Brooklyn Heights or the Heights as it is called by its residents is Brooklyn's most prestigious address (together with Park Slope I should add). It is a combination of Manhattan's Upper Westside and the Village. Fabulous 19th century brownstones with high ceilings, grand staircases, elaborate wood furnishings and fireplaces intermingle with traditional prewar coop apartment buildings. You'll find a good mix of people here, longtime residents, young families, Wall Street types, artists, writers and Jehovah's Witnesses, who have their world headquarters here. The number of short term residents, renting here for 2-3 years, has increased and many Heights residents lament the more transient nature of their neighborhood. But let's be fair - this is a phenomenon you find in all of the top residential areas in New York City. It's a result of the mobility required nowadays from high income earners. The Heights is still a wonderful spot, where you tend to know many of your neighbors. As they say, New York is not a big city but a great number of small villages (called neighborhoods). The Heights has many playgrounds, top-notch schools, decent shopping and restaurants and many quiet streets. This makes it one of the best family friendly inner city neighborhoods - a subway stop from Downtown Manhattan. That is if you can afford it!
Famous residents over the years have included John A. Roebling and his son Washington Roebling (Brooklyn Bridge), Henry Ward Beecher (preacher, author, anti-slavery advocate), Walt Whitman, Hart Crane, Thomas Wolfe, W. H. Auden, W.E.B. Du Bois, Carson McCullers, Gypsy Rose Lee, Richard Wright, Truman Capote and both Arthur Miller (a short while with Marilyn Monroe) and Norman Mailer. Today's residents include many famous playwrights, actors, artists, lawyers, investment bankers and company executives. But there is also a good number of longtime residents with more modest cashflows, who live in wonderful houses and apartments they inherited, which today are worth millions.
The Brooklyn Heights Association (BHA) was founded in 1910 and is the oldest, ongoing neighborhood association in New York City. In 1945 it successfully blocked Robert Moses' plan to build the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) through the Heights. The alternate route resulted in the construction of the now world-famous Promenade. Its advocacy efforts lead to the passage of the NYC Landmarks Law in 1965 and Brooklyn Heights was designated as the City's first Historic District. BHA organizes go-at-your-own-pace, self-guided house tours, an excellent chance to visit some of the landmark brownstones and gardens.
The Brooklyn Historical Society on Pierrepont and Clinton Streets was founded as the Long Island Historical Society in 1863. It focusses on the history of Long Island from earliest Colonial days to the present and has an extensive library of books, manuscripts and family records. Really worth a visit if you are intersted in early American history.
The Heights has many historic landmark churches, unfortunately most of them are only open on Sundays or by appointment.
Plymouth Church of Pilgrims, a Congregational Church on Hicks and Orange Streets is steeped in tradition. Its first pastor, Henry Ward Beecher, was a prominent anti-slavery crusader (his sister wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin"). For more on this church and the famous "Beecher-Tilton Affair" take a look at our Brooklyn Heights Tour page.
Grace Church (Episcopalian) on Grace Court and Hicks Street, set amidst large trees, is giving the impression of an English parish church. It was built in 1847 and is a fine example of the Gothic Revival style, one of the most beautiful churches in New York City.
St.Ann's Church on Clinton and Livingston Street now houses the Middle School of Packer Collegiate Institute, one of the three private schools in the Heights. Designed by James Renwick, Jr. in 1867-69 (St.Patrick's Cathedral, Grace Church and the Smithsonian Institution building in Washington are his other notable works), its angular Victorian Gothic style marked a distinct departure from earlier Gothic Revival works. Packer acquired this important landmark, along with the adjoining Parish House, in 1969. The other St.Ann's on Montague and Clinton Streets - the official name is Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity, is a Gothic Revival gem. It is in very poor condition and since I can remember surrounded by scaffolding.
The relationship between the Watchtower Society (Jehova's Witnesses), who have their world headquarters here, and Heights residents is one of "noli me tangere" or strict segregation. Jehova's Witnesses tend to go about their business in a non obtrusive way. They still own lots of real estate in the North Heights and have restored a great number of large buildings and warehouses, like the former Leverich Towers Hotel on Clark Street and the Bossert Hotel on Montague Street (both now residences for JWs). They have sold a large building on Furman Street to coop developers and seem to relocate parts of their printing plants in the North Heights and Dumbo to Upstate New York. You find more about the Watchtower Society's real estate divestments in Brooklyn Heights here. To sum it up: From a historical preservation perspective the Watchtower Society has been extremely effective and is respected for it.
The grandest of all former hotels in the Heights was undoubtedly the St.George Hotel on Hicks Street (between Clark & Pineapple St.). The St.George, actually a complex of several buildings, was a legend, one of the most fashionable hotels in New York City with a ballroom - you find more on this in our Brooklyn Heights Tour page.
last updated: April 2, 2009