Church of the Ascension, 1935. Designed in Early English Gothic style by noted church architect Henry Dudley, the Church of the Ascension hosted its first mass in 1866. Funding for the church was donated by two notable parishioners: J.W. Valentine and Thomas Fitch Rowland, the owner of Greenpoint’s Continental Iron Works. Following the devastation of 2012's Hurricane Sandy, the church became the logistical base in North Brooklyn for the 'Occupy Sandy' relief efforts.

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.

144 Franklin Street Alonzo B. Jones, ca. 1895 This Renaissance Revival structure features a rich texture comprised of rough-cut brownstone at the base and brick and red terra cotta on the upper floors. Its bays consist of impressively scaled arches separated by equally monumental pilasters with Corinthian capitals. Separating the arched bays from the bracketed cornice is an ornate frieze. Attention is drawn to the Greenpoint Avenue façade, whose central bay is flanked by oval windows that further accentuate the building’s Renaissance inspiration.

The Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company's Clubhouse was located on Manhattan Avenue in Clay Street. The Electric Railway Review of 1903 reported of its opening on Tuesday, July 7th. The building cost a sum of $40,000 and included the headquarters for the BRT's Benefit Association, who at the time had over three thousand members. The clubhouse portion of the facility provided access for any employee of the train company to 200 lockers, four pool tables, four bowling lanes, and a sizeable library. For the two dollars a year, employees could also be instructed on a variety of subjects. Evening courses ranged from foundational classes such as penmanship, literature, music, and arithmetic, or on topics closely related to their trade like electricity and mechanical drawing. Students of these classes had additional admission to the clubhouse gym and bathing facilities. Companies at the turn of the century would provide amenities of this sort to keep their workforces happy.

Pottery Beach, located where West Street met the East River, was named for a pottery factory that once stood on its site. A reporter from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle set out to meet the man who gave the beach its name on Christmas Eve of 1883. The account reads more like a fable than an actual news report, though it provides an account of life in Greenpoint before the waterfront was lined with heavy industry. Of the name "Pottery Beach," the man claimed: "there used to be an old pottery here, but it went to ruin after the owners had died and gone, and year after year...there was nothing left but a few old sticks and bricks which told the tale. Well, when I found out that the beach used to be used as a pottery, I concluded at once to call it pottery beach, an' by that name it has gone ever since." The so-called "owner" of the beach, as the newspaper christened him, decided to live on the beach after finding himself homeless. The man, who referred to himself in the third person only as "Jack," was in his past life a captain "of as pretty a ship as did ever sail the ocean," so it was fitting that the residence he built was a haphazardly fashioned cabin on top of a boat. In fact, the journalist for the Eagle was forced to take a row-boat out for an interview because the evening tides were high enough to partially submerge the sunken ship. Jack claimed that Greenpoint's sandy shore was a popular fishing spot, swimming hole, and place to watch yacht races. The former captain had lived on the beach for fifteen years, making a living selling provisions like ginger-snaps, lemonade, soda water, ginger beer, and cigarettes to young beach-goes "their mothers don't know it...they will not git a licking because Jack will not say anything about it." After bidding the man farewell, the reporter reflected on the fate of the area. He wrote: "\[it] will in a very short time be a thing of the past. Large manufactories are constantly springing up in Greenpoint, and all available waterfront will be needed...The property is convenient to all Greenpoint ferries and is within a few minutes of New York, and will doubtless in a short time be built upon by one of the large oil companies now located in Hunter's Point and Greenpoint."

This 1895 Neo-Classical building was the headquarters of the Mechanics and Traders Bank, founded in 1867 by Archibald Meserole, of the prominent Greenpoint family. Architect Alonzo B. Jones incorporated a variety of building materials and architectural styles: a rusticated brownstone base; arched, palladian, and oval windows with terra cotta detail; full-height (second and third stories) red brick pilasters with Corinthian capitals; and a wavy stemlike motif frieze beneath the cornice.

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.

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.

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.

BRT Depot/ Clubhouse, 1906.

The Roman Catholic Church of Saints Cyril and Methodius, October 19, 1958. This Roman Catholic parish was founded by members of Greenpoint's Polish Community in 1916, with the church itself completed the following year. In the 1958 photo, black bunting appears over the entrance, commemorating the mourning of Pope Pius XII, who had died 10 days earlier.

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.

179 Freeman Street, October 19, 1958.

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.