NYC Post #10: Brooklyn - Downtown Brooklyn - Fort Greene / Clinton Hill - FORT GREENE

CONCEPT

New York City, First Quest, Second Installment

FORT GREENE

Fort Greene and Clinton Hill are both neighborhoods immediately adjacent to the district where Jess and I live. Of the two, we have more extensive experience with Fort Greene, since we walk through the area whenever we take the subway.

Initially the neighborhood consided of four or five farms and villas built
in the Greek revival style, none of which remain. At the top of the Revolutionary War, a battle was fought between British and American forces on the slopes of Fort Greene Park. The Americans retreated to Manhattan under the cover of fog. The area grew rapidly during the Civil War era along with the rest of downtown Brooklyn, and most of the neighborhoods retain official historic site designation.
Fort Greene was afflicted with urban decay for many decades, but is experiencing a renaissance of sorts today. Of the three parts of Fort Greene/Clinton Hill, it is probably the most gentrified.

Today, with the Prison Ship monument and the Williamsburgh Bank Building within neighborhood boundaries, Fort Greene can claim two of most distinctive features on Brooklyn's skyline.

FORT GREENE PARK

Fort Greene is dominated by its namesake park, which has an extraordinary history of its own. After its dramatic role in the Revolutionary War, Fort Greene Park was fromally established as the first urban park in America. After its decline over the next century, Walt Whitman, a neighborhood resident, successfully petitioned for the parks rehabilitation. The design included ambitious landscaping as envisioned by Olmstead and Vaux (of Central Park fame).

The Park from Myrtle, looking toward Downtown Brooklyn.
Entrance to the park, paved in brick.
Looking down towards Myrtle Avenue. I love this view.
People read or play chess here, when it's not raining.
Down toward Washington.
The Childrens' Park here and here.
A local law prohibits pedestrians from walking through playground areas without a child. Violation can mean a $500 fine, as an effort to prevent paedophilia. Nobody really obeys, however. Most of the time, there aren't even aren't any kids present.
The stone steps and brick mounds at the approach to the Prison Ship monument were remeniscent of Mayan ruins in Belize. One thing Jessica said about Fort Greene Park is that it's "small enough that it's easy to get around, but it still feels set apart from the city."

The most striking feature of Fort Greene Park is the Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument. This simple columnar structure includes the interred remains of several American soldiers from among thousands tossed in the swamps near the present Navy Yard. The monument was designed by McKim, Mead & White and inaugurated in 1908.

The momument above the wall and trees.
From a majestic distance across the park.
Halfway there.
The whole monument.
Top, bottom, and dedication.
Looking out from the base toward downtown Manhattan.

* * * * *

THE FORT GREENE HISTORIC DISTRICT

One of Brooklyn's most extensive and best preserved brownstone neighborhoods, Fort Greene homes that sold for a few thousand just dacades ago are now priced in the millions of dollars. Most are built in Italianate, Anglo-Italianate, and Queen Anne style within a decade of the Civil War.

Brownstone houses.
Brick with green trim.
Frame houses with bright blue molding.
jpg>Row houses joined together. (A bit blurry).
Presbyterian Church #1, #2, and #3.
Corner detailing on apartment high-rise.
Detailing on homes.
Frame Greek-Revival homes.
Fort Greene Brownstones #1.
Fort Greene Brownstones #2. Entrance detailing.
The Ronald Edmunds Learning Centar.
Are these Federal Style?
Fort Greene Brownstones #3.
Masonic Temple and entrance.
Interesting residences.
A Catholic school. Closer.
Queen of All Saints. Our neighborhood parish. Detail of peaked roof, copper plates, main entrance and chapel entrance.
Interesting buildings.
Candy and Confection Workers Local 452.
Fort Greene Brownstones #4.
Fort Greene Brownstones #5.
The backsides of Brownstones.
Fort Greene church, and from another angle.
Fort Greene Brownstones #6.
Yet another church.
Fort Greene Brownstones #7.

* * * * *

THE BROOKLYN ACADEMY OF MUSIC HISTORIC DISTRICT

from The Historic Landmarks of New York:

Once a thirty-acre farm owned by John Jackson, the land in this district was sold and residential development begun in the mid-nineteeth century. Many of the surviving row houses were built between 1855 and 1859 by local architects. Primarily three or four-story brick and brownstone houses, they were built on speculation for the large numbers of people who were then relocating to Brooklyn. The majority exhibit a modified Italianate style, abundant in its use of architectural detail. A few houses in the area, built during the 1870s, incorporate neo-Grec detail and have cast-iron facades, a rarity in residential architecture. (585)

Looking South at the Academy.
The Academy and Williamsburgh Bank Building.
A restaurant.
The Brooklyn Music School and Playhouse.
B.A.M. houses #1.
B.A.M. houses #2. With wrought iron railing.
B.A.M. houses #3. With wrought iron Georgian Doorway.
Wrought iron Window bars
Church adjacent to Williamsburgh Bank.
B.A.M. houses #4.
B.A.M. houses #5.
B.A.M. houses #6.
B.A.M. houses #7.
A seashell themed entrance. Probably not historical, but interesting...
Detailing.
B.A.M. houses #8.
Detailing on windows.

Included in this district were the Brooklyn Academy of Music itself, and the Williamsburgh Saving Bank.

The B.A.M.; is an active institution today, having anchored the buroughs musical enterprises, particularly in the African-American community ever since it was originally opened in 1861. The present site was opened in 1908 at 30 Lafayette by Herts & Tallant, with an "Italian Renaissance Revival facade" (585). In addition to live music events, the academy also screens films.

The marquee.
The academy.
Cornice detailing and from below.
Entrance and detailing.
Window.
Second story window on end.
Second story window on side.

Photographing the Williamsburgh Savings Bank (today, HSBC) was frustrating and tragic. That is, the 512 foot building, tallest in Brooklyn, is absolutely spectacular both outside and in, but the outside was difficult to photograph due to both weather and scale, and I wasn't allowed to take any pictures on the inside. The building was impressive enough on the outside, for its basic shape and imposing clock tower from a distance, and the amount of detailing up close.

From a distance, south.
The cupola and Clock Tower.
Upper stories, up close. In detail.
Detail of entrance column, Indiana Limestone.
Detail of limestone base.
Granite entrance column.
Bank subway entrance.
Second story window.

The Historic Landmarks had an interesting description of the interior:

The interior, a simple and elegant Romanesque Revival space, imagines banking as a quasi-religious act. The great banking room - 112 by 73 feet, and 63 feet high - is a basilica-like, three-bay space set on a nave-and-aisles plan. (511)

So I wiped a tear, and continued on my way. (Note - This guy was able to "sneak a few shots."

Just a few blocks away is the the Hanson Place Seventh-Day Adventist Church, more historically known as the Hanson Place Baptist Church. It was built from 1857-60, and it is a majestic, looming structure with gorgeous long windows and verticle wood columns set against brick walls. The building was restored in the 1970s. A wedding was wrapping up while I was taking pictures and exploring.

West side of the church. West side windows and wooden columns.
Another view.
Corinthian columnar caps.
Cornice.
Entrance. One of three doors.
Front stained-glass window.
Main entrance.

* * * * *

THE REST OF THE NEIGHBORHOOD

WALT WHITMAN AND INGERSOLL HOMES
The Walt Whitman homes are the least-dreary high-rise housing projects I've ever seen.
The nearby Ingersoll homes.

LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY
They have a Creative Writing program, and for a while, were on my list.
Kind of a lonely, forlorn looking campus, with most of the grounds blocked
off from the public.
A campus building, and detailing.
A weird but cool industrial building adjacent to the campus.
Campus. Welcoming, huh?

FLATBUSH AVENUE
Flatbush Avenue.
More Flatbush Avenue.
Even more Flatbush Avenue.
Northwest on Flatbush, including the Manhattan Bridge.
Across Flatbush, the Fulton Street Mall.

FULTON STREET
Park; on Fulton Street.
Inside the park.
Another Fulton Street Park.
Some guy named FOWLER.
View down Fulton Street.
Fulton Street homes.
Fulton Street, facing east.

ATLANTIC AVENUE
At Hanson Place and Elliot.
A highrise courtyard in progress.
The DSW building.
The Atlantic Street Mall View #1 and #2.
Lovely Atlantic Avenue.

DeKALB AVENUE - Where I'd like to open a restaurant called Corn on DeKalb.
Tillie's Coffeeshop. The best in the neighborhood.
Middle Eastern Food on DeKalb.
School/Park on DeKalb.
Elementary School fieldhouse mural #1, #2, #3, and #4. Really cool.
The Clinton Hill Public School.
The Brooklyn Technical High School on DeKalb. This building serves 6,000 students, roughly equal to all of the 9-12 students in the Flint public system.
The Brooklyn Hospital Center, adjacent to Fort Greene Park.

MYRTLE AVENUE
Myrtle Avenue.
Myrtle Avenue in progress.
Myrtle Avenue graffiti.

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ADDITIONAL SOURCE:
The Landmarks of New York:An Illustrated Record of the City's Historic Buildings
by Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel Monacelli Press, c. 2005

END OF POST.