It is easy to see why this was called the “\[T]he most beautiful example of Dutch colonial architecture in Brooklyn,” set as it is behind a white picket fence on a half-acre lawn shaded by mature trees (yes, this really is Brooklyn!). Originally the house faced south, but around 1898 it was turned to face west to avoid having newly-opened East 22nd Street run through its kitchen wing. The slender porch columns supporting the sloping eaves were added then. Just three families have owned the house: the Wyckoffs (descendants of Pieter Claesen Wyckoff), who built it before 1766; the Bennetts, who bought it in 1835 and occupied it until 1982; and the Monts, who bought it in 1983. Two Hessian officers billeted in the house during the American Revolution scratched their names and ranks on windowpanes which survive. The house became a landmark in 1968 and remains a private residence.

Before it was a borough of skyscrapers, brownstones, and warehouses, Brooklyn was home to Dutch immigrants and farmers escaping the chaos and bustle of New Amsterdam. The original area was made up of six independent towns called Breuckelen (Brooklyn Heights), Boswijck (Bushwick), Vlacke Bos or Midwout (Flat Bush), New Amersfoort (Flatlands), Gravesend, and New Utrecht. The homes that populated 17th-century Brooklyn are famous for pioneering the American-Dutch Colonial style that inspired architecture into the next century. The style's influence can still be seen in suburban homes today. Thanks to 19th-century photographer Robert L. Bracklow and others, an extensive photographic record of these homes exists, offering a clear visual contrast to the Brooklyn of today (though some of the original homes survive)!

Between 1954 and 1957, the Municipal Art Society surveyed historic buildings in all five boroughs to create a database of potential landmarks to preserve. Local residents and MAS staff compiled individual sheets devoted to about 200 buildings. Each sheet outlined the building’s date, location, and style and provided a description and a small photograph. This is the list of Brooklyn buildings.