Though converted to the Brooklyn Borough Hall upon the consolidation of New York City and Brooklyn in 1898, the Brooklyn Borough Hall first opened as the city hall of Brooklyn in 1848. The plans were set in motion in 1835 after the city received its charter, however it took some time for the actual building to materialize. The architect Calvin Pollard won the design competition for a Greek Revival building on the site, but though construction began in 1836, it was stalled by the panic of 1837. Thus it was only in 1845, after a bond issue was approved by New York State, that Gamaliel King, another Brooklyn architect, was called upon to finish the building. King provided a simplified version of Pollard's design to be built on the hall's foundation. It is this version (following a couple of renovations) that stands today.

Brooklyn Savings Bank This bank commands immediate attention with its skillful massing, beautiful fenestration, and imposing entrance door. When we enter this rectangular building, the large oval banking room comes as a complete surprise, but it is functionally effective and is ingeniously reconciled to its rectilinear enclosure. Frank Freeman, champion of the Romanesque Revival, was the architect. It was built in 1893, the year of the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Andrew Menard's 1988 sculpture, titled "With or Without Reason" inverses the relationship between a sculpted figure and its pedestal. Acting as a quotation of nearby sculptures in Central Park, the work consists of three amorphic figures balancing atop identical poles. The figures and their pedestals, made of epoxy resin and styrofoam, were meant to gradually yellow with exposure to the sun. Their truncated limbs and unsteady stances provide a contrast to their stable compatriots in the park. Andrew Menard's sculpture was on view from May 1st, 1988 until April 1st, 1990. It was funded by the Public Art Fund.

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

Luncheonette and liquor store at the intersection of Cadman Plaza West (Fulton Street), Clinton and Tillary Streets; January 17, 1959. This site would become the Brooklyn Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, following the demolition of the original Montague Street branch. The new library opened in 1962, but has recently shuttered in advance of the construction of a residential skyscraper. The Hotel Touraine, also demolished, is visible at right.

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

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.

Brooklyn Savings Bank, April 26, 1961. This temple of finance replaced an actual temple when the reluctant congregation of the First Baptist Church was tempted by the Brooklyn Savings Bank's offer of $200,000 to buy its church. Designed by architect Frank Freeman (who also designed the Crescent Athletic Club, now St Ann's School, directly across Clinton Street) and described as "of classic design with modern Italian Renaissance embellishments," the bank featured the largest main banking room in Brooklyn, a huge 75 foot high domed space supported by columns of Numidian marble with clerestory windows lighting walls paneled in onyx. Completed in 1894, the bank operated for 70 years before it met the wrecking ball in 1964. Two years later, Brooklyn Heights became New York City's first Historic District, a designation which likely would have afforded the building protection for its contribution to the neighborhood’s historic character.

Luncheonette at the northeast corner of Jay and Johnson Streets, July 19, 1959.

Built in 1906 and designed by architect Frank Freeman for the Crescent Athletic Club. The Crescent Club was founded in 1884 by Brooklyn Yale alumni who wanted to form a football team. This building was Crescent's city clubhouse and included a swimming pool, bowling alleys, squash courts, gymnasium, formal dining room, library and bed rooms. (Crescent also had a large country clubhouse with extensive grounds in Bay Ridge; a tennis tournament started there became the Davis Cup, still held today.) The Crescent Club hit hard times during the Depression and went bankrupt in 1939. The building became offices, and the basement bowling alley operated commercially in the 1950s as the Crescent Bowling Lanes Bar and Grill. In the mid-1960's, St Ann's School moved into the building from its original home in the undercroft of St Ann's Church on Clinton and Livingston Streets. The school initially leased a small portion of the building gradually taking over all of it as well as numerous other buildings in Brooklyn Heights. A christmas wreath over the main entrance memorializes a fire fighter who died on December 1, 1984 fighting a fire that broke out in the school library. Each year at dusk on December 1st, the firefighters from Engine Company 205 on Middagh Street place a new wreath which remains all year.

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.

Bonfire on Fulton Street, underneath the elevated train, melts piles of snow that has been cleared after the blizzard, as horse-drawn carriage travels past, 1888. Did you know that Brooklyn used to burn its snow piles? In March of 1888 after a massive snowstorm that devastated New York, Brooklyn piled snow here under the elevated train on Fulton Street and set a bonfire that melted the snow. The address here was originally 303 Fulton and it was the original location of the well-known restaurant Gage and Tollner, but by 1888, it was the John W. Smith shoe store.

Main Post Office After the Civil War, the federal government attempted to establish a new high standard of architecture in its buildings. The work was done by the Supervising Architect under the Treasury Department. This post office was built when Mifflin E. Bell was Supervising Architect; it represents a curious combination of French Renaissance and Romanesque Revival forms, to which are added certain German Renaissance details.

View north along the east side of Bridge street from the top of contractor's platform at Willoughby Street, May 28, 1923. Less than five years after this photograph was taken during the construction of the BMT Broadway line, this entire block looked drastically different. Between 1929 and1930 the New York Telephone Company constructed their Long Island headquarters here at the northeast corner of Bridge and Willoughby Streets. The 27-story Art Deco building was designed by Ralph Walker (the architect of number telecommunications buildings in New York). In 2008 the first apartments of a condo conversion came on the market for $1 million.

Brooklyn Trust Company Building ARCHITECT: York & Sawyer DATE: 1913-16 STYLE: Roman & Italian Renaissance The Brooklyn Trust Company building, designed by the prominent firm of York & Sawyer, was constructed in 1913-16 in a style modeled after the palazzi of the sixteenth-century Italian High Renaissance. The building and interior, gracefully adapted to the imagery and functions of American banking in the early twentieth century, continues to project an image of tradition, stability, and security. The Brooklyn Trust Company played an important historic role in Brooklyn, from its founding during the aftermath of the Civil War until its consolidation with larger banks beginning in the mid-twentieth century. The banking hall of the Brooklyn Trust Company building is designed based on Academic Classic principles and is clearly indebted to the architecture of the Italian High Renaissance. The vaulted banking hall is seven bays in length, and the monochrome walls revetted with burnished yellow-beige marble harmonize with the polychromy of the elaborately coffered ceiling and the intricate marble mosaic floor. Fine materials and craftsmanship abound.

Exploring foodways in Brooklyn, historic and contemporary, offers up a unique cross-section of considerations around why we eat what we eat, where it comes from, and what that means. What Brooklyn consumes is defined by its plurality and variety. The borough’s access to waterfront shipping ports and proximity to upstate farmlands adds an additional layer to the near-endless number of restaurants, bodegas, grocery stores, delivery options, food trucks, farm stands, and home-cooked meals we enjoy today. Looking back over Brooklyn's peak industrial period in the 19th and 20th centuries, we can also see how businesses such as sugar refineries, breweries, and poultry farms shaped the social and cultural landscape⁠—and indeed, the landscape itself⁠—of Kings County.

Civic Center Book Shop, No. 162 Pierrepont Street, ca. 1958.

National Title Guaranty Company Building ARCHITECT: Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray DATE: 1929-30 STYLE: Art Deco The limestone and brick National Title Guaranty Company Building is notable for its strong massing and unusual details. The 16-story Art Deco style building was designed in 1929-30 by Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, led by senior partner Harvey Wiley Corbett, a major proponent of the skyscraper as a modern urban form. Interspersed among the buttresses is a pierced limestone screen designed by the noted sculptor Rene Chambellan, which features stylized eagles, helmeted warriors and other elements. The building is a notable example of Art Deco commercial architecture, particularly with its strong vertical expression and unusual details.

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).

Sidewalk and Fulton Street El outside 391-393 Fulton Street, the Empire State Surety Company, opposite Borough Hall, September 19, 1915.

View from the entrance to the Long Island Historical Society (now the Brooklyn Historical Society), 1959. At left is the First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn, founded in 1833. The Gothic Revival church was designed by Minard Lafever and dedicated in 1844. At right is a Western Union storefront in the former Crescent Athletic Club building. Even in this partial view, distinctive features of Frank Freeman’s Classical Revival design are visible: its double-height rusticated limestone base and the balustraded balcony above the ground floor storefront window. Since 1966, the building has been home to the St. Ann’s School.

Entrance to the New York Telephone Company Building, ca. 1995.

With the proposed merger of Brooklyn Historical with the Brooklyn Public Library, a look back at the Brooklyn Historical Society's august past.

First Unitarian Congregational Society, ca. 1961. This Gothic Revival Church was designed by architect Minard Lafever and completed in 1844, for the City of Brooklyn's first Unitarian congregation, formed eleven years prior.

Joe’s Restaurant, Fulton Street, April 4, 1958. Joe’s Restaurant opened on Fulton Street in 1909 as the second branch of a popular Coney Island restaurant owned by Joseph Balzarini and Joseph Sartori, both Italian immigrants (the former via Argentina). The duo would open a third location on Nevins Street. The Fulton Street Joe’s, which featured a large dining room and extensive menu, quickly became a favorite haunt of Brooklyn’s power brokers — both official and under-the-table — due to its proximity to the borough’s civic center. Ironically, this advantageous location would lead to its demise: the restaurant was shuttered in late 1958 and subsequently razed as part of the development of Cadman Plaza and an expanded civic center.

Plate 15: Map bounded by Pineapple Street, Fulton Avenue, Concord Street, Adams Street, Willoughby Street, Court Street, Montague Street, Henry Street, 1855.

Northwest corner of Jay and Willoughby streets, May 2, 1916. This survey photograph was taken during construction of the BMT Broadway line. The corner wood-frame building is a (highly advertised) coupon and trading stamp store.The wood-frame buildings on this corner survived into the 1930s. They were razed and in 1947 the modernist headquarters for the Board of Transportation was erected here, with the address 370 Jay Street.

L. Sisskind Co. Glass and Glazing, 310 Bridge Street, July 26, 1959.

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.

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.

Former Bridge Street African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church, 1959. The Bridge Street African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church is the oldest African American congregation in the Brooklyn and Long Island area. Its origins date to 1766 and the open air Brooklyn sermons of Methodist convert Thomas Webb. The congregation became the Sands Street Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church and later the First Methodist Episcopal Church of Brooklyn, both mixed race communities. In 1817 the African American members withdrew from the community and went about establishing their own congregation called the African Wesleyan Methodist Episcopal Church (AWME), which first built a church near High and Jay Streets. In 1854 the growing AWME Church purchased a building previously occupied by the First Congregational Church at 309 Bridge Street. The church building they moved into was Greek Revival structure constructed between 1844 and 1847. The red brick church has wooden columns and entablature (the top decorative feature of a column). The Bridge Street church moved in 1938 to 277 Stuyvesant Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant, into the former home of the Grace Presbyterian Church, where it remains today. The red brick church on Bridge Street (now no. 311) is today the Wunsch Building of NYU’s Polytechnic Institute. The more than 150-year-old church is the admissions office and hosts social, cultural, and academic events.

Mid-December up until Christmas is the Post Office's busiest time of the year. See what the holiday season looked like at Downtown Brooklyn's U.S. Post Office in 1950!

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.

Fulton Street El, north of Johnson Street, December 7, 1915. In the distance, the Clark—Tillary Streets elevated station is visible.

This bloodied man is a product of a melee that disrupted the normally calm streets of Brooklyn Heights. In 1947, the workers of the Brooklyn Trust Company went on strike to secure a pay raise and other demands from the bank. 300 picketers gathered around the main branch of Brooklyn Trust and began to surround the building. They allowed non-striking workers to enter without harassment, but four patrolmen attempted to prevent the picketing. The melee that ensued left a number of picketers bloody and injured and three union members were arrested. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle recorded the bank president's response, who claimed that "not a single employee of the bank" was on the picket line and that strike was "Communist-inspired" and that the "untrue union statements followed a communistic pattern." At the time, the New York Times described it as the first walkout against a major US bank. The strike would end later that year with a negotiated settlement with the bank that increased wages.

Brooklyn Borough Hall The Greek Revival usually found its best expression in public buildings, as is the case here. At an earlier date, a low Federal-style building was proposed to fill the outer perimeter of the entire triangular block; but that plan was abandoned in favor of this higher, more compact building, now dwarfed by an array of surrounding giants.

John D. Morrell was a photographer who shot thousands of documentary photographs across Brooklyn between 1957-1974. Take a quick walk along Montague Street with Morrell from Cadman Plaza to the Promenade:

Gage & Tollner Restaurant ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: mid-1870s STYLE: Italianate The restaurant Gage & Tollner had its beginnings in 1879 when Charles M. Gage opened an eating establishment at 302 Fulton Street. In 1880, Eugene Toller joined Gage and the restaurant was renamed. It moved to 372-372 Fulton Street in 1892. When Gage and Tollner retired in 1911, they sold the business with the proviso that the new owners maintain the customs established by the founders. The unusually high, neo-Grec painted wooden storefront that adorns this Italianate building was probably added when the restaurant opened. The interior projects the atmosphere of the Gay Nineties. The paneled bar was transferred from the old restaurant at 302 Fulton Street. The restaurant used both gas and electricity for illumination, and it was possibly the only restaurant in New York to do so at the time of its closing.

Abandoned buildings on the north side of Johnson Street, between Jay and Lawrence Streets, July 19, 1959. No. 97 is the tallest, at center.

135 Johnson Street, 1931. Edward Weck & Co. was a cutlery manufacturer established in Brooklyn in 1890. Weck was a German immigrant who, according to evidence, was raised in a city known for its production of straight razors. Early on the company manufactured pocket knives, kitchen knives, and scissors, though they were best known for an early shavette-type razor called the Weck Sextoblade. They sold the products out of storefronts in Manhattan and Brooklyn, the equipment (which later included surgical instruments) was manufactured at this seven story building in Downtown Brooklyn. The company moved to Long Island City in late 1950s or early 1960s, and the building was demolished during the construction of MetroTech.

The Long Island Historical Society, ca. 1915. Today known as the Brooklyn Historical Society, the organization was founded in 1863 and moved into its present location in 1881. When construction started in 1878, it was part of Brooklyn’s cultural district, alongside the nearby Brooklyn Academy of Music, Brooklyn Art Association and Mercantile Library (all since demolished or relocated). The Historical Society held a design competition which received entries from the top architects of the era, with George Post’s design declared the winner. The building’s most distinctive feature is the extensive terra-cotta ornamentation designed by Truman Barlett. Also notable are the eight spandrel busts by Olin Levi Warner, an acclaimed American sculptor known for the bronze doors of the Library of Congress and medallion portraits of native American chiefs held by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The busts on the Historical Society are Warner’s only public work in New York City. Six of the busts are located in the spandrels between the second-story window arches. The Clinton Street busts include Shakespeare, Johannes Gutenberg, Beethoven and Michelangelo; on Pierrepont Street are Columbus and Benjamin Franklin. Two more busts are on either side of the main entrance: a Viking, symbolizing a sea-faring people, and a Native American, symbolizing the continuity of indigenous cultures. Inside the building on the second-floor, the landmark Othmer Library holds the Society’s treasures such as an original signed copy of the Emancipation Proclamation and the papers of the abolitionist preacher Henry Ward Beecher.

The Brooklyn Supreme Court House, pictured here, was inaugurated on February 28th, 1865. It was the ninth courthouse to open in Brooklyn. Around ten thousand eager Brooklynites attended the building's opening, a long-awaited affair: reportedly, the cornerstone of the courthouse was laid before the start of the Civil War in 1861. The Times reported that upon opening, the building was "brilliantly illuminated, and with flags on the pediments front and rear, present\[ing] a fine appearance." It was completed "at staggering odds," costing a total of $618,000, a hefty sum which is equivalent to around $10 million today. The courthouse was located on Joralemon Street, spanning the block from Fulton to Livingston Street and occupying a lot 350 deep and 140 feet wide, complete with a courtyard facing Joralemon. The three-story structure was built in the Greek Revival Style with Westchester County marble and brick facades. Inside, visitors were welcomed by an enormous dome which stretched 52 feet in diameter and soared 95 feet in height, topped by a glass oculus measuring 17-feet across. Sixteen 28-foot tall iron columns traced the circumference of the rotunda, as did a balcony that housed offices flanking the sides of the dome. Elaborate fresco work, the marble-floored corridors, and iron staircase in the center area of the structure gave a feeling of artistry to the building's interior. The corridors were topped by groin-vault arches and led to the various courts the building housed on the first and second floors. The third floor was used by the janitor and maintenance staff. In the basement, there were six cells for prisoners awaiting trial upstairs and the heating machines for the building. This equipment was part of the effort to keep the building "well warmed, well lighted, and ventilated," qualities which marked the Supreme Court a truly advanced structure for its time. Additionally, the Times reported that "all the different departments are provided with dressing-rooms...in fact, every one thing is arranged in the best manner possible." By 1895, the courthouse fell out of use as Brooklyn's Supreme Court when the remainder of King's County was annexed by the city of Brooklyn. One year later, the courthouse was "redecorated" for use by the Appellate Division, Second Department. The court's opening case made history, not for the content of the case but for the fact that it was the first instance that Supreme Court judges wore their ceremonial gowns on the bench. The New York Journal of Law claimed this "a deliberate conviction that a certain amount of ceremony and symbolism…constantly reminding the Bench and Bar alike of the obligation of conscientious and decorous official conduct." The Appellate Division, Second Department moved to Brooklyn Borough Hall in 1903. The former courthouse was demolished in October of 1961.

High Street and Cadman Plaza, undated (after 1935). This photo by Federal Art Project photographer David Robbins was taken from underneath the platform of the Sands Street BMT station. Sands Street was a two-level station with multiple platforms handling train traffic to and from Park Row, via the Brooklyn Bridge and the BMT Fulton Street, Myrtle Avenue, Fifth Avenue, and Lexington Avenue lines (and other discontinued lines sharing the same elevated tracks). The station was closed in March, 1944 and demolished shortly thereafter as part of the city’s redevelopment of Cadman Plaza. Widespread subway service in Brooklyn had made continued elevated train service superfluous, while the construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway required the constriction of exit ramps for connecting Brooklyn Bridge traffic.

Jay Street between Johnson and Tillary Streets, July 19, 1959. No. 285 Jay Street (center, with three stone arches on the ground floor) housed a veterinary practice where, in 1901, a veterinary surgereon was fined $250 dollars for cruelty to animals.

Brooklyn Press Printing at No. 59 Lawrence Street, July 19, 1959.

Brooklyn approach to the Manhattan Bridge, The original Brooklyn approach to the Manhattan Bridge included two massive sculptures designed by Daniel Chester French. The 12 foot tall female figures symbolized the supposed attributes of the boroughs the bridge touched. Manhattan is prideful and powerful over money and world affairs, while Brooklyn is more artistic and education focused. The statues were removed in the 1960s, victims of Robert Moses vision. They now flank the entrance to the Brooklyn Museum. In December 2016, the city installed rotating, light-up replicas of the two ladies at Flatbush Avenue and Tillary Street. Otis Pearsall, a Brooklyn Heights preservationist was quoted as saying “This may prove to just be one of those stupid things or it could be kind of exciting, fun, and entertaining for the community — I’m hoping it’s the latter."

West side of Bridge Street between Myrtle Avenue and Johnson Street, October 4, 1959. No 304 is third from left.

Montague Street Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, October 7, 1958. The Montague Street Branch opened in 1869 as the Brooklyn Mercantile Library Association of the City of Brooklyn, a consolidation of the resources of the Brooklyn Athenaeum and Mercantile Library on Atlantic Avenue. It became a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library system in 1903. The branch was demolished in 1962, just three years shy of Brooklyn Heights’ designation as the city’s first Historic District.

The MetroTech Center is a large business and industrial hub in Downtown Brooklyn. Construction began in 1992, leading to the demolition of more than 100 houses and 50 businesses. Here, you can see what the streets looked like before MetroTech.

Eastward view of Willoughby Street, at Jay Street, March 16, 1915. In the distance, the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument is visible in Fort Greene Park. The Beaux-Arts building at center-left is the New York and New Jersey Telephone and Telegraph Building, at the northeast corner of Lawrence Street.

Founded in 1841 by Isaac Van Anden and Henry Cruse Murphy, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle was published as a daily newspaper for 114 consecutive years without missing a single edition. The newspaper, originally conceived as a temporary political forum for the 1842 election, ironically lived the longest and absorbed all other Brooklyn daily papers except the Brooklyn Citizen.

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.

The Crescent Athletic Club building (center-left, with domed roof), January 17, 1959. The Club, founded in 1884 and considered Brooklyn's premiere athletic club, moved into its domed Clinton Street headquarters in 1895, as membership surged. Such was the club's turn-of-the-century growth, that a new, larger headquarters was mooted as soon as 1902. In 1906, the new clubhouse was completed just a stone's throw away: the Frank Freeman-designed 129 Pierrepont Street, today part of the Saint Ann's School. The original building, like many structures on Clinton Street, was razed in the early 1960s.

St. James Cathedral ca. 1936 In 1822, the small but growing Catholic community in Brooklyn sought a church, a pastor, and a burying ground of its own. On July 25, 1822, the cornerstone for the first Long Island Catholic church, St. James, was laid at Chapel and Jay Streets; the new building was consecrated a year later. A cemetery and a school soon followed. Under New York State law in effect through the 1830s, parish property was owned by an elected lay board of trustees. Lay trustees bought property, built the churches, schools, and related structures, and controlled the daily operations of the parishes.

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.

353-355 Fulton Street, April 12, 1916.

Fulton Street, near Boerum Place, ca. 1950. Passengers are boarding the first of two new buses for Brooklyn. These buses replaced the Putnam Avenue Line streetcars on February 5, 1950. The Putnam Avenue Line began as a horsecar route in 1874 and became an electric trolley line in 1893. The streetcars were replaced briefly with buses in 1941 only to be returned to trolley service a year later in 1942, in an effort to save rubber, gas, and oil during the Second World War. In 1950, the B26 buses permanently replaced the trolleys. Visible across the street is the Tivoli Theater; the marquee reads "Betty Hutton & Fred Astaire 'Let's Dance' & 'Dark City'." All of the buildings in this view would be demolished in the next ten years for the Brooklyn Civic Center Project.

Brooklyn Fire Headquarters ca. 1945 In 1892, the Brooklyn Fire Department opened its headquarters at 365-67 Jay Street, located between Myrtle Avenue and Willoughby Street in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights. The building was designed by renowned Richardsonian Romanesque Style (and later, Neoclassical) architect Frank Freeman, also known for such brilliant works as the Herman Behr Mansion in Brooklyn Heights, and the Eagle Warehouse in the DUMBO neighborhood of Brooklyn. Six years after it’s opening, the Brooklyn Fire Department would be no more due to the consolidation of all five boroughs into the City of Greater New York on January 1, 1898. No longer being an independent city requiring its own fire department headquarters, Brooklyn’s 365-67 Jay Street station was absorbed into the newly incorporated Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY). In 1941, the boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens had a total of 89 engine companies who employed 2,089 workers, with an average of thirteen fires daily. The Rescue 2 unit of the FDNY occupied the building on Jay Street in 1929 where they remained until 1946. The building continued to function as a working firehouse until the 1970s, when it was leased out to Brooklyn Polytechnic University for classroom space amidst severe state budgetary cuts in education at the time. 365-67 Jay Street was designated for landmark status in 1966 by the recently formed Landmark Preservation Commission of NYC and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1987, the firehouse was converted into affordable housing apartments for local residents who were being displaced by construction for the newly-developed MetroTech Center, a sixteen-acre academic and industrial research park.

Dilapidated wood-frame houses on Lawrence Street, July 26, 1959. Photographer John D. Morrell's vantage point is roughly at the southwestern corner of the George Westinghouse Jr. High School (P.S. 5).

Brooklyn Eagle Building, ca. 1905. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, the newspaper of record for the 19th century City of Brooklyn, was founded in 1841. For the first 50 years of operation — including Walt Whitman’s tenure as editor — the paper was produced in present-day DUMBO, near Fulton Landing. In 1890, architect George L. Morse was enlisted to design a new headquarters for the growing publication, across Johnson Street from the new Brooklyn Post Office. Morse would later keep a personal office on the building’s upper floors. The Brooklyn Eagle (which had since dropped the “Daily”) ceased publication in 1955, succumbing to financial pressure exacerbated by the Newspaper Guild reporters’ strike. The building was razed, as part of the Robert Moses-led scheme to create Cadman Plaza, the civic center park space designated alongside the construction of the New York Supreme Court.

Buildings razed on the west side of Cadman Plaza West (formerly Fulton Street), August, 1964. Today, the Cadman Towers residential development stands on the site. The mansard-roofed building at center is No. 100 Clark Street, at the northwest corner of Monroe Place.

Henry Ward Beecher Statute in Columbus Park, ca. 1976.

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."

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.

372 Fulton Street, ca, 1942. In 1879, Charles M. Gage opened an eating house at 303 Fulton Street. Eugene Tollner joined the restaurant in 1882 and the business was christened Gage & Tollner’s. In 1892, the restaurant moved into a new building, 372-374 Fulton Street, where it became famous for serving a variety of seafood and meat dishes. Over the years, the Gage & Tollner restaurant was loved by local Brooklynites and even attracted celebrities for its fine food and drinks topped with an elegant dining experience. The restaurant was later sold to A.H. Cunningham and Alexander Ingalls in 1911 and then to the Dewey family in 1919. The Gage & Tollner restaurant was dedicated to serving fresh seafood and served a wide variety of dishes featuring clams, fishes, scallops, lobsters, and crabs. Oysters are perhaps the most beloved dish in the city’s history, and this is reflected in Gage & Tollner’s menu. For instance, there were more than fifty oyster preparations to select from in 1919. Other favorite dishes at the restaurant included seafood cocktail, lobster cream stew, and the signature broiled soft clam “bellies”, a dish invented and named by Seth Bradford Dewey. Even though the restaurant building was converted to electric lighting in the 1890s, it continued its tradition of turning on the gas lights for five days during its anniversary so customers could enjoy a particularly romantic dining experience at the restaurant. On the day of the anniversary celebration, Edward and Thomas Dewey would dress up as Mr. Gage and Mr. Tollner. The Dewey family took pride in carrying on the restaurant’s traditions, and its menu remained largely unchanged over the decades. When restaurateur Peter Aschkenasy took over the space in 1989, he continued the restaurant’s rich traditions, but upgraded the menu by bringing in famed southern chef Edna Lewis, whose Charleston she-crab soup was the star of the new menu. However, later owners found it difficult to maintain that tradition and remain profitable due to both changes in tastes and the economic climate in the Fulton Mall district. By the 1980s, the area had changed significantly since the restaurant’s early days. This was the result of numerous factors, such as the deindustrialization the borough, changing demographics, the closing of high-end department stores (especially Abraham & Straus), and the closing of traffic on Fulton Street. As a result, the area began attracting discount shoppers rather than upscale gourmands that made up the restaurant’s clientele. The last owner of Gage & Tollner’s, Joe Chirico, commented that some restaurants simply go “out of style” and the eatery was subsequently closed in 2004. The building was purchased by the Jemal family in 2004 for $2.8 million, who hoped to rent it to an upscale restaurateur. Despite those intentions, the building was housed by a TGI Fridays through 2007 and then an Arby’s in 2010. In April 2021, the restaurant reopened under new owners!

View of the Brooklyn Bridge and Cadman Plaza Park from the Korean War Veterans Plaza, south of Tillary Street; June 23, 1963.

Boarded-up wood-frame houses on the east side of Lawrence Street, July 19, 1959. At far left is P.S. 5, which would become the George Westinghouse Vocational and Technical High School in 1963.

This is an abbreviated version of Brooklynology blog post, the rest is available at this link. Walking the urban landscape of New York, one comes upon buildings of different styles and periods—one of the great joys of living in an older city. Even in this wildly varied landscape, the armories stand out. One can walk down a row of modest apartment houses and, turning the corner, confront one of these massive structures looming like an apparition from the middle ages. But how did they come to be here and how did their use change, particularly their transformation from military to civilian uses. What follows is not comprehensive documentation, but a selective jaunt through the evolution of our Brooklyn armories.

Brooklyn City Hall Tower Fire. 1895. This photo of the week depicts a roof level view of the 1895 fire at Brooklyn City Hall (today’s Borough Hall). If you look closely, you can see fire ladders propped against the building and firefighters on the roof using hoses to extinguish the fire. The fire started because of a lighted gas jet in a third floor closet. The fire left significant damage, destroying the clock and bell tower, as well as most of the top floor. This photograph was taken by Dr. Ralph Irving Lloyd (1875-1969), a Brooklyn ophthalmologist and an avid amateur photographer. Throughout his life, Lloyd documented primarily historic 17th, 18th, and 19th century houses located in the New York City metropolitan area. The collection of his photographs includes roughly 400 lantern slides like the one pictured above. The lantern slide, popularized in the late 19th century, displayed a positive image on a glass plate. This could then be displayed for an audience to experience. This was significant because for the first time, photography became a shared medium, visible by a broad audience. Production of lantern slides ended over 40 years ago, so it’s a rare and unique experience to see one for yourself!

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.

Abandoned wood-frame dwellings on Jay Street, between Johnson and Tillary Streets, July 19, 1959. The buildings were razed ahead of the 1962 construction of the New York City College of Technology's Klitgord Building, which was itself demolished in 2013. A new academic center designed by Perkins Eastman is presently under construction.

Brooklyn Savings Bank, Clinton and Pierrepont Streets, Brooklyn Heights. The bank was demolished in 1964, narrowly missing the establishment of New York City’s first Historic District in Brooklyn Heights.

With the historic restaurant now reopened, Brooklyn Historical looks back at Gage and Tollner's storied past!

Debris at Clark Street and Monroe Place, the former site of an 1844 gothic church designed by Minard Lafever, August, 1964. Today, this site is part of the Mount Sinai synagogue complex at 250 Cadman Plaza West.

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.

Eastward view of Tillary Street, between Fulton Street (now Cadman Plaza West) and Washington Street (Cadman Plaza East), December 7, 1915. The elevated structure at the northwest corner of Washington Street is the southern end of a storage yard for trains terminating at Sands Street. In the background at right, the tracks of the Myrtle Avenue El cross Tillary Street. The present path of Tillary street is several yards north of the cobblestoned thoroughfare picture above.

Brooklyn Heights Branch, BPL, ca. 1961. Planned in the wake of the demolition of the 1903 Montague Branch, the mid century modern Brooklyn Heights Branch opened on May 31, 1962. Designed by Francis Keally, one of the architects behind the main branch at Grand Army Plaza, the most prominent feature on the simple boxy facade are the reliefs flanking the entry. Created by artist Clemente Spampinato, the six Art Deco style reliefs depict industry and businesses; crafts; sciences; knowledge; literature; and arts. In 2011, a Brooklyn architectural historian wrote "I’ve always been surprised someone hasn’t advocated tearing it down for a high rise, which would include a new library. I’m sure that will happen someday." Only a few years later those exact plans came to be. In the summer of 2016 the building closed and library functions were moved to a temporary location. The building was demolished over the summer of 2017 and in its place a 36-story condo tower with a three-story library space at the base will rise.

Designed by renowned architect George Browne Post, the building features terra-cotta ornamentation on the facade and an innovative truss system to support the ceiling of the central library. Architectural historians have praised Post’s design for blending technological innovation and graceful aesthetics. The building’s masonry consists of unglazed terra-cotta and repressed brick. It was the first building in New York City to use locally produced terra-cotta. The facade is adorned with busts of Christopher Columbus, Benjamin Franklin, William Shakespeare, Johannes Gutenberg, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Michelangelo Buonarroti sculpted by Olin Levi Warner. The busts are interspersed with representations of American flora by Truman H. Bartlett. Post employed artists and craftsmen of the aesthetic movement to embellish the interior spaces. Stained-glass lunettes and a central laylight are believed to have originated from the studio of noted artist Charles Booth. Design elements throughout the building include Minton tile floors, custom-made bronze hardware (designed by Post), and elaborately carved black ash woodwork in the library. Inspired by the design of the Brooklyn Bridge, Post suspended the top floor of the building from iron trusses in the roof, creating an open and elegant reading room. Additional iron columns enclosed in carved wood support the galleries in the library. Brooklyn Historical Society is one of the few remaining examples of an institutional model common in the nineteenth century: the combined museum and library. The vestibule, lobby, stairs, and library were all listed in 1982 by the city of New York as interior landmarks — a rare designation in Brooklyn. In 1992, the entire building was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Borough Hall, originally City Hall, is located in the heart of downtown Brooklyn and is one of the borough's oldest public buildings. It was also home to two highly contentious 900 square foot murals, whose final fate remains unknown today.

Washington Street advertisements, ca. 1939.

161 Henry Street, ca. 1979.

Statue of Henry Ward Beecher, ca. 1976. Henry Ward Beecher was the fiery, abolitionist preacher of nearby Plymouth Church. Beecher died in 1887 and a death mask was cast. Sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward (who also created the statue of Washington that sits in front of Federal Hall) was charged with creating a monument to the man. Using the death mask and photographs, Ward created the eight-foot-tall bronze statue. The female slave and children depicted surrounding the base represent Beecher's work in the anti-slavery movement and his commitment to children. The statue was unveiled in 1891 and, according to a historian of 19th century public sculpture, the monument was very well received by the public, though it was noted that Beecher's family was not thrilled with the (in)accuracy of the likeness. Originally located in a park next to the Brooklyn City Hall building, it was moved north in 1959 during the urban renewal of the civic center.

View from the top of the Brooklyn Fire Headquarters

"Lawrence Street, west side, south of Johnson Street, showing Lawrence Street entrance and side view of Mayflower Branch of Plymouth Congregational Church. July 1, 1934."

No. 303 Pearl Street, on the east side of Pearl St. between Johnson and Tillary Streets, July 19, 1959. The sign above the doorway reads: "New York City College of Applied Arts and Sciences; Student Government Association." The school was founded in 1946, to address postwar demand for technically skilled workers. In 1953, it became the city's first community college, and was absorbed into the CUNY system in 1964. Today, Pearl Street no longer exists in much of Downtown Brooklyn, due to the development of MetroTech Center; the site of the former Student Government building is now part of the square-block including the New York City College of Technology's Namm Building.

Reconstruction work on the Fulton Street roadway, beneath the Fulton Street El tracks, September 22, 1919. Both the BMT Fourth Avenue and IRT Eastern Parkway lines run beneath Fulton Street, now a pedestrian walkway in Columbus Park, adjacent to Brooklyn Borough Hall. The buildings at left — including the Baltimore Dairy Lunch counter, No. 389 Fulton — have since been razed.

Mention of the Post Office these days tends to elicit more groans than high praise, but there was a time when the Brooklyn General Post Office was a central hub of communication for the Borough.

Fulton Street entrance the Brooklyn Savings Bank, April 4, 1958. The entrance funneled bank customers to the main branch at Pierrepont and Clinton Streets.

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.

Hall of Records, ca. 1950. The Brooklyn Civic Center looks much different today than it did in the early 20th century. At that time the largest municipal building was the Hall of Records. Erected on the corner of Boerum and Fulton, the classical, limestone building was designed by William Mundell between 1885 and 1887. The building housed the vital records of first the city of Brooklyn and then the borough of Brooklyn. In the 1950s during the Civic Center Urban Renewal, the Hall of Records and its even older neighbor, the Brooklyn Courthouse, were razed for the newly expanded Cadman Plaza. In 1961 the Brooklyn Law School replaced the two grand 19th-century buildings.

\[Courtesy citations-bus drivers at 370 Jay Street], August 13, 1963, 2005.48.813, NYCTA Photograph Unit Collection; New York Transit Museum.

General Exterminating Corp. at No. 24 Lawrence Street, July 26, 1959. This two-story brick structure, long-since razed for the MetroTech development, sat the southwest corner of Lawrence and Tillary streets, a site formerly occupied by an 1830s-era church. Built as the Second Baptist Church in 1834, the wood-frame structure was sold to the Free Presbyterian Church four years later. In 1845, that congregation elected to switch denominations, becoming Congregationalist. It is listed as a Congregational Methodist Church on an 1855 map. In response to Brooklyn's growing Polish population, Bishop Loughlin recruited Father Joseph Niedzielski of Cincinnati to become the pastor of the diocese's first Polish parish. The Tillary Street church was known as St. Casimir's from 1875 to 1890, when the parish outgrew its modest sanctuary. The humble church's next and final tenant was St. Michael the Archangel, a predominantly Italian parish. Al Capone, the infamous Chicago gangster, was born in Brooklyn and baptized at St. Michael's in January 1899. In 1942, St. Michael's merged with nearby St. Edward's in Fort Greene, leaving the 108-year-old church vacant.

Brooklyn Citizen Building, August 9, 1915. The Brooklyn Citizen was a daily newspaper published from 1886 to 1947. During the construction of subway tunnels in Downtown Brooklyn in the 1910s the plans originally included the demolition of the Citizen Building, as the tunnel was supposed to run directly under. After plans were altered and the path moved, the building was spared and only required shoring. The newspaper discontinued publishing in 1947. The Citizen Building had been purchased in 1945 by the city as part of the eventual Civic Center urban renewal project. The building was still standing and vacant in 1954 when a fire tore through the structure under suspicious circumstances, related to some accused shady dealings by fire officials. It was demolished fully soon after.

Abandoned wood-frame dwellings at the corner of Bridge and Johnson Streets, July 26, 1959.

Wood-frame houses on Johnson Street, July 19, 1959.

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

185 Montague, ca. 1995. Built for the National Title Guarantee Company, the 1930 Art Deco building at no. 185 is a more modern standout among the Beaux Arts banking buildings that line this street. Designed by Corbett, Harrison & MacMurray, who also created Rockefeller Center, this Deco tower has sleek ziggurat towers at the top and delicate, but angular, tracery at the ground level. Some of the ornamentation has Aztec motifs and influence. Given these decorative features, it is almost appropriate that the former banking building is now a location of the Mexican-themed restaurant, Chipotle.

First Free Congregational Church ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: 1846-47 STYLE: Greek Revival The former First Free Congregational Church, with its simple, rectangular shape and temple front, is one of the few remaining examples of the vernacular Greek Revival building popular in the mid-nineteenth-century. The “Free” in the name refers to the policy of not charging a rental fee for its pews. The building has changed hands many times, and by 1854 it housed the oldest African American congregation in Brooklyn, which used the basement to hide escaping slaves. It is now the student center for the Polytechnic Institute of New York Universit

Fulton Street, at its intersection with Joralemon, Adams and Willoughby Streets, showing the Fulton Street Elevated line of the B.M.T. At center building is the City Hall (now Borough Hall), with the Brooklyn Citizen Building at right, ca. 1910.

With the closure of restaurants, bars, movie theaters, libraries, and schools as a precaution to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, many New Yorkers are likely feeling a bit cooped up by now. While you can't visit your favorite spots in person, you can visit them through this City Story.

Elevated trestle over Fulton Street, at Boerum Place (Court Square), July 23, 1907. The stairway at center left led to the Boerum Place station on the Fulton Street and Brighton elevated lines. At left is the former Hall of Records building across Boerum Place. Borough Hall is visible in the background, at center, beyond the elevated tracks. At right, the flatiron-shaped building between Fulton and Adams streets is the office of the Brooklyn Citizen newspaper. The intersection has been transformed over the last century, with the 1940 closure and dismantling of the Fulton Street elevated tracks the most striking change. By 1961, the Hall of Records and Supreme Court Buildings had been demolished ahead of the construction of the Brooklyn Law School, while Boerum Place has been widened to meet vehicular traffic coming off the Brooklyn Bridge, via Adams Street.

Men gathered outside 109 Willoughby Street, the parsonage of the St. Boniface Roman Catholic Church, October 9, 1960. At far left is the Art Deco brickwork of the Bell Telephone building, a 27-story building completed in 1928.

"Sippy's Trucking" garage at 30-34 Lawrence Street (far left), July 26, 1959.

Beneath the surface of New York City's bustling subway system, carrying a billion passengers yearly, lies a hidden narrative of racial disparity in fare evasion policing. We delve into three distinct locales: Jay Street-Borough Hall Station in Brooklyn, the South Bronx's 40th Precinct, and Queens' Transit District 23. Each spot unveils how minority communities face biased fare enforcement. This exploration not only exposes the underlying issues in subway policing but also connects to larger themes of racial profiling and urban inequality.

Demolition of the Brooklyn Supreme Court, October 16, 1961.

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.

Sketch of the Loew’s Metropolitan Theater façade by Anthony F. Dumas, 1919. The 3,618-seat theater opened on September 15, 1918. Designed by Thomas Lamb, it was then the largest theater built since the invention of motion pictures, with entrances on Fulton, Smith, and Livingston Streets. Today, it is the home of the Brooklyn Tabernacle, having undergone extensive restoration in 2002.

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.”

Entrance to the Hotel Touraine, 23 Clinton Street, Brooklyn Heights; June 7, 1959.

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First Unitarian Church ca. 1975 This church, formerly known as the Church of the Savior, is located on one of the widest and shortest streets in Brooklyn. With its high central gables and pointed windows flanked by small pinnacles, it has the true verticality of the Gothic Revival.

Murphy's Hat Shop at the southeast corner of Myrtle Avenue and Fulton Street, October 19, 1915.

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.

Wood-frame house at No. 87 Johnson Street, between Jay and Bridge Streets, October 4, 1959.

Bijou Theatre, 1928. Replacing the mansion of the local Livingston family, the Bijou Theatre opened in November of 1893. Owing to its convenient location in Downtown Brooklyn, the theatre was a smashing success. Originally featuring all live performances, in 1908 Marcus Loew took over operations of the venue and converted it to a movie house with vaudeville performances. Following a final program in May of 1929, Loew's ended its lease of the space and plans were made to raze the theatre for a 30-story office building. That building never came to be. In the late 1950s, a boxy modern building was constructed. Today it houses the New York City Civil Court Kings County.

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.

Court Square (now Boerum Place) and Fulton Street, December 17, 1907. This view shows trolley #2523 on the Broadway trolley line, as well as other trolleys. The intersection also is busy with pedestrians, shops, horse-drawn carts, and an elevated train line. According to the photograph notes, trolley #2523 was manufactured by the John Stephenson Car Company. Based in New York City, it was founded in 1831 producing carriages and horsecars. As the technology evolved so did their products; a major builder of streetcars, they manufactured 25,000 cars between 1876 and1891 alone for American and international transit systems. Stephenson was acquired by the J. G. Brill Company in 1904, which continued to produce streetcars and later autobuses.

Sperry Gyroscope Company Building, ca. 1939. Designed by Frank Helmle and constructed in 1915-1916, the Sperry Gyroscope Company Building (today called the Howard Building) is a reinforced concrete industrial building. The Gyroscope Company was founded in 1910 by Elmer Ambrose. The gyroscope was an important new navigating tool for maritime and air travel. The location of the factory was purposeful, with the proximity to the Manhattan Bridge allowing the building to get sunlight from all directions. Built during the First World War, but prior to Americans entrance to the fighting, the factory manufactured items that aided in ship, plane, and torpedo navigation, actions that the U.S. felt they would likely be involved with soon enough. Despite further inventions and technological advances in the following decades, the Sperry Gyroscope Company was broken up by the mid century though mergers and legal actions. Today the Howard Building's largest major tenant is New York City College of Technology.

"Fulton Street at Joralemon Street Survey photograph during construction of the BMT Broadway line. Northwestward view of Brooklyn Borough Hall and the tracks of the BMT Fulton Street Elevated line. Multiple trolleys are visible on Fulton Street, and construction is visible along the side of the street, beneath the elevated tracks, September 19, 1915."

153-157 Henry Street, ca. 1931. Henry Street, east side, north of Love Lane, showing three frame homes (mislabeled on the photograph as nos. 139-143, which are other wood-frame buildings up the block to the north). The woman with the carriage is exiting alley across from Love Lane (obscured by this angle). These wood-frame homes have been demolished and replaced with 155 Henry, while the large apartment building, just south of Love Lane, remains.

A cigarette card from the early 20th century depicting the former Brooklyn Theatre at the corner of Washington (now Cadman Plaza East) and Johnson Streets. The theater was the site of a catastrophic fire on December 5, 1876. The fire broke out backstage at about 11:20pm, between the fourth and fifth acts of “The Two Orphans.” Actors and stagehands attempted to extinguish the blaze while other actors on stage — some of whom were aware of the circumstances — attempted to carry on with the show, in order to avoid panic in the audience. Within minutes, the fire had spread and evacuation began en masse. The flames continued to spread rapidly, reaching the roof and causing the collapse of the Johnson Street frontage in less than an hour. Reports variously state the number of fatalities as 278, 294, or more than 300, many of whom had been seated in the Family Circle, the theater’s third and uppermost level. The Kings County coroner found suffocation via smoke inhalation to be the most prevalent cause of death. Today, it remains the third-deadliest fire at an American theater or place of public assembly.

"Brooklyn: Concord Street - Jay Street. The view shows the wood-frame buildings between 117-125 Concord Street."

Main Brooklyn Post Office ARCHITECT: Mifflin E. Bell DATE: 1885-1891 STYLE: Romanesque Revival The General Post Office displays a wealth of skillfully blended Romanesque Revival and Renaissance Revival details. The older section of the building was begin in 1885 and completed in 1891; the original plans of Mifflin E. Bell were modified by William A. Freret, Bell’s successor as supervisory architect of the Treasury Department. The extension, completed in 1933, adheres faithfully to the design of the older part of the building.

Between 1954 and 1957, the Municipal Art Society surveyed historic buildings in all five boroughs to create a database of potential landmarks to preserve. Local residents and MAS staff compiled individual sheets devoted to about 200 buildings. Each sheet outlined the building’s date, location, and style and provided a description and a small photograph. This is the list of Brooklyn buildings.

97 Clark Street, October 12, 1958. This 40-foot wide mansion was known as the Ford Mansion, as it was once the home of Gordon L. Ford and later his son, Paul Leicester Ford. Gordon was the business manager for the New York Tribune and had a hand in banking and railroad interests. Paul was a journalist, writer, and noted bibliographer of Revolutionary War America. (Another son, Worthington, was chief of the Manuscript Division of the Library of Congress.) Paul was killed in a murder suicide enacted by the third brother Malcolm in 1902. In the 1960s as this, and other nearby buildings were being prepped for demolition as part of the urban renewal plans, preservationists saved the home's railing in hope to reuse it the restoration of another historic Heights house, the Peter Cornell home. That house was demolished as well and the railing is now in the Sculpture Garden at the Brooklyn Museum, among other architectural artifacts. The early 1970s building that replaced the demolished Ford Mansion is the massive Cadman Towers, a 421-unit, almost Brutalist, co-op building (given the address 101 Clark Street).