This vintage photo of the Brooklyn Heights residential building at 153 Joralemon Street from 1953 1926 reveals that little has changed in 85+ years, save for the current bodega on the ground level. The five-story walk-up was built in 1900, according to Streeteasy, and currently comprises eight units. It also boasts a common roofdeck.
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Yes We Can! Brooklyn Heights Gets A Shout-Out During DNC’s Opening Night
Brooklyn Heights got a shout-out during the opening night of the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte Tuesday night, as Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley opened his speech with a odd little rant about his home state’s history some 225 years ago. Within the first minute of his adddress—which aired just before the 10 o’clock hour (no […]
Quote Of the Day: Downtown Brooklyn ‘Back To The Future,’ M. Markowitz
From The New York Times article, “National Retailers Discover a Brooklyn Mall,” August 28, 2012. (Graphic: Chuck Taylor)
Brooklyn Heights Then & Now: Colonnade Row At 43-49 Willow Place
Colonnade Row, built at 43-49 Willow Place in 1846, between Joralemon & State streets, is one of few examples in Brooklyn Heights of a particular style of Greek Revival. It was most popular in the late 1830s, with massive columns running the length of the buildings to give them a good bit of drama.
NY Observer’s Deep Dish On Willowtown Mansion Sale
The manse at 40 Willow Place that sold for $7.3M, as we reported Tuesday, gets a deeper look in a story published by the New York Observer. It begins: “The modern masterpiece may not be able to command a sales price like some of its Brooklyn Heights neighbors—to wit, Truman Capote’s old abode at 70 […]
‘Hail No': Initiative To Bring Livery Cabs To The Boroughs Is A Bust (For Now)
In a rare defeat for NYC Mayor Bloomberg and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Manhattan Supreme Court Justice ruled Friday that the popular initiative to allow 18,000 livery cabs to take street hails from Manhattan to the outer boroughs and the upper reaches of the city is a no go. No doubt, this should […]
Heights History: Cadman Plaza Public Library Branch, 1966
The Brooklyn Heights Public Library at 280 Cadman Plaza West & Tillary Street was full of book-smart promise when it opened May 31, 1962, offering modern technology and a streamlined system for checking out and returning books. The series of pics (below), taken in February 1966, in fact, reveal a clever conveyor belt that sent […]
Birthplace of Whitman’s ‘Leaves Of Grass,’ Cranberry & Fulton, 1949
This sketch of the “Birthplace of Walt Whitman’s ‘Leaves of Grass’” depicts the corner of Cranberry & Fulton streets (which is now along Cadman Plaza West heading to Old Fulton Street) dated September 11, 1949. It is signed by Josephine Barry. Legend has it that the red brick print shop in Brooklyn Heights where Walt […]
Pierrepont’s Beloved Herman Behr Mansion Shrouded In Netting
One of Brooklyn Heights’ mightiest architectural triumphs, the Romanesque Revival Herman Behr Mansion at 82 Pierrepont Street—which changed hands in 2008 for $10.98 million—has been covered in netting, as it undergoes a mass of restoration to its facade. It was built in 1888 by architect Frank Freeman for $80,000, and named after the mining industrialist […]
Heights History: 70 Clark Street At Henry, 1948
The six-story apartment building at 70 Clark Street and Henry is photographed here September 15, 1948. Note the three towering TV antennas along the roofline. The street-level retail gave us Parker Drugs, offering a lunch counter and soda fountain; with “Soda and Lunch,” “Cosmetics and Cigars” advertised along the front signage. (See details below.) Today, […]
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