Archive | History RSS feed for this section

Very Last Minute Weekend Suggestions

Tickets are going fast for the Brooklyn Bugle’s Brooklyn Heights 101 Tour (Saturday 11am).  Tix sales end one hour before the event. Get yours now!  Click here to buy. Stuck in town for the weekend? Or, perhaps, you simply enjoy being in town on holidays, when things are a little less crowded and fast-paced. If […]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Brooklyn Heights History: Phillip Livingston

Philip Livingston was a Manhattan lawyer, businessman and slave trader and his house on the Heights was his “farm” or country house from 1765 until his exile and death. He had purchased the land in 1750 from the Remsens. Livingston headed the “Low Church Party” in America and his Manhattan mansion was a patriot headquarters. […]

Read full story · Comments { 9 }

It Was 128 Years Ago Today

So the Brooklyn Bridge is celebrating the anniversary of its opening today, in low-key fashion. Back in 1983 though, the centenary was a big deal. Lots of fireworks, and the FDR Drive was closed to cars, so people could get a good view. I was working as a messenger for a downtown law firm at […]

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

Mr. J. Takes a Stroll on Garden Place

Our man with cam shows us the sights along the storied street, and fills us in on some history. Video after the jump.

Read full story · Comments { 4 }

Brooklyn Heights History: The Glass Works

One of the largest employers in the Heights was photographic equipment manufacturer F. Wesel Manufacturing. The magazine the Inland Printer and Lithographer reported in 1901 that the business was founded by German immigrant Ferdinand Wesel in Manhattan in 1880.

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Brick Watch: Montague Street

Lots of brick “action” on Montague Street – 168’s conversion is moving along as is construction at 116 aka the Sleepy’s building (below). What do you think?

Read full story · Comments { 5 }

Flash: Court Upholds Order Barring Riverside Garage Construction

Bill Ringler, President of the Riverside Tenants’ Association, has advised us that the court hearing the appeal of the state Division of Housing and Community Renewal’s decision denying Pinnacle Group, landlord for the A.T. White Riverside Apartments, permission to destroy a courtyard and several mature trees that lie between the apartments and the BQE to […]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

Heights History: Gladys Darwin James

An associate of Mayor Low’s was Darwin R. James (Figure 183), father-in-law of Underwood Typewriter heiress Gladys Darwin James who advocated for the construction of the Brooklyn Heights Esplanade in the 1940s and endowed local uplift efforts. He helped organize the Brooklyn Bureau of Charities, the Association for Improving the Condition of the Poor and […]

Read full story · Comments { 1 }

Brooklyn Union Gas Building Landmarked

The Brooklyn Union Gas Building at 176 Remsen Street was given landmark status at today’s LPC hearing, Brownstoner reports.

Read full story · Comments { 0 }

LPC Reviews BUG Building Landmarking Today, 100 Clark Street Addition

Brownstoner notes that Frank Freeman’s Brooklyn Union Gas building at 180 Remsen Street (listed by LPC as 176 Remsen) will be considered for landmark status at today’s LPC hearing. It was originally placed on the commission’s calendar in February 2009. Also on today’s docket, an application to construct a rear addition to 100 Clark Street […]

Read full story · Comments { 0 }