In 1844, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle printed the following prediction “THE CITY OF CHURCHES — such, in time, will be the distinctive appellation of Brooklyn.” In the ensuing decades, the incorporation of new houses of worship matched the pace of residential development and reflected the diverse ancestry of the immigrant communities who settled there. The buildings of the 19th and 20th centuries express the evolution of American church architecture, as dictated by the pride and prosperity of worshippers from Bushwick to Bay Ridge.

The Queen of All Saints Chapel and School at Lafayette and Vanderbilt Avenues, ca. 1913. Designed by Reiley & Steinback, construction of the elaborate Gothic Revival Catholic church began in 1910 and was completed in 1913. When opened it was lauded by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle as "one of the two or three most beautiful specimens of Church architecture in the United States."

Facade detail: Queen of All Saints Roman Catholic Church, 1928.

The 19th century saw Fort Greene develop from farmland held by a few families to a residential neighborhood, populated by a mix of Brooklyn’s working, merchant, and upper classes. Today, much of the neighborhood has been well preserved, including several blocks of brownstone and rowhouse architecture, churches, parkland, and civic institutions dating to the 19th century. Even in areas transformed by postwar urban renewal and commercial development traces of an earlier era remain.

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A collection of churches across New York City from the New York Public Library.