A Few Highlights from Crown Heights North
In today’s New York Sun, architectural historian Francis Morrone does a fly-over of the proposed Crown Heights North historic district (bounded, he notes, on the north by Pacific and Dean streets, on the west by Bedford and Brooklyn avenues, on the south by Dean Street and Prospect Place, and on the east by Brooklyn and…
In today’s New York Sun, architectural historian Francis Morrone does a fly-over of the proposed Crown Heights North historic district (bounded, he notes, on the north by Pacific and Dean streets, on the west by Bedford and Brooklyn avenues, on the south by Dean Street and Prospect Place, and on the east by Brooklyn and Kingston avenues). First stop: Grant Square, at Bedford and Dean, which features the 1896 statue of Ulysses S. Grant by William Ordway Partridge. The statue, we learn, was donated by the highbrow Union League club (which still exists in Manhattan), whose clubhouse used to be on the Southeast corner of Bedford and Dean. Quite a reminder of the area’s former economic status. Morrone touches on a few more greatest hits, like the armory and the Montrose Morris classic at the southeast corner of Bedford and Pacific, before wrapping things up with a shout-out to the Brooklyn Children’s Museum.
The Richest Architecture in Brooklyn [NY Sun]
Photo from the Bridge & Tunnel Club
prospect heights has incredible architecture, very very cool stuff totally unheralded by historians who did not even know it existed because it is a non-whitebread community.
the stuff here is so much better than in brooklyn heights where so many of the old houses are cut up and stuccoed over and really mangled.
Why must every thread eventually lead to people arguing that their nabe is better than everyone else’s. So depressing.
“My nabe will be a model for Bklyn.”
“No, my nabe is really taking off right now.”
Yawn.
I second the first poster’s comments. Woohoo indeed. I also agree with Hal. Walking around this neighborhood is always interesting. I always see details I hadn’t noticed before. They are usually little things, like the pattern in a wrought iron fence, or the cornice on a building, and how it relates to its neighbors and the rest of the block. Crown Heights North is going to be a very important part of Brooklyn, for all the right reasons. I hope we can be a model for the rest of the city, as we show that community can be preserved, physically, through its buildings, and through its people, old timers and newcomers alike. There is room for everyone if we act with care and respect.
Incidentally, the Union Club mentioned in the article is still there, you can see the corner to the left of the statue. It is now a senior citizen center, but the facade still carries the name, as well as iconic terra cotta reliefs of Lincoln, Grant and a huge American eagle.
I continue to be enthralled by the architecture of Crown Heights.
As far as the Brooklyn Childrens’ Museum is concerned, it is an institution that is a blessing to the neighborhood as an important community resource. The completion of the expansion will be welcomed as huge step forward in the quality of life for children and their families in Crown Heighs and indeed the entire city.
It’s a shame that the architecture of the museum’s expansion is such a monstrous,ill-conceived disaster.
Crown Heights North!!!!!……Woohoo!!!