Race, Class and Gentrification in Ditmas Park
Jan Rosenberg, a 20-year veteran of Ditmas Park (having left “trendy Park Slope” before it achieved true trendiness) and founder of “Friends of Cortelyou”, offers an insider’s view of gentrification in a publication called New Geography. The neighborhood, she says, has the “largest concentration of Victorian houses in America,” and contains “the only block in…
Jan Rosenberg, a 20-year veteran of Ditmas Park (having left “trendy Park Slope” before it achieved true trendiness) and founder of “Friends of Cortelyou”, offers an insider’s view of gentrification in a publication called New Geography. The neighborhood, she says, has the “largest concentration of Victorian houses in America,” and contains “the only block in New York with subway stations at each end.” (Fact check, anyone?) The neighborhood suffered white (and black) flight in the 1960s, ultimately resulting in economic and racial diversity in the surrounding apartment buildings, but she says the two sections rarely interacted, and downtown DP remained a ghost town. Then, local folks got together to sell co-ops (the writer became a broker herself) and coax businesses to set up shop there. “As I write this, the owner of a successful Manhattan restaurant is looking closely at Cortelyou, hoping to open in a ‘real neighborhood’ where customers support local businesses. No one knows yet where the economy is headed, or what this means for our neighborhood. But we now have a vibrant neighborhood. This is no longer just a location where the houses are a comparative bargain. It’s an area with an identity.” We’ve seen many a successful new business sprout up on Cortelyou, though others (most recently this hardware store) have fallen prey to the souring economy, and housing prices sure have leapt in the area. What’s your take on Ditmas Park’s changes?
Gentrification from the Inside Out in Brooklyn’s Ditmas Park [New Geography]
Photo by Flatbush Gardener.
‘As far as the claims of having the largest concentration of Victorian homes in America, I am sure that there are other contenders.’
Cape May.
Why is it easier to be in northslope than in Ditmas Park without a car? It’s denser in northslope… but “stuff” is just as far away.
If you live on, say, Union between 7th and 8th. You’re pretty far from anything. If you could park near you apt, a car would come in handy there too. (In Ditmas Park, you can actually park directly in front of your house 90% of the time… OK, I made that percentage up… but it’s close.)
Having a car is not necessary in Victorian Flatbush although there is plenty of parking if you do have one or two. The Q and B trains are very accessible and reliable. Riding into the city from Newkirk, Cortelyou, Beverley or Church Avenue stations only adds five to ten minutes more than the commute from Park Slope’s 7th Avenue station on the same line. The express bus service into the city is always an option as well. There are about four different lines that run down Cortelyou alone.
There are, as the article states, two different train stops within one block. The local train can not even pick up speed before it pulls out of one station and into the next. As far as the claims of having the largest concentration of Victorian homes in America, I am sure that there are other contenders.
I’ve walked many neighborhoods of our great city and I’m always amazed by the vast differences in architectural styles. Ditmas Park has some of the finest examples of Victorian architecture in the City. The many styles of Victorian are well represented in the neighborhood. The majority of the homes are Queen Anne, but there is also Italinate and some late Gothic Revival and to my pleasant surprise a Stick Style, which was stunning with its enormous overhang.
All the classic characteristics of Victorian are on display. You can glimpse gabled roofs, turrets, bay windows, balconies, richly stained glass, dormers, and columned wrap around porches.
The homes and streets that are preserved are a time capsule into an era when industry brought so many new innovations to architecture creating a very distinct and unique style
I’m over here every week for soccer. Several of those streets between Caton and Beverly Road adjacent to the soccer fields boast absolutely gorgeous homes, but from what I can see a lack of local business that’ll attract buyers for these places.
Ditmas Park has some incredible homes.
I’m not sure I could live there without a car, but it sure is a nice looking neighborhood.
that’s a seriously pretty looking block
-rob
No, I think it’s stations on the same line. The Q/B stations at Beverley and Cortelyou are separated by a single block of E.16th st.
I think he means subway stations — unlike subway stops. I had subway stops on either end of my block when I lived on 23rd btw 7th and 8th for example.
It’s a fine line, for sure.