During the Victorian era many wealthy people felt a religious obligation to aid the poor through privately organized uplift projects. Alfred Tredway White (1846-1921), a cousin of Seth Low the Younger, was the Heights’ greatest philanthropist and community activist. In 1880 he moved out of his father Alexander’s house at 2 Pierrepont Place into 40 […]
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Willowtown Fair Saturday, May 14, to Celebrate Maritime Heritage
This in from Ben Bankson, President of the Willowtown Association: A treasure hunt with a historic focus and lobster rolls served by Iris Café are among ways this year’s Spring Fair sponsored by the Willowtown Association will celebrate the maritime heritage of Willowtown in Brooklyn Heights. The fair will take place Saturday, May 14, from […]
Heights History: Reverend Richard Salter Storrs
The Congregational Church of the Pilgrims and its founding pastor, Rev. Richard Salter Storrs, are probably the most underappreciated place and person in the Heights, because the church no longer exists. Plymouth was born out of Pilgrims, at Remsen and Henry Streets, whose members had left the First Presbyterian. The men who founded Plymouth felt that Pilgrims […]
Last Minute Weekend Suggestions
Tomorrow (Saturday, April 30) promises to be a beautiful day for the Five Boro Bike Fest, to be held at Pier 1, Brooklyn Bridge Park from 10:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. The event is free and open to all, whether with bike or not. Details are here. If you’re an early riser and would like […]
Heights Happy Hooker is Stuff of Urban Legend
There is an urban legend in the Heights to the effect that Xaviera Hollander’s brothel was in the Behr House. Not true. When 84 Pierrepont was the Palm Hotel it was a house of ill repute, probably in the 1930s and forties. It was purchased by the Franciscan Brothers in 1961 as staff housing in […]
Brooklyn Heights Resident Ron Chernow Wins Pulitzer for Washington Biography
Ron Chernow, Heights resident and biographer of several important historical figures, including Alexander Hamilton, J.P. Morgan, and John D. Rockefeller, has been awarded the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for biography for his Washington: A Life.
Heights History: The Two Seth Lows
Here is another article on Heights history by Robert Furman: The Low family fortune was begun by Seth Low the elder (1782-1853, A.A.’s father, who was born in 1782 in West Gloucester, Massachusetts. After the death of Seth’s father, who had served in the Revolution, the family moved to Haverhill, Mass.,where Seth prepared to enter […]
Federal Court Rules Park Service Violated Law by Allowing Transfer of Tobacco Warehouse, Empire Stores
Federal District Judge Eric Vitaliano issued a memorandum and order granting a preliminary injunction directing the National Park Service to protect the Tobacco Warehouse and the nearby Empire Stores, another Civil War era structure, from being transferred for private development. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, counsel for the plaintiffs–the Brooklyn Heights Association, the Fulton Ferry Landing […]
Heights History: A.A. Low
Most people know the AA Low house at the Montague Street Promenade entrance (3 Pierrepont Place). But do we know who he was besides the father of Mayor Seth Low? Abiel Abbot Low was born in Salem, Massachusetts in 1811 and, through his father, Seth the Elder, became involved in the China trade in a […]
The 27 Cranberry Street Charm Offensive Continues
The NY Post via sister pub Brooklyn Paper covers the hullabaloo over developer Louis Greco’s project at 27 Cranberry Street. BHB broke the news from design architect/Brooklyn Heights resident/ former BHA prexy Tom van den Bout that he planned to build with real brownstone, from recently re-opened Victorian era quarries. That and the release of […]
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