The New York Times offers a Streetscapes profile of a handful of residences along Brooklyn Heights’ Columbia Heights, once deemed “the most fashionable street in Brooklyn,” which, according to the Times’ headline, is “Still in Fashion, a Century Later.” Its earliest residents in 1900 included doctor & inventor Edward R. Squibb, Lows, Pierreponts and other […]
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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)
Take A Look At Me Now: 62 Montague Street Reveals New Facade After Two-Year Restoration
The 10-story Queen Anne beauty at 62 Montague Street, near the entrance to the Promenade, is at last revealing its two-year massive facade restoration. In September 2010, the coop building began a meticulous project to repair and restore every iota of its brick, mortar and terra cotta exterior; this week, the scaffolding is coming down, […]
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.
Brownstone At Hicks & Joralemon Undergoes Ooh-La-La Conversion
A four-story Brooklyn Heights townhouse at 265 Hicks Street (on the corner of Joralemon) is undergoing a renovation that will convert the eight-family property into two units. Brownstoner reports that the DOB permit calls for “exterior demolition and restoration of the existing brownstone,” which will include construction of a new front stoop, rear balcony, new […]
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 […]
The First Notion Of Brooklyn Bridge Park… In 1988
Ever wondered how the notion of building a park along the Brooklyn Heights waterfront came to pass? Henrik Korgius, Editor of the Brooklyn Daily Eagle and BHB hero, offers details of its launch, beginning in 1988. He writes, “Brooklyn Bridge Park is a very different place since the first ‘American Landscape’ plan in the form […]
‘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 […]
Construction On Hicks Progresses, Serenity On Remsen Regresses
The sidewalk reconstruction bedlam in front of 200 Hicks Street at Montague is rapidly easing, as progress moves forward at a nice clip. Over the weekend, a hole in front of the residential building was getting wider and deeper, but as of Thursday, fresh white cement curbs have been poured and reshaped at the corner, […]
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