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Flickr photo by Tom Rupolo

Normandie Doors at Our Lady of Lebanon

Untapped New York has a story about the doors on Our Lady of Lebanon Cathedral at Henry and Remsen streets. The doors were taken from the great French ocean liner Normandie, which burned and sank in 1942 while in the process of being converted to a troopship while docked on the West Side of Manhattan. […]

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Opening of New Brooklyn Heights Public Library Delayed Until Summer ’21

According to a detailed report by Kevin Duggan at the Brooklyn Paper, the opening of the new Brooklyn Heights branch of the Brooklyn Public Library is delayed until Summer 2021. The one-year delay from the original target opening date is due to stalled and slowed construction caused by the pandemic. When all done, the library will feature: A […]

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Zoom Chat with Brooklyn Heights Preservation Pioneers the Pearsalls and Preservation Advocate Anthony Wood Wednesday Afternoon

Those of us interested in Brooklyn Heights history and architecture consider Clay Lancaster’s Old Brooklyn Heights an indispensable guide. Thanks to Brownstoner we’ve been alerted to an event coming up this Wednesday afternoon, May 20, starting at 3:45. This will be a conversation, available on Zoom, among Heights preservation pioneers Otis and Nancy Pearsall and preservation advocate Anthony C. Wood of The New York […]

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Inside the Hotel Bossert with Montague BID

You may recall earlier this week, Claude reminded us that today is Small Business Saturday and the Montague BID would be hosting a “selfies with elves” event at none other than the lobby of the storied Hotel Bossert. We won’t get into the 7+ years long, at times heart-warming, always intriguing, and unendingly mysterious saga of the Bossert. It’s […]

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Architects Ponder BQE Options

On Monday evening the New York chapter of the American Institute of Architects (“AIANY”) presented a panel discussion, “The BQE in Context: Communities, Infrastructure and Public Space.” AIANY has formed a Task Force to study the plans for reconstruction of the Brooklyn Queens Expressway below Brooklyn Heights. At the beginning of the program Robert Eisenstadt, […]

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Landmarks Approves Plan for Hotel at 186 Remsen

Lore Croghan reports in the Eagle that the Landmarks Preservation Commission has approved the design for the Remsen Manor Hotel, which will use as its base the historic Franklin Building at 186 Remsen Street (between Clinton and Court), including restoration of its top two stories, which were destroyed in a fire. There will be a […]

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Four Brooklyn Heights Churches Welcome Tours Next Weekend

Next weekend, Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, the New York Landmarks Conservancy, in conjunction with various religious institutions, will present its annual Sacred Sites Open House. Among the participating houses of worship are four Brooklyn Heights churches: Grace Church (photo, C. Scales for BHB), open Sunday the 19th from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 […]

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Brooklyn Historical Society Presents Gargoyle Epic Tuesday Evening

If you’re an admirer of gargoyles, the decorative, often grotesque drainage pieces that adorn many gothic, beaux arts, and art deco (see examples on 55 Pierrepont in the photo) buildings, you may wish to attend a presentation at the Brooklyn Historical Society this Tuesday evening, October 2, starting at 6:30 PM. In “New York’s Gargoyles: […]

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Is 186 Remsen Doomed to the Wrecking Ball?

I wish I could have gotten a better photo of what I consider to be a magnificent building, but the lighting and shadows were against me, as was a bit of sidewalk shed protecting pedestrians from falling debris generated by renovation work on the building at the corner of Court and Remsen. “Magnificent?” I know […]

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Signs of Progress? Bossert Replaces Awning

Just a week after Brooklyn Paper’s August 3rd missive on the never ending delay of the Bossert Hotel re-opening, the building’s tattered eyesore of an awning was removed without fanfare.  The property’s manager, Stephen Allen was later quoted in the publication on the 14th, “We’re restoring the frame, and putting it right back. It will look exactly […]

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