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.

Queen Anne-style row houses on Willow Street, Brooklyn Heights, ca. 1980.

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

146 Hicks Streets sits just to the right of the large brick building in the middle of this 1931 photo. The construction of the large building that now sits across the street provided an excellent view of the streetscape on the west side of Hicks between Clark Street and Love Lane. The clapboard home, along with its remaining wood-frame neighbor at no. 148, suffered serious exterior damage during Hurricane Irene in 2011 when a mature Elm fell, but have since been restored.

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.

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.

100 Hicks Street, a wood-frame house dating to 1826, ca. 1980.

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.

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.

Row houses on Willow Place, October 19, 1959.

View from the Brooklyn Heights Promenade at the foot of Montague Street, October 12, 1959.

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.

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.

31 Pineapple Street, July 15, 1962. This double-story structure was constructed in the 1880s as a stable for the Brooklyn Fire Department. In the 1920s it was converted into a single family home. When last on the market in 2003, it was listed for $1.695 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.

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.

Often overlooked, doors are perhaps the most important feature of a building. They are the means by which we escape the often crowded and chaotic streets of the city. Every building has one (well, maybe except for the Raymond Street Jail which was accidentally constructed in 1836 sans front door), but some outfit this largely utilitarian feature with more panache than others. This collection highlights some the city's loveliest historic doorways, from the simple but classic columns of early 19th century Federal rowhouses to the gloriously geometric brickwork of Art Deco apartment houses, and everything in-between.

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

"Orange Street, north side, between Hicks and Henry Streets, showing the old Plymouth Church, built in 1849, from which Henry Ward Beecher, Brooklyn's famous preacher, delivered his sermons. Abraham Lincoln, who was a personal friend of the minister, came here to hear his sermons. Walter Damrosch, noted composer and orchestra conductor, at one time served here as the musical director under Beecher, April 4, 1932." Plymouth Church was established in 1847 by a group of New England transplants to Brooklyn Heights. In 1849 the congregation's first church (a 1820s building originally used by a former Presbyterian community) was heavily damaged in a fire. The Congregational church set out to construct a new sanctuary and celebrated its first service in the new building on the first Sunday of January, 1850. The brick church was designed by Joseph C. Wells in the style of urban tabernacle architecture featuring both Italianate and colonial ornamentation. The church has a long storied history. The first pastor was the fiery abolitionist preacher Henry Ward Beecher. The construction of the church included supportive cast-iron columns for the large balcony (pre-dating nearly all cast iron construction in the city by more than five years). In 1866, the church installed the largest organ in the United States. And according to lore and published memoirs, the church served as an important station in the Underground Railroad. Since its early years, the church has hosted an impressive series of visitors and speakers, including Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Clara Barton, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Dr. Martin Luther King.

178 Columbia Heights, ca. 1980. This Italianate style frame house, built in 1845, was once the residence of Ferdinand Ward, the "best-hated man in the United States." In 1880, Ward purchased the building for $40,000 after securing investment from former U.S. President General Ulysses Grant, an investor in his Wall Street brokerage firm. He outfitted the house in what the Brooklyn Daily Eagle described as, Ward, the son of a small town pastor and Protestant missionary, transformed the residence into “one of the most elaborately and expensively furnished houses in Brooklyn.” But it was all to be short-lived: in 1884, Ward's brokerage was revealed to be a massive Ponzi scheme, through which he defrauded many prominent New Yorkers, including the family of the 18th President.

Berenice Abbott’s photo of 104 Willow Street, including ironwork detail from the front porch of No. 113 Willow, across the street; May 14, 1936. Scottish wool merchant Robert Speir built the wood-frame No. 104 Willow during the 1820s, with construction completed in 1826. According to the New York Times, his sheep were known to graze on land between the house and the waterfront below. Speir also built houses for members of his family on either side, though the Italianate brownstone at No. 102 Willow — presently the home of the Danish Seamen’s Church — dates to after his death.

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

A wood-frame house no more! The home that sat on the south east corner of Hicks and Cranberry Streets was an early Federal style home once owned by one of the oldest Dutch families in Brooklyn: the Schencks. This photograph of a gentleman and his dog was taken circa 1890-1900. In 1890, Joseph Allen, an African American Civil War veteran who lived at this address committed suicide by inhaling chloroform. The home was demolished prior to 1908 and nothing was ever built in its place.

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.

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.

Cable car infrastructure on Montague Street, beneath the underpass at Pierrepont Place, October 28, 1914. This Brooklyn Heights view has long since disappeared, replaced by the Brooklyn—Queens Expressway's triple-cantilever. This photograph was taken some 2 weeks after construction commenced on the Montague Street Tunnel, which, upon its opening six years later would connect the BMT's Broadway (Manhattan) and Fourth Avenue Lines.

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

Heights Casino, ca. 1975.

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.

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

100 Willow Street, ca. 1906.

George Hastings Residence ca. 1960 Brooklyn houses were always designed for comfort and livability. The large third-floor porch across the rear of this house must once have afford a superb view. The simple brick columns rising from ground level are interlaced at the top by wooden Gothic arches and railings to produce one of the finest examples of the Gothic Revival remaining to us.

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

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.

222 Columbia Heights ca. 1936 This mansion built in 1865 for the Cornell family stood at the end of Columbia Heights, the street overlooking the East River in Brooklyn Heights. By including at the left side of the composition an electric streetlight, an automobile, and a sliver of Manhattan’s skyline, Abbott documented not only the house but the passage of time. Although Brooklyn Heights was designated a historic district in 1965, the Cornell mansion was torn down and replaced in 1982 with a small apartment house. To meet landmark regulations, the new building conformed to the irregular contours of the mansion.

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.

Peter C. Cornell House at 222 Columbia Heights, 1936. The Renaissance Revival home at no. 222 was constructed on a hill overlooking the bay at some point in the mid 19th century (tracking down a date for it is difficult). Named for its original owner, Peter Cornell, a Red Hook-born manufacturer of gun powder, the house was better known as the residence of Seth Low, the mayor of Brooklyn, later NYC mayor and president of Columbia University. The home was unfortunately demolished during the construction of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway and Promenade in the 1950s. In 1980 a new home was constructed on the site. Replicating the general shape of the original building, this new structure was rendered in modern brown, glazed bricks and attempted its best at modern infill to the historic neighborhood. The rounded moldings of the facade have prompted some to refer to the home as the Tootsie Roll House.

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.

68 Hicks Street, 1922.

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.

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.

View from the Brooklyn Heights promenade, February 5, 1961. The ships are moored between Piers 2 and 3.

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.

124 Hicks Street, Admiral Silas Stringham House, ca. 1900. This home was built for Admiral Silas Stringham, a Navy officer who distinguished himself during the War of 1812, was Commandant of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and later commanded sailors during the Civil War. At the end of the 19th century, the brownstone was home to Henry Ward Beecher and his son. Here on March 8, 1887, the famed preacher died after an illness of a few days. The funeral service was held here before burial in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. While the home was extant in 1903 when it was mentioned in an article about historical Brooklyn Heights, it was no longer standing by 1936.

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

138 Columbia Heights, 1958. This Italianate town house was built circa 1860. In the late 19th and early 20th century, steamship entrepreneur Henry Roger Mallory lived in the home. The Mallory Line of steamships was established in mid 19th century and Henry took over the business when his father passed in 1890. By 1906 the Mallory Line was considered the one of the most forward thinking and important water transportation businesses on the Atlantic coast.

68 Hicks Street, April 1925. In 1925 this structure with a ground floor commercial space was owned by Williams Bens.

An Expressway and a Promenade: Two 20th-century thoroughfares – the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (1946-1954) and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade (1950-1951) – transformed the eastern boundary of what is now Brooklyn Bridge Park. Many parties played a role in their design and construction, including urban planner, visionary, master builder, and “power broker” Robert Moses. Since its opening, the public park that sits atop the roadway, called the Promenade or the Esplanade, has allowed pedestrians to enjoy one of the world’s most spectacular harbor views. Planning the BQE: In the early 1940s, city planners like Moses proposed and built a network of highways meant to bind the city together and connect it to the Long Island suburbs. In one plan that they considered, the future Brooklyn-Queens Expressway would cut across the middle of Brooklyn Heights, replacing brownstone homes, churches, and other local institutions. But in 1943, opposition from community organizations like the Brooklyn Heights Association#, along with growing budget concerns, persuaded Moses and other planners to opt instead for a waterfront route that skirted the Heights along Furman Street. Tearing Down, Making Way: In 1946, work crews began demolishing the 19th-century brick warehouses and other old buildings lining the east side of Furman Street to make way for the cantilevered two-deck highway that would arise over the next eight years. Although the project spared the row houses on the crest of the Heights, it required the destruction of a number of historic residential buildings in the northwest corner of Brooklyn Heights. From Private Backyard to Public Promenade: Above Furman Street, on the bluffs of Brooklyn Heights, many 19th-century homes lay close to the BQE construction. The row houses along Columbia Heights had large backyards facing the East River, which sloped down to the roofs of old Furman Street warehouses, providing families with both “upper” and “lower” gardens. The new expressway took the place of the lower gardens. In 1943, members of the Brooklyn Heights Association who lived on Columbia Heights requested that sections of their private backyards be restored on top of the expressway after it was built. Instead of restoring the yards, Moses and other planners decided that a level public promenade# would be built on top of the new expressway, along the backs of the houses. Against the protests of many property owners, the Promenade was completed eight years later. To this day, the Columbia Heights houses largely retain their original “upper” gardens along the edge of the Promenade, while the Promenade and BQE fill the space once occupied by the sloping “lower” gardens.

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.

155- 159 Willow Street, ca. 1975. The series of three brick Federal style homes at 155-159 Willow Street are considered some of the best examples of the Federal style in the neighborhood. They likely date to the 1820s. The two at left (nos. 155 and 157) retain their pitched roofs dormers, while no. 159 has had a full third story added (many surviving Federals have been altered in this way). The front of these three buildings to do sit completely parallel to Willow Street as they predate the creation of that road as it exists today. No. 155 was owned by Arthur Miller in the 1950s and he wrote 'The Crucible' while living there.

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

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

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.

106-112 Columbia Heights, west side, north of Orange Street, showing the center house (No. 110) in which Col. Washington A. Roebling lived. It was from the rear room on the second floor that he watched and directed the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, being ably assisted in this work by his wife. 1922.

The massive dawn redwood located at 151 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights is an exotic species originally from China. Dawn redwoods are an ancient relative of the giant sequoia and redwood trees of California and were thought to be extinct until the 1940's when a few survivors were found in a remote valley in China. Seedlings were imported to North America, including this one, which has grown to over 100 feet tall.

70 Willow Street, ca. 1978. The Greek Revival house at 70 Willow Street was built around 1839 by Adrian Van Sinderen and is commonly referred to as the Capote house. From 1955 to 1965 Truman Capote rented a room in the house, where he wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s. While he was living there he also noticed a news article about the 1959 murder of a Kansas family that would lead him to write In Cold Blood. This three-story, 11-bedroom, 9,000-square foot mansion with the impressive pedigree recently sold for $12.5 million.

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

155 Willow Street, 1971. We discovered that Arthur Miller owned this building and lived there while writing “The Crucible” and an early version of “A View from the Bridge.” He only gave up living there when he left his wife for Marilyn Monroe. Miller was born in Manhattan and lived as a boy in Harlem in a spacious apartment overlooking Central Park. His father, Isidore, a Jewish émigré from Poland, owned a clothing business that allowed the family a certain level of luxury. The stock market crash of 1929 was financially devastating to the family and they moved to a smaller, more affordable residence in Brooklyn. After a short stint at 1277 Ocean Parkway, the Millers bought a six-room house on East Third Street and Avenue M in the Parkville section of Brooklyn for $5,000. Arthur Miller loved Brooklyn all of his life. After marrying his college sweetheart, Mary Slattery, the couple settled there, moving to different places and finally purchasing the federal townhouse (pictured in our Historic Image Archive) at 155 Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights. The pair of three-story row houses at 155-157 Willow Street is typical of many brick houses built in the Federal period, which lasted from the Revolutionary War through the 1830’s. Modesty, simplicity and restraint were the hallmarks of the architectural style, with even doorway and window trim kept to a minimum. Charles Lockwood, of “Bricks and Brownstone” fame, cites these two Willow Street houses (along with a third at Number 159) as “some of the best preserved examples of the period. Specifically, numbers 155 and 157 retain their original pitched roofs and dormers reflecting the period’s emphasis on classical unity.” Built in the 1820’s, 155 Willow Street is among the oldest dwellings in the Heights. A plaque on 157 Willow Street says that it hid an underground storage space that was used to hide runaway slaves as they escaped northward to Canada. Miller left 155 Willow Street when he traveled to Nevada to obtain a divorce from his wife in order to marry Marilyn Monroe.

Train tracks and New York Dock Company warehouses at the foot of Montague Street, May 19, 1914. This photo was taken 5 months before construction commenced on the Montague Street Tunnel. The tunnel, connecting Brooklyn and Manhattan service on the BMT's Broadway (Manhattan) and Fourth Avenue lines, was completed six years later, opening on the same day as the 60th Street Tunnel, which provides a similar connection to Queens. A ventilation tunnel now stands on this site.

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

43-37 Pierrepont Street, 1922. No. 43 is the corner house and the only one that retains its original stairs and porch. Both nos. 41 and 39 have been "de-porched," with new entrances created at the garden level. No. 37 and the houses out of frame to the left were replaced with a large Art Deco apartment building in 1929.

Hotel Palm southwest corner of Henry Street and Pierrepont Street, 1958 Designed by Brooklyn architect Frank Freeman, this Romanesque Revival building was constructed in 1888-1889. Originally built as the home of industrialist Herman Behr, it has had a unique history since the Behr family sold the building in the late 1910s. In 1919 the building had a huge addition constructed to house the Palm Hotel, known for much of its history as a brothel. In 1961 it was converted into a residence for Franciscan brothers who worked at nearby St. Francis College. In 1977 it was converted to rental apartments and it remains rentals today. According to some sources there are six rent stabilized apartments still in the building.

20 College Place,ca. 1978.

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.

75-77 Hicks Street, at and adjoining the northeast corner of Orange Street, showing the home (No. 77) of the Rev. S.B. Halliday, adjoining the corner, ca. 1895. The windows seen through the trees at right belong to the Plymouth Church at 57 Orange Street.

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 Underground Railroad was a network of secret safe houses that helped runaway slaves escape captivity during the early to mid-19th century. The route, passing directly through New York City, utilized a number of churches, homes, and businesses. While many of the buildings that housed these “stations” no longer exist, a few important sites of New York City's Underground Railroad are still visible today.

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.

There's so much more to Brooklyn's LGBTQ+ history than Walt Whitman. In honor of Pride Month, we're taking a tour through some of Brooklyn's many landmarks of 20th century queer history. From activism to art, to the quiet everyday lives of queer folks, LGBTQ+ history is all around us. To discover more about LGBTQ+ history in Brooklyn, consult our research guide and dive into the many queer stories in our archives and across the borough.

Jehovah's Witnesses dormitory and library facility, ca. 1975. A somewhat foreign sight among the bricks and brownstones of Brooklyn Heights, the building at 119 Columbia Heights was designed to "relate" to its rowhouse neighbors. In 1970 when the Jehovah's Witnesses wished to construct a new building on one of their many real estate holdings in the historic district, they allowed the Brooklyn Heights Association to pick the architect. BHA choice Ulrich Franzen, who was tasked with creating a modern structure that was sensitive to the historic neighbors. The result was an almost Brutalist structure, which was faced in bricks of a similar reddish-brown color to the rowhouses and also included its own "bay windows," a call out to a common rowhouse feature. Additional stories were set back so that the blockfront seemed to be the same height as well. Praised by some and disdained by others, the building had at least one uber fan when completed. Peter Blake, an architect, critic, MoMA curator (who didn't think Brooklyn Heights was all that special) said of the building, "…What has happened here, really, is this: because somebody decided to declare Brooklyn Heights a special place, a very good architect was sought to reinforce that specialness. The resulting building, in fact, enhances the Heights."

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.

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.

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.

Naples Restaurant, Montague Street, October 7, 1958.

In 1831, Adrian Van Sinderen, president of the Brooklyn Savings Bank, was also president of the Brooklyn Colonization Society, a local branch of the American Colonization Society (ACS). The organization sought to relocate free black communities to Liberia, and Van Sinderen raised a significant amount of money for that purpose. They did not believe American society could or should be culturally diverse. Ironically, James W. C. Pennington, one of the earliest opponents of colonization schemes, worked as Van Sinderen’s coachman. The lives of pro- and anti-slavery activists were intimately intertwined.

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

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.

75, 75A, and 77 Willow Street, June 21, 1959. No. 77 is the corner house.

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.

For years the majestic Hotel Margaret stood on the corner of Columbia Heights and Orange Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, overlooking the New York harbor with a grand view of Manhattan.

176 Columbia Heights, 1958. This 19th century rowhouse was owned in the 1940s by an executive of the nearby Squibb Pharmaceutical Company named Ferdinand Nitardy. Nitardy had his old rowhouse renovated in a Regency style in 1943 and around the same time was engaged in a battle, along with his neighbors, to stop the construction of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The neighbors lost and the construction of the feature commenced in 1946.

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.

The Promenade, a pedestrian walk that cantilevers out from Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights, is known for its views of New York Harbor and the Manhattan skyline. Opened in stages between 1948 and 1951, it had become a documented location for gay male cruising by 1952. In the early 1960s as the Promenade’s reputation grew, gay men from other parts of the city flocked to Brooklyn Heights. In the words of Armand Whitehead, who moved to Brooklyn Heights in 1963, “It was absolutely wild. People did everything there.” In September 1962, the police responded to complaints from straight residents and the Brooklyn Heights Association with a crackdown, which included stationing plainclothes officers on the Promenade. In 1966, the Parks Department imposed a curfew from midnight to 6 AM at the request of the police, who told the Brooklyn Heights Press that they were responding to the many neighborhood residents who “objected to the ‘goings on’ there late at night.” Eventually the police became more accepting, and according to Whitehead, “if they knew you from the neighborhood, \[they] kind of just let it be.” In 1981, the New York Native reported on a still-active cruising scene, with its focus on the south end at Remsen Circle, “where those who cruise in cars can idle or park,” while at the north end, the playground in Squibb Park became at night “the biggest outdoor backroom in the world.” By the late 1980s-early 1990s, as the LGBT community had begun settling in other neighborhoods of Brooklyn, notably Park Slope and Fort Green/Clinton Hill, the Promenade fell out of favor as a cruising grounds. Currently, plans to reconstruct a portion of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) are threatening the preservation of this public amenity.

Tug Boat "Watuppa," August 10, 1936. By the late 1920s, more than 700 tug boats crowded New York Harbor, assisting in the movement of massive amounts of freight. The steam tugboat Watuppa, seen here, was owned by McCarren Towing Line, a company which dates to 1864 and continues to own and operate New York Harbor tugs. Taken from Pier 5 in Brooklyn Heights, the view in the distance is of the Financial District and Lower Manhattan.

Hotel St. George Occupying a full city block, the St. George Hotel (now St. George Residence) was built as a complex of seven buildings between 1885 and 1929 (with the later and tallest section designed by famed Art Deco architect Emery Roth). The complex took up the whole block bounded by Clark, Hicks, Pineapple, and Henry Streets. Once the largest hotel in New York, the hotel featured the largest banquet ballroom, the Colorama Ballroom, and the world's largest saltwater pool. This famous location for celebrities and politicians reached its heyday from the 1920s until the 1950s, though the pool remained popular into the 1960s, even as the hotel's popularity waned. By the 1970s, a topless bar called the Wild Fyre occupied some of the ground floor. Tragically, a fire in 1995 destroyed the original hotel buildings, the only ones in the complex that were still utilized as a hotel. The large 1920s tower was turned into condos in the 1980s. 60 Pineapple Street was converted to a co-op building in 1984, and the rest of the complex is now used as a student residence for those attending a handful of nearby New York City universities.

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.

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.

Though the excitement of Wegmans coming to Brooklyn might seem like an anomaly, Brooklynites have always been quick to celebrate a good grocer or butcher. Here are two famed grocers that inspired fervor over the years.

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.

Brooklyn: Columbia Heights - Orange Street, 1923. Once the home of pastor and abolitionist Henry Ward Beecher, 124 Columbia Heights was one of the first Brooklyn buildings purchased by the Jehovah's Witnesses in 1909. The original structure was a four-story brownstone. By the 1920s, they had also purchased 122 and 126 Columbia Heights. After a number of demolitions and constructions as well as the purchasing of five more properties nearby, in the 1940s a 10-story building was constructed from these properties for executive offices and accommodations.

Although a somewhat obscure figure today, Mrs. Hunt, (also known as Sally Maria Diggs, Rose Ward, and, troublingly, “Pinky,” throughout her life), shared a unique connection to Henry Ward Beecher.

Two 20th-century thoroughfares – the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (1946-1954) and the Brooklyn Heights Promenade (1950-1951) – transformed the eastern boundary of what is now Brooklyn Bridge Park. Many parties played a role in their design and construction, including urban planner, visionary, master builder, and “power broker” Robert Moses

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.

Willow Street, including the Danish Seamen’s Church, after a snowstorm, February 5, 1961. This mid-19th century Italianate townhouse was acquired by Our Saviour’s Danish Evangelical Lutheran Church in 1957. The congregation dates to 1878 and had worshipped on 9th Street in Gowanus since 1886.

161 Henry Street, ca. 1979.

214 Hicks, June 17, 1974.

68 Hicks Street, 1932.

113 Willow Street, May 14, 1936. This Federal style, wood-frame rowhouse dates to the 1820s. Though captured here in 1936 looking classic with clapboard siding, shutters, and a decorative cast iron entrance porch (added in the mid 19th century), the tidy look of the home was not to last. In the 1960s the clapboard was covered in asphalt singles, much to the chagrin of the neighbors who called it the “Asphalt Jungle.” During a major exterior and interior renovation in 2014 the asphalt shingles were removed and the cast iron porch stripped of years and layers of paint. The newly restored home once again features clapboard, window shutters, and the delicate floral pattern of the cast iron porch is distinct.

The red house is 152 Henry Street. The four-story Greek Revival structure was built in the 1830s and is a part of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District (NYC's first historic district!) In 1891 the building was home to a Helene Lassen. The woman was described (in language of the time which would be considered very inappropriate today) as, “a well proportioned and rather good-looking woman of middle age… privileged to place the letters M.D. at the end of her name.." As recently as 2016 the building functioned as an SRO, or single room occupancy, building, a relic of Brooklyn past. Restoration plans approved by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2016 included restoring the stoop and first-floor entrance, returning the first-floor windows to their original elongated style, and a new gate. The work will result in a private residence for the owner on the lower floors but also five SRO units on the top two floors.

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.

75 Hicks Street, Parish house, arcade, and gardens of the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims, ca. 1975.

Grace Church, Brooklyn Heights, 1922.

Four Pierrepont Street row houses with matching bay windows, 1959.

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.

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

The waterfront of Brooklyn Bridge Park was once the site of warehouses that made Brooklyn a landfall, loading zone, and storage space for countless tons of cargo.

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.

Photograph taken from the roof of the Seth Low House towards Pier 15 at the foot of Montague Street.

Seth Low Mansion, 1954. Constructed in 1857 by the businessman, entrepreneur, and real estate developer A.A. Low, the Low Mansion served as mayorial residence long before Gracie Mansion took on that mantle. A.A. Low's son, Seth (named for this grandfather, one of the founders of the city of Brooklyn) was mayor of Brooklyn 1881 to 1885 and later the second mayor of the newly consolidated New York City, 1901 to 1902. Once one of three grand brownstones here on Pierrepont Place, only nos. 3 (seen here) and 2 (originally the Alexander M. White House, connected at right) remain. No. 1, built for a member of the street's namesake family was demolished in 1946. In 2015 the Low House was offered up for sale for a whopping $40 million, making it Brooklyn’s most expensive listing. When it did not sell at that price, the owner then decided to rent the home as four luxury units ranging from $4,500 to $12,000 a month.

Hotel Margaret ca. 1907 For years the majestic Hotel Margaret stood on the corner of Columbia Heights and Orange Street in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn, overlooking the New York harbor with a grand view of Manhattan. The ten-story hotel once laid claim to being the tallest building in Brooklyn, the sun parlor on the top floor offering a panoramic view of the city in all directions. The building was designed using polychrome shades of stone which provided even more allure to guests of the hotel and passersby. Frank Freeman, a renowned Brooklyn architect, designed and built the hotel in 1889 for his client John Arbuckle, of the famous Arbuckle Brothers Coffee Company. The hotel was actually named after John’s sister Margaret. During this time, the Arbuckle Brothers were running the largest coffee company in America, which was owned and operated out of the Brooklyn neighborhood of DUMBO. Their initial success was due to their now famous Ariosa coffee blend. Some notable guests who stayed at the Hotel Margaret over the years included Norwegian novelist Sigrid Undset, American artist Joseph Pennell, and Betty Smith, author of the beloved A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. H.G. Wells was also a frequent visitor of the hotel when he was in town. In 1980, during renovations intended to convert the hotel into condominiums, the building caught fire and was destroyed. In 1987 the land was purchased by the Jehovah’s Witnesses and a new condominium building was built in its place.

216-218 Columbia Heights, ca. 1977. Built in 1870, the Italianate row house at no. 216 (on the right) was the residence of Henry Evelyn Pierrepont Jr. The Pierrepont family played a significant role in the development of Brooklyn. Hezekiah Pierrepont, Henry's grandfather, was an investor and later part-owner in Robert Fulton's steamboat operation. In 1816, Brooklyn received a charter as a village from the state of New York, largely due to the influence of Hezekiah Pierrepont and other prominent landowners and its new importance as the landing point of the regularly scheduled ferry service across the East River. His family is commemorated by nearby Pierrepont Street.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

A Ramp and Two Bridges From 1849 until 1946, any Brooklyn resident who wanted to experience the waterfront could walk down Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights until it turned into a steep ramp leading directly to the shoreline. Between 1849 and 1859, two bridges were built that permitted pedestrians to cross over the ramp from the Heights above: an imposing stone arch and a small, graceful iron footbridge. Brooklyn Heights Boom The ramp and the “substantial stone arch … thrown across the street at the brow of the heights” were both completed by autumn 1849, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. At that time, the area now known as Brooklyn Heights was growing rapidly. The population of the neighborhood swelled, landowners and developers built elegant residential townhouses, and street renovations occurred apace. By 1859, “a neat iron bridge ” erected by “the wealthy property holders” of the vicinity also spanned the ramp, connecting what was then called Columbia Street#, running along the crest of the heights parallel to Furman Street, to a “private street” on the south side of the bridge. Brooklynites came to call the stone archway “Montague arch” and the iron bridge “the penny bridge.” Montague Street Ferry In 1853, a new ferry line began operation between Montague Street and Wall Street in lower Manhattan. Travelers used the Montague Street ramp to descend to and ascend from the waterfront ferry terminal. They did so on foot, by horse-drawn carriage, and after 1891 on the new cable cars that ran between the ferry landing and Brooklyn’s City Hall (now Borough Hall) at the eastern end of Montague Street. Destroyed for the BQE The Montague Street ferry ceased running in 1912, and a decade later, the Montague Street cable car line shut down. In 1946, the ramp and two bridges were demolished to make way for Robert Moses’ Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Today, nothing remains of these architectural landmarks of old Brooklyn Heights.

13 Pineapple Street,1978. Though an excellent example of a classic Brooklyn Heights wooden building, 13 Pineapple Street is exceptional for being extra wide. The home's width (not common in this Brooklyn neighborhood) recalls the stately homes on the Main Street of Nantucket. The garage and stoop are 20th century additions to this structure built circa 1830. Some mid 20th-century architectural writings suggest that this home may date from the 18th century and may have been moved to its present location, but no solid evidence exists for this hypothesis.

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

70 Willow Street ca. 1936 Continuously inhabited until recent years by the family that built it, this Greek Revival house boasts an elegant curved staircase with a classic niche above it. There is a beautiful private garden in the back.

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.

Carriage houses on Love Lane, 1958. Love Lane formerly marked the property line between the DeBevoise and Pierrepont family plots. The name is said to derive from being a rendezvous spot for local youths in its vicinity.

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.

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).