Union League Club, ca. 1885. The Union League was an off-shoot of the Union Club, one of New York's oldest and most prestigious social clubs. The Union League was founded by supporters of the Union side during the Civil War. Its original building was in Manhattan on 26th Street, but chapters soon opened in a number of eastern cities. The Brooklyn chapter was founded in 1887 and in 1891 it moved into a brand new Romanesque Revival building on Dean and Bedford Streets. The red brick and brownstone building was imposing with large arched entranceways and a tall tower at the corner (which has since been removed). The large equestrian statue of President Grant that sits across the street from the entrance was commissioned and erected by the League.

Former Union League Club, General Grant Statue 19 Grant Square Designed by Peter J. Lauritzen, 1890 William Ordway Partridge, 1896 This handsome Romanesque Revival style building was constructed as a social club for the Union League, established in 1863 by Union supporters and members of Brooklyn’s Republican Party. The Grant Square façade abounds in Union iconography, most significantly in the brownstone busts of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses S. Grant above the entrance arches and a grand eagle supporting the second floor bay window. The building’s rich terra cotta trim includes a plethora of Byzantine leaf, popular in the 1880s and 1890s. The structure’s roofline suffered major alterations in the 1970s, including the removal of Spanish tiles, a turreted observation tower, and a gabled roof with a large dormer. In the early 20th century, after the boroughs were consolidated, the club merged with the Manhattan branch. In 1914, the building became home to a Jewish organization called the Unity Club until 1943, and was subsequently converted to a Yeshiva. The building currently houses the Bhraggs Grant Square Senior Citizens’ Center. The Union League Club commissioned the bronze statue of Grant that sits within the adjacent square, and donated it to the city in 1896, when it was unveiled on Grant’s birthday. The Former Union League Club of Brooklyn and General Grant statue are located within the Crown Heights North Historic District and State and National Register of Historic Places Crown Heights North Historic District.

Described in the Crown Heights North Historic District designation report as “among Brooklyn’s most architecturally distinguished areas” and a “showcase for the work of architects who played an important role in Brooklyn’s development”, the neighborhood as a feast for the eyes. Its magnificent and varied residential architecture is peppered with grand religious and institutional buildings, and anchored by the picturesque Brower Park. The neighborhood’s northern and southern boundaries are Atlantic Avenue and Eastern Parkway, but its western and eastern boundaries are up for debate, though many consider them to be Washington Avenue and Ralph Avenue, respectively. The area’s three historic districts were designated between 2007 and 2015, and this story highlights some of the treasures found within and nearby those districts. The neighborhood’s transition from farmland to suburban enclave began in 1854 with the auction of land parcels by the area’s principal landowner, the Lefferts family. At that time, this area was known as the village of Bedford, a name it retained for some time. The area’s epic transformation over the ensuing half century was enabled by a series of major transportation improvements. The first was the introduction of stagecoach and horsecar service between Fulton Ferry and Bedford, which inspired the construction of freestanding villas on the Lefferts parcels. With the announcement of the new Brooklyn Bridge, to be completed in 1883, speculative rowhouse construction began as early as the 1870s, but dramatically increased after the Kings County Elevated Railway was completed along Fulton Street in 1888. It is this latter wave of development that most strongly characterizes the neighborhood’s architectural significance today. When the subway reached the area in 1920, apartment building construction increased to accommodate a growing commuter population. Around 1890, the area north of Sterling Place became known as the “St. Marks District”, but the moniker was short-lived, as many of the wealthy residents of St. Marks Avenue had moved away and their mansions demolished by 1920. Grant Square was also one of the most prestigious sections of Brooklyn at the turn of the century, second only to Grand Army Plaza in importance due to the prominent institutions on its borders, including the Union League Club, St. Bartholomew’s Church, and the 23rd Regiment Armory. The name “Crown Heights” was used starting around 1910 to describe the area south of Eastern Parkway. The area north of the parkway was called “Bedford” well into the 20th century, since the area was considered part of Bedford-Stuyvesant. However, “Crown Heights” gained traction with its white population in the mid-20th century as a way to differentiate itself from Bedford-Stuyvesant, which many began to consider a black ghetto. While historians often refer to Crown Heights “North” and “South” due to their demographic, architectural, topographical, and historical differences, most do not make this distinction even today. During its boom years, the population of Crown Heights North was of mainly European descent. By the mid-20th century, African- and Caribbean-Americans began to make up a significant portion of the population due to the 1936 opening of the Independent (IND) subway line, which provided direct access from Harlem, the center of the city’s black population. By the 1960s, Crown Heights had the largest Caribbean-American population in the city, and by the 1990s, was known as a major Caribbean-American hub in the entire country. Today, the neighborhood is changing yet again, with populations shifting as a result of rising rents throughout the city.

Crown Heights has a rich and diverse history. Though it began as farmland, it developed as a fashionable locale for the second homes of bourgeois Manhattanites. Eastern Parkway soon was studded with cultural institutions and mansions. Furthermore, the 20th century marked an influx of Jewish and later Caribbean immigration, with both communities infusing Crown Heights with new cultures and making their mark on the neighborhood.

Grant Square from Bergen Street, ca. 1925. The Union League Club and its statue of Ulysses S. Grant can be seen at right and center, respectively.