Building of the Day: 500 25th Street

(Photograph: sbslaweb.org)

Brooklyn, one building at a time.

Name: Green-Wood Cemetery
Address: 500 25th Street
Cross Streets: Main entrance at 5th Ave, at 25th Street
Neighborhood: Greenwood Heights
Year Built: Established in 1838, main gate, attached chapel and office – 1861-65
Architectural Style: Gate complex – High Gothic Revival
Architect: Richard Upjohn & Son
Other Buildings by Architect: Grace Church, Church of the Pilgrims, Brooklyn Heights. Trinity Church, lower Manhattan, and many, many more.
Landmarked: Entire cemetery – National Historic Landmark (2006), National Register of Historic Places (1997), Gate, chapel and office complex: individual landmark (1966)

The story: On this Easter weekend, a time of death and renewal, in a religious and symbolic sense, what better place to think about such things than Green-Wood Cemetery? Here, the dead of the past 174 years rest in beauty and peace, surrounded by nature’s spectacular show of rebirth and life; spring foliage and blossoms.

The traditional cemetery, in the neighborhood churchyard, was not an option for very long in a city like Brooklyn, which was growing by leaps and bounds. Real estate was just too precious and expensive to be taken up by cemetery space. But a new idea for the city cemetery had taken form in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in Mt. Auburn Cemetery, America’s first park-like rural cemetery. The idea resonated with Henry Evelyn Pierrepont, one of Brooklyn’s leading citizens. The high ground of Greenwood Heights, created by the glacial movements of this terminal moraine, was perfect for a huge park setting, where winding lanes and beautiful vistas could be created, among which could be laid beloved family and friends for their permanent rest.

By the 1850’s, Green-Wood was a popular tourist spot, drawing in thousands of people, surpassed only by Niagara Falls. In 1861, work was begun on the crown for the cemetery, the ornate and appropriately brownstone main gate, attached chapel and office designed in High Victorian Gothic style by Richard Upjohn, one of New York’s finest Gothic Revival architects.

As most people know, the famous, the infamous, the tragically lost, and the totally unknown lie here now. For more information on them, see Green-Wood’s website. Every spring, the trees and flowering shrubs of this meticulously tended, 478 acre park, come to life again, after the cold winter. This year, with our early spring, the colors seem to be especially beautiful. White and pink apple and cherry blossoms, soft pink and white magnolias, and later azaleas and rhododendrons cover the ancient marble and limestone monuments and mausoleums with nature’s gift of beauty. The cemetery is a beautiful and peaceful place and no more so than in the spring. No Brooklynite should pass up an opportunity to enjoy one of our borough’s largest and most beautiful treasures. GMAP

Except for the photo of the gate, all of the featured photographs below, are by “Viridia”, a member of the Flickr Green-Wood Cemetery group. She’s taken some gorgeous photos of this spring’s splendor. They are worth a long look. More are on her Flickr page. Welcome Spring!