for its elaborately vaulted roof and extensive suite of stained glass windows by William Jay Bolton. St. Ann's pipe organ was built in 1925 by Ernest M. Skinner (Opus #524), and is the third instrument to be installed since the church opened in 1847. During the Cold War in the 1950s, there was dissension within the congregation which eventually led to the dissolution of the church in 1957. The building was closed and stood mostly vacant for more than a decade. In 1969, nearby St. Ann's Church, the oldest Episcopal congregation in Brooklyn moved four blocks into the Holy Trinity building. St. Ann's took the new name of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity in honor of the building's heritage. Today's parishioners continue the life of a body of faithful Episcopalians who have worshiped in Brooklyn for more than 240 years, first gathering during the American Revolution. Bishop Lawrence Provenzano designated the church as pro-cathedral during a festive Evensong service at St. Ann & the Holy Trinity on September 16, 2018.

Henry Street townhouses, across from Hunts Lane, June 26, 1961.

Letters on the facade of this low brick structure spell out "High-Pressure Fire Service: Main Pumping Station." This building was constructed in 1902 as part of New York's High-Pressure Fire Service. At this time, fire hydrants were either high or low pressure. Low-pressure pumps could churn out water at 30 pounds of pressure, though larger flames required a more powerful system. These hydrants called, "H.P. hydrants" were fed by pumping stations like these, and could unleash up to 125 pounds of pressure. When a call for a fire came in that would require the H.P. system, the fire alarm headquarters would notify both the pumping station, who would turn on the pumps to feed nearby hydrants and firehouses. In the firehouse, a gong would signify the use of H.P. hydrants. If a fire needed H.P. hydrants mid-fight, the chief officer would be able to "either radio in a request or send it...by Morse code from the firebox on the scene," according to George Robinson in the F.Y.I. column of the New York Times. Once the engineer in charge of the station was signaled to turn on the pumps, high-pressure water would be fed to the hydrants in roughly one minute. As technology progressed and pumper trucks were invented, these stations were put out of use. The High-Pressure Fire Service became obsolete by 1954. The facility has since been converted into a series of luxury condos called "Pumphouse Mews," a fitting name for the former station.

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View west at the intersection of Montague Street and Clinton Street during construction of the BMT Fourth Avenue Subway Line, October 29, 1914. Minard Lafever's 1848 Holy Trinity Church (now Church of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity) is seen at right. The Montague Street Trolley line tracks are visible at center. The building at left is 166 Montague Street. Called the Franklin Trust Tower, after its original banking institution occupant, the 1891 building was converted to condos in 2008.

The former Second Unitarian Church of Brooklyn, 1934. Affectionately known as the “Church of the Holy Turtle” for its squat cruciform footprint and low, green roof, the church was built in 1858 on land leased from the Catholic Church. Its founding minister included the abolitionist Reverend Samuel Longfellow, brother of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The church’s final service was held in December 1924; it was later rented to various tenants. In 1962 — three years before the establishment of the Landmarks Preservation Commission — the church was razed ahead of a planned supermarket development. That plan was defeated by the Cobble Hill Association, who successfully petitioned for the creation of Cobble Hill Park, dedicated in July 1965.

The forty foot-wide Gothic Revival house at 223 Congress Street, 1960. Built in 1849 for use by St. Paul’s Roman Catholic Church and the Free School for Boys, it was leased to Reverend John Hughes, Bishop of New York, until at least 1870. Originally two stories with a high basement, the third floor and mansard roof were added later in the 19th century. Subsequent changes to the top-floor dormer windows provoked an uncharacteristic rebuke in the 1969 Historic District Preservation report: “It is for alterations such as these that the Commission could aid owners in achieving a distinguished result!”

130 Court Street, designed by McKenzie, Voorhees & Gmelin, 1922; addition: Charles A. Holmes, 1936 This formidable civic building stands on the site of the formerly sizeable Cobble Hill or “Cobleshill,” as it was known in the late 18th century. Before this steep hill was flattened in the mid-19th century, it was the location of the Cobble Hill Fort, from which it is believed that General George Washington oversaw the Battle of Brooklyn in 1776 (a plaque on the building commemorates this). During the War of 1812, the fort was reestablished as Fort Swift, named after General Joseph G. Swift. The Renaissance Revival style building resembles a Florentine palace, with its heavily rusticated façades, large arched windows and distinctive cornice held up by sculpted eagle brackets. It was originally home to the South Brooklyn Savings Institution, which formerly operated from 160 Atlantic Avenue at the corner of Clinton Street. The building now houses a grocery store, and is located in the Cobble Hill Historic District.

Packer Collegiate Institute ca. 1922 The Packer Collegiate Institute was established as the Brooklyn Female Academy on Joralemon Street in 1845. It was formed by a committee of local citizens who were interested in the education of young women. The school’s first president was Dr. Alonzo Crittenden, who presided over a student body of 350 girls from 19 states. Between the 1800s and 1850s, there was a profound transformation in female education in the United States, and a number of specialized secondary schools for young women, referred to as academies or seminaries, were founded. The school burned down on New Years’ Day, 1853, and reopened in 1854 with the assistance of a generous $65,000 gift—the largest donation to aid American secondary education at the time—from Mrs. Harriet Packer, widow of William Packer, and former trustee of the Brooklyn Female Academy. One condition of Packer’s donation was her request for the dissolution of the Brooklyn Female Academy Corporation, which was to be replaced by what is today’s Packer Collegiate Institute. Prominent Brooklyn architect Minard LaFever designed the Gothic Revival building, presently known as Founders Hall.

Long Island College Hospital, ca. 1908. Founded in 1858, LICH was a pioneering institution in many regards: the first medical school to employ bedside teaching (1860), Brooklyn’s first ambulance service (1873), and the first medical school to use cadavers in its anatomy curriculum (1875).

Atlantic Avenue at the intersection of Court Street, facing west along Atlantic, 1944.

Gross Studio, located on Atlantic Avenue. People are visible in the door and window of the building, possible the proprietors of the studio. By the mid 19th century Americans (and Brooklynites) were enthralled with the new technology of photography. The Gross Brothers Photography Studio was open as early as 1850 and provided the neighborhood citizens with cartes-de-visite, stereoscopes, ambrotypes and tintypes, all exciting new features of commerical photography.

214 Hicks, June 17, 1974.

Amity Street, between Court and Clinton Streets, February 12, 1960. The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 1969 Designation Report for Cobble Hill describes No. 179 (center-right, with mansard roof) as “an unusually interesting example of the French Second Empire style as modified by Neo-Grec decorative motifs,” noting it’s prominent triangular pediments, mansard roof, and ironwork. The townhouse was built in the early 1870s for John Shuster, the owner of “a successful marble works."

Three Neo-Grec townhouses on Amity Street, February 28, 1960. These townhouses, Nos. 129-133 Amity Street, were originally part of a row of ten built between 1875-81.

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Clinton Street, south from Livingston Street in Brooklyn Heights. August 5, 1934. The steps at bottom left lead to St. Ann’s Church, now part of the Packer Collegiate Institute. The building visible across Livingston Street (farthest left) is No. 133 Clinton Street, formerly the clubhouse of the Brooklyn Excelsiors, the early baseball club whose descendants would become the Brooklyn Dodgers. The Excelsiors were founded as a team of the “Jolly Young Bachelors” fraternal organization and are credited with expanding the sport’s popularity via recreational games during the Civil War.

Franklin Trust Building ca. This perfect little Romanesque skyscraper, complete with tile roofs and dormers, represented the epitome of style and success when it was built in the 1880s. It was made possible by the elevator; and, in its verticality of expression, it was a direct forerunner of the Commercial Gothic skyscraper. The tower of the Holy Trinity Church (now Saint Ann's), at the right, frames this view.

Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, 1922.

Eastward view of the intersection of Court and Schermerhorn Streets, October 12, 1928. The storefronts at center-left are Nos. 97 an 99 Court Street. The descending stairway on the Schermerhorn side of the building marks the location of a contemporary entrance to the New York Transit Museum, itself housed in the then-unbuilt Court Street subway station . The station opened in 1936 as the terminus for westbound local trains on the IND Fulton Line (Manhattan-bound express trains split from the local route at Hoyt-Schermerhorn). At extreme right, the facade of Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral, founded 1913.

"Henry Street, north from Kane Street (formerly Harrison Street). In the right foreground is Public School No. 29; in the left center, at Warren Street, St. Peter's Hospital."

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Vol. 5. Plate, E. \[Map bound by Pierrepont St., Fulton St., Court St., Atlantic Ave., East River; Including Montague St., Remsen St., Grace Court, Joralemon St., Livingston St., Schermerhorn St., State St., Furman St., Pierrepont Ter., Montague Ter., Columbia Pl., Willow Pl., Hicks St., Garden St., Henry St., Sidney St.], 1880.

Improvised pool Caption: "Improvised pool--These city kids can't cool off by plunging into the old swimming hole, so they've made their own swimming pool out of a tank used by builders in construction work. Bobbie Perkins of 183 Congress St. sprays hose on pals, Jackie Kennedy, 3 1/2, of 175 Congress St., and Jackie's brother, Jimmy, 5;" another boy is sitting in background; portion of front steps and railing in right background.

Shops on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, May 18, 1959.

Nos. 2-8 Willow Place, ca. 1975. 2, 4, 6 and 8 Willow Place are a group of four residential brick buildings located in what is known as the "Willowtown" section of Brooklyn Heights. The area is bounded by Joralemon Street and Atlantic Avenue at its north and south, and Furman and Hicks Streets at its east and west. As seen in the picture, the buildings look like they might have original fences and railings. Note the metal panels that unite the second and third floors. These are known as “Davisean” windows: multistoried, recessed and paneled at floor levels. Named after the architect Alexander Jackson Davis, who made good use of them, they are popular in Willowtown and have the effect of making buildings appear much taller than they actually are.

Home Made Delicatessen at the corner of Court and Warren Streets, 1958. No. 210 is part of a set of Greek Revival rowhouses built between 1845-47, notable for its distinctive twin chimneys. The houses were built for John Greacen Jr., whose father John Greacen had purchased a block-and-a-half parcel of land on Warren Street (then John Street), west of Court Street (then Red Hook Lane) in 1832.

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Church of St. Ann & the Holy Trinity, July 10, 1958. The Church of the Holy Trinity (as it was first known) is one of the masterpieces of Gothic Revival style in 19th century American ecclesiastical architecture. Minard Lafever's elaborate interior features a soaring nave with wood-frame plaster vaults, and more than 7,000 square feet of stained glass by William Jay Bolton. Today, Bolton’s organ loft window is on permanent exhibition in the American Wing of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Lafever was commissioned by Edgar Bartow, a wealthy merchant who wanted to build the finest church in either Brooklyn or New York City. Bartow purchased eight lots from Hezekiah Pierrepont at the highest point of Brooklyn Heights. Construction began in 1847; when the church opened in 1848, it was the largest structure in Brooklyn. When the tower and spire were finished in 1867, it was, at 295 feet, the tallest building in either Brooklyn or Manhattan, beating Wall Street’s Trinity Church by 15 feet. The spire was taken down in 1906 due to structural instability. The Church of the Holy Trinity was the scene of a bitter McCarthy-era struggle. Rector John Melish and his son, Assistant Rector Howard Melish, were political progressives advocating for civil rights and for peaceful co-existence between the United States and the Soviet Union. Howard Melish chaired the National Council of American-Soviet Friendship, a target of Senator Joseph P. McCarthy's anti-Communist campaign. In 1949, the Church Vestry tried to oust the Melishes, whereupon the congregation voted 261 to 27 to remove the Vestry, which then sued to enjoin the congregation. In 1957, after a decade of struggle, the Episcopal Diocese of Long Island closed the church. The church stood vacant until 1969 when St. Ann’s parish, the oldest Episcopal congregation in Brooklyn, decided to relocate into the building from its church on nearby Livingston Street. In honor of the building’s origin, the parish took the new name, St. Ann & the Holy Trinity. In the intervening decade since its closure, the church had deteriorated severely. To assist in addressing the grave disrepair, the nonprofit St. Ann’s Center for Restoration and the Arts was established in 1983. During its residency at the church, it was instrumental in, among other things, stabilizing and/or restoring portions of the exterior, the facade, nave roof, and, notably, a majority of the Bolton stained glass windows, even as it successfully established its own performing arts program. Relocated to DUMBO in 2000, it is now known as St. Ann’s Warehouse.

The Spencer Memorial Presbyterian Church was founded in 1838 and has a history of radical and controversial pastors, most notably William Glenesk who took over pastoral duties in 1955. He was outspoken on topics such as homosexuality and drug use, including telling his congregation in one sermon that the hallucinatory drug LSD contained properties that “contribute to the creation and glory of God.” He created a hospitable space for the LGBTQ community, hosting discussions and events, as well as providing a meeting space for LGBTQ organizations, such as the Gay Alliance of Brooklyn (GAB), a civil rights advocacy group. During his tenure, Pastor Glensk included artists and performers in his services. At this time, Brooklyn Heights was an artistic neighborhood with a number of well-known LGBTQ residents, including Truman Capote, Carson McCullers, Benjamin Britten, and others. The church closed in the mid-1970s was plagued “with grave financial difficulties” and had not been able to “maintain sufficient congregation.”

58 Remsen Street, 1922. William G. Low was the step-brother of Brooklyn and later New York City mayor, Seth Low. William was a wealthy member of nearby Grace Church who funded a reading room and library for the community at 62 Joralemon Street. His more well-known residence was the William G. Low House in Bristol, Rhode Island. The Shingle style home, designed by McKim, Mead & White in 1888-1887, became an icon of that American architectural design. It was demolished in 1962, though documented in great detail by the Historic American Buildings Survey just before it was razed.

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You can create posts on any image on the platform. Posts appear under their associated photos in Urban Archive. The first post that is written about a location is automatically pinned to the location page. On any post you write, your organization’s name will be added to the bottom of the post to ensure proper accreditation. You can create a post by going to any image and clicking the “🖋️ Create a new Post” button. Similarly, you can edit a post by clicking “Published” to reveal the “Edit” option.

It's time to get old school with these noteworthy temples to education. Brooklyn's schools are impressive and fascinating for many reasons. They are home to famous alumni; are housed in architecturally stunning buildings; act as incubators of resistance against racism and discrimination; and are consistently pioneering innovative approaches to education. Most importantly, they teach civic engagement and provide opportunities for academic and economic empowerment to Brooklyn's children and young adults. Read on and get schooled.

1890s apartment building at the corner of Clinton and Pacific Streets, 1960. According to the Cobble Hill Historic District Designation Report, the building is typical of the transitional architectural styles of the area, featuring a rusticated Romanesque Revival ground floor and sheetmetal bay windows.

St. Paul’s Convent, 1960. Built in the 1840s for the wife of Captain Isaac Brewer 👨‍✈️, a wealthy ship captain, 235 Clinton later became the home of the Convent for the Sisters of Charity of St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church. The Sisters left in 1978, but the stained glass windows remain.

St. Ann & the Holy Trinity was built as The Church of the Holy Trinity by Brooklyn paper manufacturer Edgar Bartow, who wanted a magnificent edifice for the City of Brooklyn with pews that were rent-free.

Entrance the No. 166 Montague Street, the former Franklin Trust Company building, June 11, 1915. Today, a entrance stairway to the Court Street station of the BMT Fourth Avenue line begins at the spot of the "Offices to Let" sign.

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122 and 124 Montague Street, 1958. No. 124 (at the corner) was a new building in 1930. The simple Art Deco style structure replaced an earlier building that was occupied by a dentist for a few decades in the late 19th century. The building was constructed for the Steinmont Realty Corporation and one of its first second floor tenants was the insurance firm of Kearns and Edlund. This insurance underwriting firm was one of a few located in the immeidate neighborhood, which the New York Times described in 1930 as the "insurance centre of Brooklyn."

Brooklyn V. 2, Double Page Plate No. 31 \[Map bounded by Clark St., Hicks St., Joralemon St., East River], 1887.

Joralemon Street, west from Hicks Street, towards the East River, 1926.

The Graydon Apartments, Montague Street, August 4, 1915.

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Underwater Tunneling, the third type of construction, occurs underneath the river. This photo shows construction of the Joralemon Street tunnel. Subway water tunnels are built approximately 30 feet below the riverbed. Because of the immense pressure exerted by 30 feet of rock, sand, and silt, plus 50 feet of water, such tunnels were in danger of collapsing. To counteract this force, tunnels underwater were pumped full of pressurized air, which pressed out against the walls of the tunnel and kept it in place. However, this pressurized air made for difficult working conditions for sandhogs. When working in pressurized air, workers were in danger of developing decompression sickness, similar to what divers might experience. Because of this, workers could only spend three hours under water before needing to spend several hours above ground. Before exiting or entering the tunnel, sandhogs would adjust to the pressurized air in a decompression chamber, also called an air-lock or a man-lock.

Roman Catholic Church of Our Lady of Lebanon and St. Mary's Catholic School, Hicks Street, August, 1935. Our Lady of Lebanon was incorporated in February, 1903, in the townhouse at No. 295 Hicks Street. As the parish grew, the converted brownstone could no longer accommodate worshippers and a new church was built on the adjacent lot. In 1944, the Maronite church moved into the former Church of the Pilgrims, a Richard Upjohn-designed church on Remsen and Henry Streets.

The building was torn down in 1942, the event recorded in a photograph in the New York Public Library’s collection. Today, Key Food occupies the site of the Athenaeum.