View west on Broadway toward the former Sparrow Shoe Factory (No. 195), ca. 1975. The cast iron-fronted factory was built in 1882 for the show manufacturing business of James R. Sparrow and his son James R. Sparrow, Jr. At right is the awning for the Peter Luger Steak House, a restaurant founded in 1887 as Carl Luger’s Café, Billiards and Bowling Alley. At left is the Williamsburgh Savings Bank.

Drug store at the northwest corner of Marcy Avenue and Division Street, January 18, 1959.

Eastern District Brooklyn High School, 1907 This high school was proposed in 1894 as a facility for the Eastern District (Williamsburg and Bushwick) of the city of Brooklyn. It welcomed its first students in 1900, two years after Brooklyn became a borough of the Greater New York City. Originally housed in the former Eastern District Library and two annex spaces, the new Eastern District High School was completed in 1907. Designed by the BOE Superintendent of Buildings, C.B.J. Snyder, the Gothic style, H-shaped building is clad in gray brick, limestone, and terracotta. The school suffered in the 1960s and 1970s from overcrowding, student unrest, and violence. Eastern District moved into a new building on Grand Street in 1981. (The school in its new location would eventually close after the 1995/1996 school year, reopening later in 1996 as the Grand Street Campus, housing several small high schools under one roof.) Today the 1907 building on Keap Street and Marcy Avenue serves as a girl's yeshiva called Bais Ruchel d'Satmar.

ca. 1975 George Washington at Valley Forge is the name of the sculpture by Henry Shrady that stands in Brooklyn near the approach to the Williamsburg Bridge. It commemorates the months Washington and his army spent in a camp northwest of Philadelphia over the course of a deadly winter. Washington did, of course, also spend some time in Brooklyn during the Revolutionary War, although Shrady opted, perhaps understandably, not to memorialize Washington escaping capture following his defeat in the Battle of Brooklyn. Although it might not have seemed like a statue-worthy moment, that escape, made possible by dense fog and strong winds over the East River, is what allowed Washington to continue to lead the Continental Army to eventual victory.

Sparrow Show Factory 183-195 Broadway is considered one of the finest surviving cast-iron buildings in Brooklyn. Its iron was cast by the Atlantic Iron Works of Manhattan, which cast pieces for many buildings in Tribeca and Soho. The cast-iron façade remains intact and features inventive ornamentation in the form of calla lilies, stylized drapery, and wreaths on the building’s pilasters. A similar spiral floral concept can be seen on other buildings, but the use of the calla lily is considered unique. The building was likely built as a shoe dealer’s factory and warehouse. In 1937, the building became home to the Forman Family, manufacturers of chromium tableware and metal gift items. Their signage remains between the second and third floors, though the building now houses loft-style apartments. While cast-iron buildings could once be found throughout Brooklyn, the four surviving cast-iron buildings clustered along this section of Broadway are among the borough’s only survivors, and the only substantial group outside of Manhattan.

Williamsburgh Trust Company Building (later Holy Trinity Cathedral) Historic District ARCHITECT: Helmle, Huberty & Hudswell DATE: 1905-06 STYLE: Neo-Classical Completed in 1906, the Williamsburgh Trust Company Building is a monumental Neoclassical style bank building recalling Williamsburg’s industrial prosperity of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Designed by Helmle, Huberty & Hudswell, major Brooklyn architects who designed some of the borough’s most significant early-20th-century banks and park structures, it initially served as headquarters of the Williamsburgh Trust Company. It is a superlative example of the luxurious “banking temples” constructed in Manhattan and Brooklyn starting in the late 19th century, featuring classical porticos with acroteria on its two street facades, as well as a saucer dome recalling that of the Pantheon. Originally intended to stand in isolation, the building is remarkable for its four fully developed classical facades as well as its unusual facing material of white terra cotta. The building was acquired by the City of New York and from 1916 to 1958, it served as Magistrates’ Court for the Fifth District of Brooklyn. The building’s cross-shaped plan and central dome made it attractive for conversion to an Orthodox church, and in 1961, it was acquired by the Holy Ukrainian Autocephalic Orthodox Church in Exile, which renovated it to serve as its Holy Trinity Cathedral. Since then, the church has diligently and sensitively maintained the building, enabling this lavish structure to endure as one of Williamsburg’s most prominent and imposing landmarks.

Payton's Lee Avenue Theater, ca. 1902. This 1,600 seat theater was built in a former church as the Lee Avenue Academy of Music in 1882. By 1895, the theater became the Phoebus Theater, and sometime shortly after, the theater was acquired by Corse Payton. Payton, a veteran actor, renamed the venue: Payton's Lee Avenue Theater. Corse Payton likened himself "America's Best Bad Actor," though despite this self-effacing name, he was quite successful in his career. In multiple billings at the Payton Theater, including "The Dancing Girl," and "The Prodigal Daughter," both Corse Payton and his wife Etta Reed performed on stage. Of the latter production, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported "electric fans kept the audience cool, in the face of the many exciting entanglements of the melodrama." The theater was razed in 1915, the New York Times reported that this was because "the BMT ran an elevated line through its balcony." A new theater, the Roebling, was built on the same site in 1919. The Roebling sat 1,200 guests on one level, rather than in tiered balconies like the original structure. The building changed hands in 1937 and became the Wilson Theater before closing down for good in 1945. The building is now occupied by a Congregation Adas Yereim.

Building at the northwest corner of South 9th and Havemeyer Streets, South Williamsburg; January 18, 1959.

Williamsburgh Savings Banks ca. 1975 After the Greek Revival, very few purely classical buildings were erected until the World's Columbian Exposition rerouted interest in the beauties of the ancient world. This Classic building, erected in 1875, is one of the few, and must have seemed imposing to a city of brownstone, brick, and Ruskinian polychromy.

Williamsburgh Savings Bank ARCHITECT: George B. Post DATE: 1875 STYLE: Italian Renaissance An imposing building of monumental proportions, this bank with its dome and handsome lantern impresses one with its massive strength and quiet dignity. Classic Revival in style, this four story building of limestone, sandstone and marble contains a wealth of architectural detail and ornament. The Williamsburgh Savings Bank is an unusual domed structure, with many diverse architectural elements in its composition. Interior: Inspired by Renaissance models, the centrally-planned, domed banking room is a precursor to the temple banking halls which came into vogue in the period following the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. A rare intact example of a mid-nineteenth century ornamentation scheme, the banking hall features a mixture of Renaissance and Neo-Grec motifs and contains an abundance of rich materials and elaborate polychromy. Dominating the space is the soaring cast-iron dome which rises 110 feet above the banking floor and is capped by a beautifully painted vault with an unusual abstract design.

Williamsburg Branch, ca. 1905. The Williamsburg Library, completed between 1903 and 1905, was the first Carnegie Library begun in Brooklyn. The cornerstone was laid in November of 1903, at a well-attended event. A time capsule of documents including a copy of the Carnegie contract was laid in the cornerstone. The large Y-shaped building sits on a raised, grassy triangular plot. Its floorplan meant to evoke an open book, with two wings radiating from a center bay. The building, designed by Richard A. Walker, was designated an individual landmark in 2006 and still functions as branch of the Brooklyn Public Library.

“George Washington at Valley Forge,” at Continental Army Plaza at the foot of the Williamsburg Bridge. The plaza has been decorated by the Mayor’s Committee to Welcome the British and French War Commissions. May 1, 1917. The bronze statue by Henry Mervin Shrady was cast at Roman Bronze Works in Greenpoint, Brooklyn and installed ahead of the park’s opening in 1906.