Fulton Ferry House with horse-drawn trolleys seen at front, date unknown \[likely prior to 1900].

North side of Middagh Street between Willow Street and Hicks Street, April 5, 1958. The four houses are, from left to right, Nos. 29, 31, 33, and 35 Middagh Street.

Food has always played an important role in the history of Brooklyn. Not only has food manufacturing occupied Brooklyn factories and employed its citizens, but historic food establishments have become icons: some for their architecture, others for their atmosphere and still others for their delicacies.

No. 48 Columbia Heights, just to the south of Squibb Co.

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

Nos. 8-12 Everit Street, ca. 1958. No. 8 (at right) is listed as a "cigar box factory" on an 1887 Sanborn map.

In 1814, Robert Fulton, inventor of the world’s first successful steamboat, established a steam-powered ferry to traverse the East River between what is now Fulton Street in Brooklyn and Fulton Street in Manhattan. Fulton’s steam ferry sparked an era of rapid growth in Brooklyn. Within less than 50 years, the sleepy village transformed into the third-largest city in America.

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.

Storefronts on Old Fulton Street, ca. 1975. The buildings date to the late 1830s, when they comprised small commercial district near the Fulton Ferry, including manufacturers, grocers, and taverns.

No. 4 Water Street, ca. 1975.

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

Siloam Presbyterian Church is a historically Black church that was founded in 1849 by Reverand James A. Gloucester, who was formerly enslaved. From 1849 to 1851, he used his church to harbor fugitives fleeing slavery through the Underground Railroad. Supported by the New Yokr Vigilance Committee, Gloucester provided those seeking freedom with medical aid, food, and clothing. The church even raised funds to support John Brown, the radical abolitionist who later led the raid of Harper's Ferry, VA, commonly quoted as a "dress rehearsal for the Civil War." The congregation of Siloam Presbyterian Church has relocated several times. It has always provided a critical space for community support and activism.

19 Cranberry Street, April 4, 1932.

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

75 Poplar Street, April 5, 1958.

Main Entrance of the Cranlyn, ca. 1994. The architect of this 1931 building, H.I. Feldman, designed the Art Deco high rise in his 30s. Feldman had a long career that lasted into the 1970s and was responsible for more than 2,500 buildings in New York City. In 1932 he won Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce’s first award for best apartment house design. The metal plaque over the main entrance depicts rays of light emanating from the iconic Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower at 1 Hanson Place. The parapet over the entrance seen here is simple masonry or stucco. In a 2004 Streetscapes column architectural historian Christopher Gray suggests that perhaps the striped down entrance might have once been clad in decorative terra cotta akin to the multi-colored peacock plaques over the nearby side doors. The first floor facade and entrance were reclad in black and gray marble sometime between 2005 and 2009.

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.

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.

"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.

View of newly built park deck at Fulton Ferry Landing, ca. 1975. Ferry service operated at this crossing as early as 1642, but the Fulton Ferry takes its name from Robert Fulton’s revolutionary steam ferry service, which made its debut in 1814. The construction of the East River bridges contributed to declining ferry ridership, and Fulton Ferry service ceased in 1924.

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.

Vol. 5. Plate, C. \[Map bound by Poplar St., Sands St., Jay St., Pearl St., Johnson St., Pierrepont St., East River; Including Middagh St., High St., Cranberry St., Orange St., Nassau St., Pineapple St., Concord St., Clark St., Tillary St., Love Lane, Furman St., Columbia Heights, Willow St., Hicks St., College Pl., Henry St., Monroe St., Clinton St., Liberty St., Washington St., Adams St.], 1880.

Plate 6: Map bounded by Poplar Street, Henry Street, 1855.

20 Henry Street, April 1, 1937. The Mason, Au and Mangenheimer Candy Company constructed this six-story brick factory building in 1885. It was designed by Theobald Engelhardt, who constructed many of Greenpoint, Williamsburg, and Bushwick's industrial structures. The candy company, which was established in 1864 by two confectioners, produced both chocolate covered and gummy candies. Their best known products were Mason Peaks and Mason Mints (chocolate covered coconut and mints, respectively). They also made Dots and Crows, both gumdrops and still available today! The candy factory occupied this building until 1949. In 1972 the Mason Company was purchased by Tootsie Roll. In 1975 the building became a Mitchell-Lama affordable housing complex called the Middagh Street Studio Apartments. The affordable housing program was ended in 1999 when the landlord bought the building out of the program. A condo conversion was undertaken in the early 21st century. First coming onto the market during the 2008 recession, the fully completed conversion (which included the original factory building and an additional 14-unit building next door) went on the market in 2012. The factory units now sell for between $450,000 and $2.595 million. The conversion, thankfully, included the saving and renovating of the candy factory's painted facade signs.

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.

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.

Fulton Street El tracks at Middagh Street, undated. The corner building at right was 152 Fulton Street. In the background, left of the elevated tracks over Fulton Street as they continue eastbound into Brooklyn, a pile of earth indicates a construction project underway: the development of Cadman Plaza Park. In 1935, The city acquired the land east of Fulton Street for redevelopment as parkland adjacent to the borough’s civic center. In 1940, elevated service was discontinued over this part of Fulton Street, which would be renamed Cadman Plaza West. Today, the eastern side of this intersection includes the Cadman Plaza exit ramp from the Brooklyn Bridge roadway.

Heights Casino, ca. 1975.

Wood-frame house at 29 Middagh Street, ca. 1975. This house appears on Brooklyn maps as early as 1830, one of several such buildings on this block.

Watchtower Bible and Tract Society walkway and the Brooklyn Bridge, ca. 1975.

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.

Today, Fulton Mall is a bustling shopping district in Downtown Brooklyn. During the late-Victorian / early-Edwardian eras (think 1880-1910), it was the preeminent thoroughfare for fashionable shopping in Brooklyn. With monumental department stores like Abraham & Straus and impeccable restaurants like Gage & Tollner, shoppers and window shoppers alike teamed Fulton Street to see everything from the latest wedding trousseau to mourning veils, and penny candy to soft clam bellies in Duxbury stew. While most of these businesses no longer exist, many of their architectural remains can be found behind and above their modern facades.

Stable on Everit Street, off of Cadman Plaza West (Fulton Street), ca. 1975.

The trio of wood-frames seen here (nos. 38 and 40 front the street, no. 38A is reached by walking through the shared alley) were all built as early as 1830. The Joseph Bennett House (no. 38 in the middle with dark shingles) was originally three stories, but had an addition at some point during the 19th century. Joseph Bennett, the original owner, was listed in the 1830 Brooklyn directory as a packer.

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.

Long Island Safe Deposit Company building, 1 Front Street.

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.

68 Hicks Street, 1922.

57 Hicks Street, October 12, 1958.

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

25 Cranberry Street, April 4, 1932.

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.

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.

We are standing at one of the greatest seaports on the East Coast. In 1646, when the Dutch first settled here, this was part of the town of Breukelen, now Brooklyn. This busy area hosted ships carrying imported goods and exporting produce and other commodities to neighboring New Amsterdam (now Lower Manhattan), other colonies in the Americas, and Europe. Now look across the river at the sailing ships at the South Street Seaport and imagine them unloading their cargo. That was the bustling town of New Amsterdam—the commercial and financial center of Dutch and later English colonial operations. Ferries carried goods and people back and forth. It was a busy, noisy place, strange and frightening to many of the enslaved people arriving here. By the end of the American Revolution, in 1783, Brooklyn stretched from the DUMBO area up the hill to present–day Brooklyn Heights. The Fulton Landing lay at the heart of the town of Brooklyn. Businesses, then houses, spread outward from here, as streets were laid, shops, taverns, and churches built. Fulton’s steam ferry, which travelled between Brooklyn and Manhattan, began running in 1814. It decreased commuting times and made Brooklyn a desirable place to live for those who worked in Manhattan. This site is where the story of the emerging city of Brooklyn begins. (text from the Brooklyn Historical Society exhibition "In Pursuit of Freedom")

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.

23 Middagh Street, 1958.

1 Old Fulton Street, ca. 1958. The four-story corner building at the intersection of Water and Old Fulton Streets dates to the late 1830s, when it opened as the Franklin House hotel.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Corner of Fulton Street & Front Street, 1958 What a difference a few decades make! Built in 1869, this 1958 photograph of 1 Front Street from nearly a century later shows the aging of its unique cast iron facade. Described by the NY Times as an "eccentric Renaissance palazzo" this building's facade, once green with age now gleams white. Built by the Long Island Safety Deposit Company, it is the oldest surviving bank building in New York and in 1971 had a cameo in the Sophia Loren film "Mortadella."

Brooklyn City Railroad Company Building ARCHITECT: Unknown DATE: c. 1861 STYLE: French Second Empire Erected in 1860-61, this handsome building is a dignified commercial example of the French Second Empire style of the Civil War period. It was built as an office for the Brooklyn City Railroad Company, which had been incorporated in 1853 and had replaced the old stage lines which once provided transportation to Fulton Ferry. This building, at the intersection of Fulton and Furman Streets, stands on the site of William Furman’s house, seen on a map of the Old Ferry District in 1816.

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.

Tobacco Inspection Warehouse and Brooklyn Bridge, May 22, 1936. The Tobacco Warehouse was best recognized in the later 20th century as a hollow, roofless building. Berenice Abbott captured it here in 1936 prior to its near abandonment. Built in the 1860s the large brick warehouse was originally five stories. It was used as a tobacco storage space and the customs inspection center for tobacco. In the 1890s, 90% of Brooklyn's tobacco trade occurred here. By the mid 20th century the tobacco warehouse was no longer and the building was occupied by a metal reclaiming company. By the 1970s the roof of the, then remaining two stories, was gone and left the building open to the elements. Despite some initial legal issues related to the adjacent Brooklyn Bridge Park, the Tobacco Warehouse underwent a massive and multi-million dollar renovation between 2013-2015. It has been transformed (with new roof added) into a theatre venue for the avant-garde theater group St. Ann's Warehouse. The renovations included constructing a brand new building just inside (like an inch from) the original walls.

20 College Place,ca. 1978.

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.

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.

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."

High Street Station, August, 1964.

Facade detail at No. 80 Cranberry Street, Brooklyn Heights, ca. 1985.

A Brooklyn Daily Eagle article from 1937 highlights what CSI looked like in the 30s. Shown to the press for the first time, the newly funded laboratory employed twelve cops to "trace down the wolves in human form who rove the city to rob and kill."

23 Middagh Street, 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.

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

Ferries have made a bit of a comeback lately with the East River Ferry, Governor’s Island Ferry, and even a ferry to Ikea in Brooklyn. The first ferry route between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, however, was established in the 1630s, just a few years after the settling of New York by the Dutch. While Cornelius Dircksen Hoagland may have been the first to run a ferry between the two boroughs, Robert Fulton and his brother-in-law William Cutting popularized it in more modern times.

25 Middagh Street, April 5 1958.

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.

24 Middagh is one of the most well preserved wood-frame homes in Brooklyn Heights. It also features some unique details such as fluted Ionic columns and a leaded transom window above the paneled door. The two and half-story clapboard house was built in the 1820s (some reports say 1824, others 1829) and is known as the Eugene Boisslet House. Not only has the main house survived, so too, the rear carriage house seen nearest to the photographer in this 1958 image.

33- 27 Middagh Street (from right to left), April 5, 1958.

Eagle Warehouse ca. 1907 Built on the site of an old Brooklyn Eagle warehouse, famed Brooklyn architect Frank Freedman was hired to design a new fireproof warehouse on the site. Freedman's design, which Christopher Gray of the New York Times would describe as "a medieval brick fortress,", earned local acclaim upon its completion in 1894 and received a landmark designation in 1977. It would shortly thereafter be converted into condominiums.

5-7 Front Street, ca. 1958. Known to be the oldest surviving office building in New York City, 5-7 Front Street was originally erected in 1827 for the Long Island Insurance Company. Made of granite, brick, and stone, the building is among the district's earliest examples of the Greek Revival style. Today the building houses a restaurant, Gran Electrica, on its ground-floor.

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.

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.

24 Middagh Street, Willow Street facade, ca. 1960.

80 Cranberry Street, ca. 1994. Designed by H.I. Feldman, the Cranlyn is a 1931 Art Deco apartment building. The facade of the building features decorative bands of alternating brick colors and terra cotta trim, while the massing of the building, with ziggurat setbacks at the top, belies its Deco style. The terra cotta plaques above the side entrances depict pairs of colorful peacocks. The building's name is a portmanteau of its street and the borough name.

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.

Brownstone facades on Columbia Heights in Brooklyn Heights, May 14 1936. These buildings were razed during the construction of Robert Moses’s Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and later replaced by a playground.

Located in the Fulton Ferry Historic District in Brooklyn, the Fulton Ferry Fireboat House was built in 1926 on the former site of the old Fulton Ferry Terminal. Two years’ prior, Brooklyn’s Union Ferry Company had terminated service from this location due to the declining number of ferry commuters. This occurred in part because the early 1900s saw a rise in alternate means of available transportation including automobiles and newly constructed bridges spanning the East River between Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, followed by the Williamsburg Bridge in 1903, and the Manhattan Bridge in 1912. On October 8, 1925, the Fulton Ferry Terminal was destroyed in a massive two alarm fire. The fireboat house was built the following year. During the 1930s, the house was occupied by Fireboat Engine 77, the tower used to dry out the wet firehoses. In 1959, the station changed to Marine Company 7 and remained in operation until 1970. Subsequently, the largely abandoned industrial waterfront began a long process of revitalization. From 1976 to 1982 the boathouse served as headquarters to the Fulton Ferry Museum and National Maritime Historical Society. Today it is home to Ample Hills Creamery.

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.

Assumption Parish School (formerly P.S. 8), October 12, 1958. When this three-story Greek Revival schoolhouse was completed in 1846, it became the first public school in Brooklyn (despite the P.S. 8 designation, applied at a later date). The school was phased out after 1906, when a new P.S. 8 building on Hicks Street at the western end of the block. By 1920, the building was home to the parish school of the Church of the Assumption. The parish sold the building in 1975; it has since been converted to co-op residences.

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.

37 Willow Street (Cranberry Street facade), ca. 1980. Visible here is the Cranberry Street facade of 37 Willow. The wood-frame home at 25 Cranberry and the empty lot at no. 27, which has been empty since the 1930s, are seen beyond. 37 Willow Street was designed by architect A. F. Norris and completed in 1886. The Queen Anne style building was constructed as an apartment house– one of the first in the city.

"Fulton Ferry in Horse Car Days. Street view of the Fulton Ferry Landing, including horse-drawn streetcars, several pedestrians, and the entrance to Franklin House Billard Palor, circa 1890." The Fulton Ferry Terminal (seen here) was built in 1865 at the foot of Fulton Street. Commercial ferry service had been active since 1814 (and functioning in someway since the 1630s), but in the years following the construction of the Ferry Terminal in the mid 1860s, the popularity of the ferry were called into question by severe overcrowding, massive delays, unsafe conditions, and in the winter of 1866, the stoppage of all service when the East River froze. With the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 the vitality of the ferries and the nearby commercial hub waned somewhat. The ferry would survive for forty more years, ceasing service in 1924, and the Ferry Building would be torn down two years later.

Front Street warehouse, ca. 1958.

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.

A. Zerega's Sons building (background) at 28 Front Street, ca. 1935. Founded by Antoine Zerega, a French immigrant of Italian background, in 1848, Zerega's is the oldest pasta company in the United States. Zerega Avenue in the Bronx is named after the pasta maker. The company moved from DUMBO to Fair Lawn, New Jersey in 1952.

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

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.

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.

Built in the early 1820s by John Rodgers who was a cooper, this corner structure is one of the older buildings in the neighborhood. Though its wood-frame structure can not currently be be seen, it is prominently displayed in the 1922 photograph. This building housed the architectural offices of John A. Roebling’s Sons Company during the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge. It was also the location of a well-loved veterinary office from 1959 to 2012 called the Heights Veterinary Hospital.

Intersection of Columbia Heights and Middagh Street: vine covered apartment house with iron fence along front in right foreground, commercial/residential building, horse-drawn wagon, and fire hydrant in left foreground, several buildings and section of Brooklyn Bridge in background. (Brooklyn Daily Eagle Photographs, 1916)

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.

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

Squibb Plant After serving as a physician at the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Medical Station, Edward Robinson Squibb founded his own pharmaceutical manufacturing company, The Squibb Company, in 1858. In 1892, he formed a partnership with his family and changed the name to E.R. Squibb and Sons. During the 1920s, Squibb hired architect Russell G. Cory and associate Walter M. Cory of Turner Construction Company to design and build a new manufacturing plant located at 25-30 Columbia Heights in the Fulton Ferry District of Brooklyn, as seen above. E.R. Squibb and Sons would become one of the largest manufacturers of mineral oil in the world, as well as one of the nation’s largest producers of vitamins. In 1969, as a result of the postwar deindustrialization of the waterfront, several mergers, and a worker’s strike, the Squibb Plant closed its doors and consolidated their operations to nearby Princeton, New Jersey. That same year the building was purchased by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (the legal entity of the Jehovah’s Witnesses), who were at the time expanding their operations in the area. Over the past fifty years you may have seen the iconic red “watchtower” letters as you walked or drove over the Brooklyn Bridge, illuminating the skyline with the time and temperature. The Jehovah’s Witnesses group decided to move their headquarters to upstate New York and sold the building to developers in 2016 to turn it into a multi-office and retail complex.

My Archive Spring 2019 "The Brooklyn Bridge on its 100th-anniversary celebration. I was there with many friends, some of whom are in the photograph. May 24th, 1983." —Michael Castellano

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

Tenements and wood-frame dwellings on Garrison Street, a single block between Front and York Streets in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, ca. 1938. Arnold Eagle’s photo is part of his “One Third of a Nation” series, shot with David Robbins. The project document the living conditions in poverty-stricken New York City neighborhoods, and shared its name with a 1938 “living newspaper” production by the Federal Theatre Project dramatizing similar themes. Garrison is named for John Garrison, an early 19th century judge who also served as president of the Village of Brooklyn. At right in the middle ground, is Mercein Street, a single-block street named for Andrew Mercein, a political figure of the same era who lived on nearby Sands Street. Both streets were eliminated in the early 1950s to make room a westbound exit ramp from the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway. Today, a parking lot entrance roughly lines up with the former path of Garrison Street.

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.

Church of The Assumption of The Blessed Virgin Mary, ca. 1979. The parish of Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary was established in 1842 and actually pre-dates the founding of the Diocese of Brooklyn (1853). It was the first Catholic church in this neighborhood and only the third in Brooklyn. The original church was located at York and Jay Streets in what is now DUMBO. A early 20th century article in the Real Estate Record notes that the structure is in the direct path of the Manhattan Bridge No. 2 Anchorage. The church building were purchased in an imminent domain transaction for $125,000 and in turn they bought a series of lots along Cranberry and Middagh Streets in 1905. The new church, dedicated on August 15, 1909, was a large, white, Italian-Renaissance style structure.

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

Poplar Street, between Columbia Heights and Willow Street, May 14, 1936. Local activism managed to save much of Brooklyn Heights — specifically, the corridor along Hicks Street — from Robert Moses’s wrecking ball, but not every block was so lucky. This section of Poplar Street was razed during the 1950s to make way for the triple-cantilever sections of the Brooklyn-Queens expressway, which runs roughly where photographer Berenice Abbott stood as she captured this scene. Today, the land where these houses stood is the Hillside Park dog run.

Located in the Fulton Ferry Historic District in Brooklyn, the Fulton Ferry Fireboat House was built in 1926 on the former site of the old Fulton Ferry Terminal.

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.

York Street at the Brooklyn Bridge looking north along Garrison Street, ca. 1935. Garrison Street was a small, crooked alley that ran from York Street (the road seen in the foreground) to Front Street. It ran parallel to the bridge for only a hundred or so feet then sharply turned to the north (right) where it ran perpendicular into Front Street. Named after John Garrison a butcher who became a judge and was later the first president of Brooklyn Village. While they survived the building of the adjacent Brooklyn Bridge, they were lost in the mid-century urban development and construction of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway in the 1950s.

The Plaza Restaurant, at Middagh Street and Cadman Plaza West (formerly Fulton Street), August 1964.

The Michael Vanderhoef House (no. 40 at left) was built circa 1830 or 1831 in the Federal style, much like its neighbors. Micheal Vanderhoef, its original owner, was a cartman. These hard working businessmen made their money hauling goods, as well as collecting and carting away "night soil," which was the human waste collected from outhouses and privies in the times before indoor plumbing. In 1976, nearly 150 years after construction this home was extensively restored to its original appearance.

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 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.

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.

Fulton Ferry Fireboat House newly painted, circa 1975. Originally called the Marine Fire Boat Station, this wood-frame building and attached tower was built in 1926 for the New York City Fire Department’s Marine Company 7. It was used to hang and dry fire hoses. By the 1960s the Fire Department no longer had use for the building. It was empty and derelict for a number of years until the National Maritime Museum moved in, in 1976. They would move out six years later under pressure from Brooklyn government officials who wanted to open up the building to commercial use. Today it houses Ample Hills.

Written By Deborah Tint This story examines the Fulton Ferry House that once stood where Old Fulton Street met the water’s edge in Brooklyn Heights, one in a series of ferry buildings on that site. This story can be read in its original format here.

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.

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).