Front gardens at the intersection of Carroll and Hoyt Streets, 1960.

Carroll Gardens takes its name from its proximity to Carroll Park and the unique front-garden layout devised by surveyor Richard Butts. The 1973 Historic District Designation Report praises Butts vision: “The tree-lined streets, with long rows of low two-and three-story houses, set back uniformly behind carefully tended gardens, exhibit, to a degree unusual in an urban environment, an awareness of the values of open space, a remarkable degree of architectural unity and a quiet dignity.”

The late-1860s draining of the swampland surrounding the Gowanus Canal spurred development east of Smith Street, including the blocks surveyed by Butts. The row of townhouses at the eastern end of Carroll Street, adjoining Hoyt Street, were built in the late 1870s, among the last in the district.