St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, October 19, 1958. This German-Gothic style church was designed by the Brooklyn-born architect Theobald Engelhardt and completed in 1897 (some records list an earlier date of completion). Engelhardt was a prolific in the late 19th century, designing breweries, banks, factories, and mansions across Brooklyn, especially in neighborhoods with established German populations.

While much of this view had changed (namely the disappearance of the wood-frame structures at right), two large buildings in this circa 1915 view remain. They are the four-story wood-frame at left (no. 688) and the ornate brick and terra cotta five-story building (no. 680) next door. While the plots at right are now home to more modern buildings, just down the block at 702-708 Manhattan Avenue, one can see surviving building much like those lost here.

This building once had a lovely corner entrance to the ground floor commercial space. That retail location is long gone, and the first-floor facade shows the obvious and clumsy infill.

ST. ANTHONY OF PADUA CHURCH 862 Manhattan Avenue Patrick Charles Keely, 1875 With its 240-foot spire, St. Anthony of Padua is a dramatic neighborhood centerpiece, especially when viewed from Milton Street. Designed in the Victorian Gothic style, it is the most impressive of the many churches in Brooklyn designed by Patrick C. Keely, a prolific ecclesiastical architect whose works spanned the country. Decorative features include original carved tympana in the three arched entrances, keyed stone enframements, carved stone and Minton tile bandcourses and diamond panels, and pediments with clock faces at the base of the spire. Flanking the church is the modest convent at 878 Manhattan Avenue and the Gothic Revival rectory at number 862, which features pointed-arch windows with carved tympana and a cornice with iron cresting.

St. Anthony of Padua Roman Catholic Church, October 19, 1958. The church is adorned with black and purple fabric as a gesture of mourning for Pope Pius XII. Construction on St. Anthony of Padua, designed in Gothic Revival style by prolific church architect Patrick Keely, commenced in 1873. The Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 1982 Designation Report calls St. Anthony “the most impressive of Keely’s Brooklyn churches,” noting its 240-foot spire and polychrome limestone and brick facade. In 1975, the church merged St. Alphonsus Church, and is today known as St. Anthony — St. Alphonsus.

P.S. 34, Oliver H. Perry, Brooklyn P.S. 34, located in the Greenpoint neighborhood was designed by Samuel B. Leonard, who served as the Superintendent of Buildings for the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn. Built between 1867 and 1870 in an impressive Rundbogenstil (German round-arched neo-Romanesque) Style and named for Oliver H. Perry, a hero of the War of 1812, P.S. 34 is the oldest school still in use today. It was designated as a New York City Landmark in 1983.

What happens when two Urban Archive staff members are practically neighbors? They go on a walk capturing as many then-and-now pictures as they can! If you’re in North Brooklyn sometime soon, see if you can take some of your own!

St. Elias Catholic Church 149 Kent Street Church: William B. Ditmars, 1869–70 School: W. Wheeler Smith, 1879 St. Elias Greek Rite Catholic Church, formerly the Reformed Dutch Church of Greenpoint (bottom), combines elements of the Romanesque Revival and Victorian Gothic styles, both popular in the post-Civil War period. Its brick and stone façades have round-arch openings, polychromatic ornament and a columned portico entrance. Its polygonal Sunday school building mimics a medieval Italian baptistery, but another Victorian touch can be found in the handsome wooden porch on its east end.

GREENPOINT SAVINGS BANK HQ 807 Manhattan Avenue Helmle & Huberty, 1906–08 The Greenpoint Savings Bank, established in 1868, was housed in four different buildings in the neighborhood prior to commissioning this grand structure. Designed by the same firm responsible for the Shelter Pavilion in Monsignor McGolrick Park, this neo-Classical, Roman-style limestone bank features a granite base, a recessed portico with four Doric columns topped with a triangular pediment, a large dome, and patterned slate shingles.

North side of Milton Street, Greenpoint, October 19, 1958. At right Nos. 131 and 133 form a pair of Second Empire townhouses, each with floor length parlor windows, and mansard roofs with round “bullseye” windows. By 1982, when Milton Street was included in the Greenpoint Historic District, the 1870s houses had been modified, with No. 131 losing its bullseye.

“Blue House,” 1958. 119 Milton Street is one half of a pair of Neo-Grec rowhouses designed by Thomas C. Smith and completed in 1876. Curiously, the 1982 Historic District Designation Report makes no mention of no. 119’s bold color scheme.

“Exterior view of Manhattan Furrier, a family-owned business located at 685 Manhattan Avenue in the Greenpoint neighborhood of Brooklyn. The business opened in 1916 and closed permanently in 2011. This photograph is part of an ongoing project by photographers James and Karla Murray to document storefronts in Brooklyn and New York City.”

This red brick schoolhouse (though painted in this 1935 photograph) is, in fact, the oldest continually used school building in New York! While a rumor persists that the building served as a hospital during the Civil War, more solid sources reflect that the school was constructed in 1867. Designed by then Superintendent of School Buildings (of the independent city of Brooklyn) Samuel Leonard, the Romanesque Revival style structure was built in sections over the next few decades. Today the schoolhouse is named for Oliver H. Perry, a naval hero of the War of 1812. In 2015 the school became the first public school in the city to offer dual-language Polish-English education, owing to the considerable Polish community in Greenpoint (60% of the children come from a Polish background).

106-112 Noble Street, September 1, 1936. This photo shows two synagogues: Beth El (at left) and Ahawath Israel, now known as Greenpoint Shul (at right). The Greenpoint Shul is the only remaining synagogue in the neighborhood. According to public records, the building was originally a Congregationalist Church that dates back to 1871. In the late 1880s, it became a German-Jewish Reform synagogue, Temple Beth El. The congregation that worships at Greenpoint Shul today (2018) is the result of a merger of three of five synagogues that have served Greenpoint since the late 19th century.

Public School 34 ARCHITECT: Samuel B. Leonard DATE: 1867, 1870, 1887-88 STYLE: Romanesque Revival One of the oldest schools in continuous use in New York City, P.S. 34 is known as the Oliver H. Perry School, in honor of the hero of the Battle of Lake Erie during the War of 1812. The school was built in 1867 to accommodate the needs of the expanding schools system in Greenpoint. Brick with stone trim, the school was designed in the Romanesque Revival style with Italianate ornamental motifs.

St. Elias Catholic Church, October 29, 1958. Built in “Ruskinian Gothic” style with alternating white and brownstone arches, the Reformed Dutch Church of Greenpoint was completed in 1870. A Sunday School building was added in 1879. The church was sold St. Elias, a Greek Catholic congregation, in 1943, when the Reformed Dutch Church moved to a smaller building on nearby Milton Street. The Kent Street church has been abandoned since 2007.

Formerly Public School 126.

From hip little coffee shops, beautiful street art, and spacious parks, Brooklyn is known as a bastion for community, creativity, and excitement. Its history spans back over 350 years and has its roots in New Amsterdam—it’s named after the Dutch town Breukelen after all, and each neighborhood has a unique cultural identity complete with great food. As you explore the borough, we’ve highlighted a few of Brooklyn’s numerous delicious restaurants. These local Brooklyn businesses all have a little slice of Brooklyn history to them and you will surely learn something new while enjoying a local meal.