Originally referred to as Brooklyn Village, it has been a prominent area of Brooklyn since 1834. The neighborhood is noted for its low-rise architecture and its many brownstonerowhouses, most of them built prior to the Civil War. It also has an abundance of notable churches and other religious institutions. Brooklyn's first art gallery, the Brooklyn Arts Gallery, was opened in Brooklyn Heights in 1958.[6] In 1965, a large part of Brooklyn Heights was protected from unchecked development by the creation of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, the first such district in New York City. The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.
Directly across the East River from Manhattan and connected to it by subways and regular ferry service, Brooklyn Heights is also easily accessible from Downtown Brooklyn. Columbia Heights, an upscale six-block-long street next to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade,[7] is sometimes considered to be its own neighborhood.
Brooklyn Heights occupies a plateau on a high bluff that rises sharply from the river's edge and gradually recedes on the landward side. Before the Dutch settled on Long Island in the middle of the seventeenth century, this promontory was called Ihpetonga ("the high sandy bank") by the native LenapeAmerican Indians.[10]
Ferries across the East River were running as early as 1642, serving the farms in the area. The most significant of the ferries went between the current Fulton Street and Peck Slip in Manhattan, and was run by Cornelius Dirksen. The ferry service helped the lowland area to thrive, with both farms and some factories along the water, but the higher ground was sparsely used.[5]
After the war, the 160-acre tract of land belonging to John Rapeljie, who was a Loyalist, was confiscated and sold to the Sands brothers, who tried to develop the part of the land on the palisade as a community they called "Olympia", but failed to make it come about, partly because of the difficulty of building there. They later sold part of their land to John Jackson, who created the Vinegar Hill community, much of which later became the Brooklyn Navy Yard.[11]
Brooklyn Heights began to develop once Robert Fulton's New York and Brooklyn Steam Ferry Boat Company began regularly scheduled steam ferry service in 1814, with the financial backing of Hezekiah Beers Pierrepont, one of the area's major landowners.[12] Pierrepont had accumulated 60 acres of land, including 800 feet which directly overlooked the harbor, all of which he planned to sub-divide. Since his intention was to sell to merchants and bankers who lived in Manhattan, he needed easy access between Brooklyn Heights and New York City, which Fulton's company provided.[13] Pierrepont bought 60 acres (24 ha) – part of the Livingston estate, plus the Benson, De Bevoise and Reemsen farms[14] – on what was then called "Clover Hill", now Brooklyn Heights, and built a mansion there.[5] Pierrepont purchased and expanded Philip Livingston's gin distillery on the East River at what is now Joralemon Street, where he produced Anchor Gin.
Wishing to sub-divide and develop his property, Pierrepont realized the need for regularly scheduled ferry service across the East River, and to this end he became a prominent investor in Robert Fulton's New York and Brooklyn Steam Ferry Boat Company, using his influence on Fulton's behalf; he eventually became a part owner and a director of the company.[citation needed] Fulton's ferry began running in 1814, and Brooklyn received a charter as a village from the state of New York in 1816, thanks to the influence of Pierrepont and other prominent landowners.[12] The city then prepared for the establishment of a street grid, although there were competing plans for the size of the lots. John and Jacob Hicks, who also owned property on Brooklyn Heights, north of Pierrepont's, favored smaller lots, as they were pitching their land to tradesman and artisans already living in Brooklyn, not attempting to lure merchants and bankers from Manhattan as Pierrepont was. To counter the Hickses' proposal, Pierrepont hired a surveyor and submitted an alternative. In the end, the Hickses' plan was adopted north of Clark Street, and Pierrepont's, featuring 25-by-100-foot (8-by-30 meter) lots, south of it.[citation needed]
Thanks to the influence of Pierrepont and other landowners, Brooklyn received a charter from the state as a village in 1816, which led to streets being laid out in a regular grid pattern, sidewalks being laid, water pumps being installed and the institution of a watch.[13] After 1823, farms begin to be sub-divided into 25-by-100-foot (7.6 by 30.5 m) lots, which were advertised as suitable for a "country retreat" for Manhattanites, leading to a building boom that resulted in Brooklyn Heights becoming the "first commuter suburb",[5][14] since it was easier and faster to get to Manhattan by ferry than it was to commute from upper Manhattan by ground transportation.[12] A resident of the Heights could leave the office at three o'clock, have dinner at home at four o'clock, and still have time for a "leisurely drive to the outskirts of town", a "middle class paradise".[15] The community's development was helped by the yellow fever epidemic of 1822, when many of the rich from the city abandoned it for an area that was advertised as "elevated and perfectly healthy at all seasons ... a select neighborhood and circle of society."[13]
Where there had been only seven houses in the Heights in 1807,[12] by 1860 there were over six hundred of them,[16] and by 1890 the area was almost completely developed.[12] The buildings were designed in a wide variety of styles; development started in the northern part, and moved southward, so the architecture general changes in that direction as the preferred style of the time changed over the decades.[9] Throughout the 19th century, Brooklyn Heights remained an elegant neighborhood,[5] and became Brooklyn's cultural and financial center.[9] Its development gave rise to offshoots such as Cobble Hill and, later, Carroll Gardens.[17]
Prior to the Civil War, Brooklyn Heights was a locus of the Abolitionist movement, due to the speeches and activities of Henry Ward Beecher, the pastor of Plymouth Church, now the Plymouth Church of the Pilgrims. Beecher was a nationally known figure famous on the lecture circuit for his novel oratorical style, in which he employed humor, dialect, and slang. Under Beecher, so many slaves passed through Plymouth Church on their way to freedom in Canada that later generations have referred to the church as the "Grand Central Station of the Underground Railroad". To dramatize the plight of those held in captivity, Beecher once brought a female slave to the church and held an auction, with the highest bidder purchasing not the slave, but her freedom. Beecher also raised money to buy other slaves out of captivity, and shipped rifles to abolitionists in Kansas and Nebraska in crates labelled "Bibles", which gave the rifles the nickname "Beecher's Bibles".[9]
The completion of the now historic Brooklyn Bridge in 1883, the Brooklyn end of which was near Brooklyn Heights' eastern boundary, began the process of making the neighborhood more accessible from places such as Manhattan. The Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT)'s Lexington Avenue subway line, which reached Brooklyn Heights in 1908, was an even more powerful catalyst in the neighborhood's development. The resulting ease of transportation into the neighborhood and the perceived loss of the specialness and "quality" began to drive out the merchants and patricians who lived there; in time their mansions were divided to become apartment houses and boarding houses. Artists began to move into the neighborhood, as well as writers, and a number of large hotels – the St. George (1885), the Margaret (1889), the Bossert (1909), Leverich Towers (1928), and the Pierrepont (1928), among others[9][12] – were constructed. By the beginning of the Great Depression, most of the middle class had left the area. Boarding houses had become rooming houses, and the neighborhood began to have the appearance of a slum.[5][9]
During the 1940s and 1950s, the building of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway (BQE) badly affected the neighborhood, as it took away the neighborhood's northwest corner, destroying whole rows of brownstones.[9] At about the same time, plans began to be developed by New York's "master builder", Robert Moses, wielding the Housing Act of 1949,[16] to replace brownstone rowhouses – which were the typical building form in the neighborhood – with large luxury apartment buildings.[5] A prominent example of the intended outcome is the Cadman Plaza development of housing cooperatives in the northern part of the neighborhood, located on the site where the Brooklyn Bridge trolley terminal once stood.[9] In 1959, the North Heights Community Group was formed to oppose destroying cheap low-rise housing in order to build the high-rise Cadman Plaza towers. Architect Percival Goodman presented an alternate plan to maintain all sound structures, which garnered 25,000 supporters. In early 1961, a compromise proposal came from City Hall calling for two 22-story towers with over 1,200 luxury and middle income units. The Brooklyn Heights Association fully supported the compromise plan despite strong opposition from the preservation community, including the North Heights Community Group. As a result, 1,200 residents were removed from their houses and apartments in late 1961 and early 1962 as construction began on the modified plan.[18][19]
One positive development came about when community groups – prominently the Brooklyn Heights Association, founded in 1910[9] – joined with Moses in the creation of the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also called the Esplanade, which was cantilevered over the BQE. It became a favorite spot among locals, offering magnificent vistas of the Statue of Liberty, the Manhattan skyline across the East River, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Manhattan Bridge, and spectacular fireworks displays over the East River. Moses originally proposed to build the BQE through the heart of Brooklyn Heights. Opposition to this plan led to the re-routing of the expressway to the side of the bluff, allowing creation of the Promenade.[20]
By the mid-1950s, a new generation of property owners had begun moving into the Heights, pioneering the "Brownstone Revival" by buying and renovating pre-Civil War period houses, which became part of the preservationist movement which culminated in the passage in 1965 of the Landmarks Preservation Law.[21] In 1965, community groups which later became the Brooklyn Heights Association, succeeded in having the neighborhood designated the Brooklyn Heights Historic District by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, the first such district in the city. This was followed in the following decades by the further gentrification of the neighborhood into a firmly middle-class area, which became "one of New York City's most pleasant and attractive neighborhoods."[5]
Starting in 2008, Brooklyn Bridge Park was built along the shoreline of the East River.[22] As of 2018[update] the park was 90% complete,[23] and it is now completely renovated.[24] The Squibb Park Bridge was constructed in 2013 to provide access between the park and the rest of Brooklyn Heights, but had to be demolished in 2019 due to various structural issues.[25] A replacement bridge opened in 2020.[26] By the early 2020s, increasing numbers of celebrities were moving to the neighborhood.[27]
Brooklyn Heights was the first neighborhood protected by the 1965 Landmarks Preservation Law of New York City. The neighborhood is largely composed of blocks of picturesque rowhouses and a few mansions. A great range of architectural styles is represented, including Greek Revival, Italianate, Second Empire, Victorian Gothic, Romanesque, Neo-Grec, and Classical Revival, as well as a few 2/1/2-story late Federal houses from the early 19th century in the northern part of the neighborhood.[28] Some houses were constructed of brick, but the dominant building material was brownstone or "Jersey freestone", a reddish-brown stone from Passaic County, New Jersey.[16]
A typical brownstone rowhouse was three or four stories tall, with the main floor above the street level and reached by stairs, referred to as a "stoop", a word derived from Dutch. The basement is typically a half-flight down from the street, and was used as the work area for servants, including the kitchen. The first floor would be the location of the public rooms, bedrooms were on the second floor, and servants' quarters were on the top floor. The rear of the lot would feature a private garden.[16] Aside from rowhouses, a number of houses, particularly along Pierrepont Street and Pierrepont Place, are authentic mansions.
The concentration of over 600 pre-Civil War houses, one of the largest ensembles of such housing in the nation, and the human scale of the three, four- and five-story buildings creates a neighborly atmosphere.
Brooklyn Heights has very few high-rise buildings. Among these buildings are 75 Livingston Street, Hotel St. George, and the Concord Village co-op development on Adams Street. Additionally, Jehovah's Witnesses had its world headquarters in the northern part of Brooklyn Heights at 25 Columbia Heights. The organization restored a number of historic buildings to house their staff, including the former Hotel Bossert, once the seasonal home of many Dodgers players, on Montague Street. In 2010, the organization announced plans to begin selling off its numerous properties in the Heights and nearby downtown Brooklyn, given that it plans to relocate itself in upstate New York.[29]
The executive offices of the Brooklyn Dodgers were, for many years, located in the Heights, near the intersection of Montague and Court Streets. A plaque on the office building that replaced the Dodgers' old headquarters at 215 Montague Street identifies it as the site where Jackie Robinson signed his major league contract.[30]
Based on data from the 2010 United States Census, the population of Brooklyn Heights was 22,887, a change of 339 (1.5%) from the 22,548 counted in 2000. Covering an area of 235.86 acres (95.45 ha), the neighborhood had a population density of 97 inhabitants per acre (62,000/sq mi; 24,000/km2).[31] The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 75.2% (17,210) White, 5.5% (1,259) African American, 0.2% (37) Native American, 8.8% (2,003) Asian, 0% (3) Pacific Islander, 0.4% (82) from other races, and 2.7% (618) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 7.3% (1,675) of the population.[3]
The entirety of Community Board 2, which comprises Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene, had 117,046 inhabitants as of NYC Health's 2018 Community Health Profile, with an average life expectancy of 80.6 years.[32]: 2, 20 This is slightly lower than the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods.[33]: 53 (PDF p. 84) [34] Most inhabitants are middle-aged adults and youth: 15% are between the ages of 0–17, 44% between 25 and 44, and 20% between 45 and 64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 9% and 12% respectively.[32]: 2
As of 2016, the median household income in Community Board 2 was $56,599.[35] In 2018, an estimated 22% of Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene residents lived in poverty, compared to 21% in all of Brooklyn and 20% in all of New York City. One in twelve residents (8%) were unemployed, compared to 9% in the rest of both Brooklyn and New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 39% in Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene, lower than the citywide and boroughwide rates of 52% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, as of 2018[update], Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene are considered to be high-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.[32]: 7
Brooklyn Heights is patrolled by the 84th Precinct of the NYPD, located at 301 Gold Street.[8] The 84th Precinct ranked 60th-safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. This was attributed to a high rate of property crimes in the neighborhood.[36] As of 2018[update], with a non-fatal assault rate of 40 per 100,000 people, Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene's rate of violent crimes per capita is less than that of the city as a whole. The incarceration rate of 401 per 100,000 people is lower than that of the city as a whole.[32]: 8
The 84th Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 82.3% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 2 murders, 18 rapes, 147 robberies, 184 felony assaults, 126 burglaries, 650 grand larcenies, and 31 grand larcenies auto in 2018.[37]
Brooklyn Heights is served by two New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire stations.[39][9] Engine Co. 205/Ladder Co. 118 is located at 74 Middagh Street, serving the northern part of the neighborhood,[40] while Engine Co. 224 is located at 274 Hicks Street, serving the southern part of the neighborhood.[41]
A third fire station, Engine Co. 207/Ladder Co. 110/Satellite 6/Battalion 31/Division 11, is located at 172 Tillary Street in nearby Fort Greene.[42][9]
As of 2018[update], preterm births and births to teenage mothers are less common in Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene than in other places citywide. In Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene, there were 74 preterm births per 1,000 live births (compared to 87 per 1,000 citywide), and 11.6 births to teenage mothers per 1,000 live births (compared to 19.3 per 1,000 citywide).[32]: 11 Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene have a relatively low population of residents who are uninsured, or who receive healthcare through Medicaid.[43] In 2018, this population of uninsured residents was estimated to be 4%, which is lower than the citywide rate of 12%. However, this estimate was based on a small sample size.[32]: 14
The concentration of fine particulate matter, the deadliest type of air pollutant, in Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene is 0.0088 milligrams per cubic metre (8.8×10−9 oz/cu ft), lower than the citywide and boroughwide averages.[32]: 9 Eleven percent of Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene residents are smokers, which is slightly lower than the city average of 14% of residents being smokers.[32]: 13 In Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene, 24% of residents are obese, 6% are diabetic, and 25% have high blood pressure—compared to the citywide averages of 24%, 11%, and 28% respectively.[32]: 16 In addition, 14% of children are obese, compared to the citywide average of 20%.[32]: 12
Eighty-eight percent of residents eat some fruits and vegetables every day, which is slightly higher than the city's average of 87%. In 2018, 86% of residents described their health as "good", "very good", or "excellent", more than the city's average of 78%.[32]: 13 For every supermarket in Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene, there are 12 bodegas.[32]: 10
Brooklyn Heights is covered by ZIP Code 11201.[44] The United States Post Office operates two locations nearby: the Cadman Plaza Station at 271 Cadman Plaza East,[45] and the DUMBO Automated Postal Center at 84 Front Street.[46]
Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene generally have a higher ratio of college-educated residents than the rest of the city as of 2018[update]. The majority of residents (64%) have a college education or higher, while 11% have less than a high school education and 25% are high school graduates or have some college education. By contrast, 40% of Brooklynites and 38% of city residents have a college education or higher.[32]: 6 The percentage of Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene students excelling in math rose from 27 percent in 2000 to 50 percent in 2011, and reading achievement rose from 34% to 41% during the same time period.[47]
Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene's rate of elementary school student absenteeism is about equal to the rest of New York City. In Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene, 20% of elementary school students missed twenty or more days per school year, the same as the citywide average.[33]: 24 (PDF p. 55) [32]: 6 Additionally, 75% of high school students in Brooklyn Heights and Fort Greene graduate on time, equal to the citywide average.[32]: 6
St. Ann's School, a K–12 school, is located in the neighborhood, with the main campus at 129 Pierrepont Street. Packer Collegiate Institute, a K–12 school, has also been located in the neighborhood, at 170 Joralemon Street, since its 1845 founding.
St. Francis College is located on Remsen Street and occupies half a city block. It was founded as St. Francis Academy in 1859 by the Franciscan Brothers and was originally located on Baltic Street. St. Francis College was the first private school in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn. As of 2010[update], 2,000 full-time students and more than 400 part-time students from 80 countries attend the college. St. Francis College has been ranked by The New York Times as one of the more diverse colleges in the United States.[48] The college has also been ranked by both Forbes magazine and U.S. News & World Report as one of the top baccalaureate colleges in the north.[49][50]
Brooklyn Heights is also the location of Brooklyn Law School, founded in 1901.
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)'s Brooklyn Heights branch is located at 286 Cadman Plaza West.[51] The branch was formerly located at 280 Cadman Plaza West, which was shared with the Business & Career Library, but that site was sold to a developer and demolished.[52]
Brooklyn Heights' first library was founded in 1857 by the Mercantile Library Association of the City of Brooklyn. The first BPL branch in the neighborhood, the Montague Street branch, was opened in 1903. The Brooklyn Heights branch building at 280 Cadman Plaza West opened in 1962 and originally contained an auditorium and children's room. It was renovated and expanded from 1990 to 1993, and upon the completion of the renovation, the Brooklyn Heights branch shared the site with the Business & Career Library.[53] In 2013, BPL announced its intent to sell 280 Cadman Plaza West, and as part of this announcement, the Business and Career Library's functions were relocated to BPL's Central Branch.[54] BPL then sold the Brooklyn Heights branch to developer Hudson Companies.[55][56] Hudson Companies then demolished the structure and replaced it with a 34-story condominium, which now contains the smaller library at its base.[52] In the interim, the BPL branch moved to the temporary 109 Remsen Street location,[57] until the new location was completed in 2022.[58]
Although no bus routes actually stop in Brooklyn Heights, many MTA Regional Bus Operations bus routes are located nearby in Downtown Brooklyn. The B25 also stops in Dumbo/Fulton Ferry, while the B61 and B63 serve Cobble Hill.[60]
Aitken Place – Monsignor Ambrose Aitken of St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church
Cadman Plaza – Samuel Parkes Cadman, pastor of the Central Congregational Church
Clark Street – William Clark, ship's captain
Clinton Street – DeWitt Clinton, mayor of New York City, governor of New York state, three time Presidential candidate
College Place – named after the Brooklyn Collegiate Institute for Young Ladies (1829–1842); the building became the Mansion House Hotel in 1875
Court Street – renamed from "George Street" in 1835, even though there were no courts nearby
Doughty Street – Charles Doughty, 18th century lawyer, helped create the Village of Brooklyn
Elizabeth Place – Elizabeth Cornell, built the first Pierrepont mansion
Fulton Street, Old Fulton Street – Robert Fulton, introduced steam ferry service between Brooklyn Heights and Manhattan; Old Fulton Street was originally to have been named "Kings Highway", and Fulton Street was "Main Street"
Furman Street – William Furman, state legislator
Garden Place – originally part of Philip Livingston's garden
Grace Court, Grace Court Alley – named after Grace Church
Henry Street – Dr. Thomas Henry, president of the Kings County Medical Society
Hicks Street – John and Jacob Hicks, 17th century ferry operators
Hunts Lane – John Hunt, early purchaser of land from Hezekiah Pierrepont
Middagh Street – the Middaghs, a pre-Revolutionary War family
Monroe Place – James Monroe, fifth President of the United States; the widest street in Brooklyn Heights
Montague Street – Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, English feminist and activist for smallpoxinoculation, a member of the Pierrepont family; originally named "Constable Street" after Anna Marie Constable Pierrepoint
Pierrepont Street, Pierrepont Place – Hezekiah Pierrepont, the "founder" of Brooklyn Heights
Remsen Street – Henry Remsen, son of Ram Jensen Vanderbeeck, a 17th-century blacksmith
Schermerhorn Street – Peter and Andrew Schermerhorn, merchants and landowners
Sidney Place – Sir Philip Sidney; originally "Monroe Place" until 1853
Tillary Street – James Tillary, who worked on finding a cure for yellow fever
Concerning the "fruit streets" in Brooklyn Heights – Cranberry, Orange and Pineapple Streets – the WPA Guide to New York City reports that before the Civil War, these streets, along with Poplar and Willow Streets, were named after prominent families, but that a member of the Middagh family expressed her dislike of these families by replacing the street signs with botanical names.[64] The city would restore the proper names, and Middagh would put back her own signs. Several iterations of this game ended when Middagh's new names were given official status by a resolution of the alderman.[10] In Historically Speaking, Brooklyn borough historian John B. Manbeck says only that these street names "have questionable origins", as does Love Lane, which reputedly gets its name from the meetings that took place there between a pretty girl who lived nearby and her suitors.[63]
Morton Birnbaum (1926–2005), lawyer and physician who advocated for the right of psychiatric patients to have adequate, humane care, and who coined the term sanism.[72]
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1689–1762), a cousin of the Pierrepont family, best remembered for bringing the concept of inoculation against smallpox to the attention of the British public; Montague Street was named after her[63]
The 1960s TV show The Patty Duke Show was set at 8 Remsen Street, Brooklyn Heights, and the neighborhood received a name check in the theme song, in which "Patty's only seen the sights a girl can see from Brooklyn Heights."[9][137]
The 1977 horror film The Sentinel featured exterior shots along the Promenade, most notably of the southernmost building at 13 Remsen Street. The neighborhood is a popular destination for many TV and film producers, and has been used both for interior and exterior shoots in projects that included Boardwalk Empire, St. James Place, White Collar, and Hostages.[139]
The area was also the main setting of The Cosby Show (1984–1992) where the Huxtable family resided in a two-story brownstone at 10 Stigwood Avenue, a fictional address in Brooklyn Heights.[140]
^Osman, Suleiman. (2011) The Invention of Brownstone Brooklyn: Gentrification and the Search for Authenticity in Postwar New York New York: Oxford University Press. p.150 ISBN0195387317
^Krogius, Henrik. The Brooklyn Heights Promenade Charleston, South Carolina: The History Press, 2011. ISBN1609495292
^ abPlitt, Amy. "Björk Nabs Brooklyn Heights Penthouse From Her Ex for $1.6M"Archived December 12, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, Curbed New York, January 5, 2016. Accessed June 20, 2017. "In 2009, Icelandic singer-songwriter Björk and her now ex-husband, artist Matthew Barney, snagged the penthouse apartment at 160 Henry Street on a quiet stretch in Brooklyn Heights. But the couple has since split up, and now Luxury Listings NYC reports that the delightfully kooky musician has bought her ex out of the 3,000-square-foot pad, to the tune of $1,611,325."
^Huget, Jennifer LaRue. "On the trail of Henry Ward Beecher in Brooklyn, with stuffed doll in tow"Archived November 1, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Washington Post, October 24, 2013. Accessed October 22, 2017. "This year marks the 200th anniversary of Beecher's birth and the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, for which he fervently pressed. So we Hugets decided to pay homage to 'The Great Divine' by visiting his spiritual home base in leafy, brownstone-lined Brooklyn Heights."
^Potts, Monica. "Morton Birnbaum, 79, Champion of Mentally Ill, Dies"Archived February 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, December 14, 2005. Accessed August 24, 2020. "Dr. Morton Birnbaum, a physician, lawyer and mental health advocate who worked to establish and expand rights for mentally ill patients, died on Nov. 26 at Cabrini Medical Center in New York. He was 79 and lived in Brooklyn Heights."
^Wikipedia Joseph Brodsky Accessed April 24, 2019. "Brodsky died of a heart attack aged 55, at his apartment in Brooklyn Heights, a neighborhood of Brooklyn borough of New York City, on January 28, 1996.[10] Citation from NY Times.
^Polsky, Sara. "Gabriel Byrne's $4.7M Brooklyn Heights Townhouse in Contract"Archived October 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, Curbed, April 8, 2010. Accessed October 22, 2017. "Is Brooklyn Heights resident, In Treatment star, and Dock Street Dumbo hater Gabriel Byrne planning a move out of the neighborhood? Maybe so! Brooklyn Heights Blog notices that Byrne's on-the-market townhouse at 14 Garden Place has gone into contract."
^Taylor, Chuck. "Brooklyn Heights Resident & Pulitzer Winner Ron Chernow Receives BIO Award"Archived April 27, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, Brooklyn Heights Blog, May 20, 2013. Accessed June 20, 2017. "Brooklyn Heights resident Ron Chernow, who won a 2011 Pulitzer Prize for his biography Washington: A Life, as well as a place in the Brooklyn Heights Blog's Top 10 that year, has received the BIO award from the non-profit Biographers International Organization."
^Staff. "Girls creator Lena Dunham's guide to New York City"Archived September 14, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, AM New York, February 20, 2016. Accessed June 20, 2017. "The quaint neighborhood spot Iris Cafe in Brooklyn Heights is a favorite brunch spot for locals. Dunham has long ties to the Heights: She lived in the neighborhood in her youth, went to school at nearby St. Ann's and moved into the neighborhood in 2012."
^O'Neill, Gail. "Miss Piggy's creator, Bonnie Erickson, speaks about her work as a woman of The Muppets"Archived January 7, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, ArtsATL, February 27, 2018. accessed January 6, 2019. "In advance of the event, ArtsATL reached out to Erickson at her home in Brooklyn Heights, New York, to discuss her work as a female creator in the Muppet Workshop and to learn more about the origins of her most famous female creation, Miss Piggy."
^Pace, Eric. "From a Pizza by Land to Fillet of Beef by Sea", The New York Times, May 25, 1983. Accessed May 23, 2024. "Mr. Everdell and his wife, Barbara - she teaches Latin and other subjects at St. Ann's - consulted their sons, 11-year-old Josh and 8-year-old Chris, and decided to stay at home, inviting a few friends to join them in watching the fireworks from the one window in their Montague Terrace apartment that has a view of the bridge. The window is only big enough for two spectators at a time."
^via CNN Wire. "Former CDC head Tom Frieden charged with forcibly touching woman"Archived January 7, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, WTVR-TV, August 24, 2018. Accessed January 6, 2019. "Dr. Thomas Frieden, the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was arrested Friday and charged with forcible touching, according to the New York Police Department. A law enforcement official told CNN that authorities filed three charges against Frieden stemming from an alleged incident in his home in Brooklyn Heights in October."
^Patalano, Heidi. "The Subway is One of Paul Giamatti's 'Favorite Things'"Archived January 1, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, DNAinfo.com, October 3, 2013. Accessed June 30, 2017. "How did you settle on Brooklyn Heights? I think it was just something pretty mellow and different from where I had lived, which was in the Lower East Side.... I had had a kid at that point, so it was just somewhere more mellow for the kid."
^Agresta, Michael. "Peter Hedges in Real LifeThe writer/director returns to his roots with new novel The Heights"Archived October 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The Austin Chronicle, March 19, 2010. Accessed October 22, 2017. "[AC]: You live in Brooklyn Heights. Did you find yourself borrowing details from your own life? More or less than in your Iowa novels? [PH]: No, actually. My second novel, An Ocean in Iowa, is the closest thing I've written to my own life. There may be little details – descriptions of what's in a sock drawer, or the architecture of an apartment, the smell of a meal – but no, I was very determined to not write about the people in my neighborhood."
^Kan, Elianna. "My Lost Poet"Archived August 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine, The Paris Review, February 23, 2015. Accessed January 17, 2019. "In the spring of 2012, Philip Levine delivered a lecture at the Library of Congress called “My Lost Poets,” marking the end of his tenure as the eighteenth U.S. poet laureate.... I arrived at his home on Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights just as he and his wife, Franny, were finishing lunch."
^Kiemer, Cynthia A. "Philip Livingston"Archived October 19, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, New York State Museum. Accessed January 17, 2019. "Livingston also speculated heavily in real estate, accumulating more than 120,000 acres of unimproved land in New York and lesser holdings in New Jersey and Connecticut. He owned urban property in Albany and New York City, including his Manhattan home on Duke Street and a country estate in Brooklyn Heights."
^Wyatt, Edward. "James Lyons, 46, Film Editor and Actor, Dies"Archived July 17, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, April 16, 2007. Accessed August 24, 2020. "James Lyons, a film editor whose most notable collaborations were with the director Todd Haynes on several feature films, including Safe,Velvet Goldmine and Far From Heaven, died Thursday in Manhattan. He was 46 and lived in Brooklyn Heights."
^Berger, Joseph. "Norris Church Mailer, Artist and Ally, Dies at 61"Archived March 28, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, November 21, 2010. Accessed January 6, 2019. "Norris Church Mailer, a woman bred in the rural poverty of Arkansas who married Norman Mailer and managed his career and family life over three decades while carving out her own niche as a writer, died on Sunday at her home in Brooklyn Heights."
^Sengupta, Somini (April 14, 1996). "Brooklyn's Girl Next Door?". The New York Times. Retrieved November 29, 2007. Whether she ever made a pilgrimage to Ebbets Field or sipped an egg cream beside an open fire hydrant isn't clear, but the mere fact that she was born in Brooklyn Heights is enough for the organizers of Welcome Back to Brooklyn Day on June 9. On that day, Brooklyn Borough President Howard Golden will crown Ms. Moore Homecoming Queen in a rose garden ceremony at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.
^Morris, Bob. "Mary-Louise Parker on Life With and Without Men"Archived January 7, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, November 15, 2015. Accessed January 6, 2018. "The other day in the Brooklyn Heights duplex Mary-Louise Parker shares with her two children and Mrs. Roosevelt, a cocker spaniel in a red diaper, the actress was stroking one of the oyster shells she keeps in a bowl in her living room."
^Gates, Anita. "Suzanne Pleshette, Actress, Dies at 70"Archived November 1, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, January 21, 2008. Accessed January 18, 2020. "Suzanne Pleshette was born Jan. 31, 1937, in Brooklyn Heights, to Eugene Pleshette, who managed the Paramount and Brooklyn Paramount theaters, and Gloria Kaplan Pleshette, a former dancer."
^Podhoretz, John. "What I Recall About Jersey and 9/11", Commentary, November 23, 2015. Accessed May 10, 2023. "I was living in Brooklyn Heights. I was working as a columnist for the New York Post. I usually worked at home but in the weeks after the attack I came into the office."
^Halbfinger, David M. "Theodore Roosevelt IV Opts Out of G.O.P. Race for Senate", The New York Times, November 24, 2009. Accessed May 10, 2023. "Calling himself a “liberal Republican,” Mr. Roosevelt, 66, a former chairman of the League of Conservation Voters who lives in Brooklyn Heights, spoke harshly on Tuesday about the party’s conservative national leadership and lamented that the state Republican organization was a 'series of fiefdoms,' though he said he was confident that he could have won the nomination."
^Price, Lydia. "Keri Russell & Matthew Rhys: Inside Their Love Story"Archived July 2, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, People, January 16, 2016. Accessed June 20, 2017. "Evidence began to pile up in favor of the former when the twosome was spotted walking around Russell's neighborhood in Brooklyn Heights a few days before Christmas 2013."
^Robinson, Kara Mayer. "Away From The Office, and the Drama", The New York Times, October 31, 2014. Accessed March 19, 2024. "On Sundays she gets in touch with her playful side in Brooklyn Heights, where she lives with her husband, Eric Slovin, 47, a comedy writer and a producer on the television series Broad City, and their 5-year-old daughter."
^"The Story Behind the Story...", The Modesto Bee, August 11, 1987. Accessed March 19, 2024. "Tell me something about Mia Sara who recently starred In the TV miniseries Queenie. What else has she been In? CT Maui, Hawaii. She's 19, from Brooklyn Heights, N.Y., and has been acting since the age of 14 when her mother, a photographer's stylist, sent her photo around to various agents."
^Anderson, Jack. "Oliver Smith, Set Designer, Dead at 75"Archived October 23, 2017, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, January 25, 1994. Accessed October 22, 2017. "Oliver Smith, one of the most prolific and imaginative designers in the history of the American theater and a former co-director of American Ballet Theater, died on Sunday at his home in Brooklyn Heights."
^Mead, Rebecca. "Dan Stevens in Brooklyn"Archived October 30, 2020, at the Wayback Machine, The New Yorker, October 6, 2014. Accessed August 24, 2020. "These days, Stevens is a Brooklyn resident. Since the spring of 2013, when his six-month run starring in The Heiress, on Broadway, ended, Stevens and his wife, Susie Harriet, along with their two small children, have been living in Brooklyn Heights."
^Keane, James T. "Talking truth and lies with the Norwegian novelist who won the Nobel Prize", America, March 22, 2022. Accessed March 19, 2024. "Settling in Brooklyn Heights after fleeing the Nazis in Norway (where her son was killed in battle), Undset began speaking and writing against totalitarianism and both Hitler and Stalin, including in America, where she was acquainted with longtime editor John LaFarge, S.J."
^Goodman, Lizzy. "MGMT’s Homecoming", New York, November 6, 2009. Accessed March 19, 2024. "'I never thought I’d live in Brooklyn Heights,” muses MGMT front man Andrew VanWyngarden, as he strolls down the leafy streets of the neighborhood where he resides, and where MGMT are finishing work on Congratulations, their follow-up to 2007’s neopsychedelic smash, Oracular Spectacular.
^Pollak, Michael. "Dancing in the Street"Archived January 7, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, February 12, 2010. Accessed January 6, 2019. "Not exactly, but close. The town house at 182 Clinton Street in Brooklyn Heights, which is for sale for just under $3 million, was the birthplace and childhood home of Lois B. Wilson, and it was where she and her husband, Bill Wilson, moved back in with her parents when his drinking had left him unable to support his family. In his speeches and writings, Mr. Wilson, known as Bill W. until his death in 1971, traced the history of the movement to 1934 and 'the kitchen table at Clinton Street,' where he and a former drinking buddy discussed the principles that led to the program's influential 12 steps to health."
^Kaminer, Ariel. "Pace Picks Yassky, Ex-Taxi Chief, as Its Law School Dean"Archived December 16, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, February 26, 2014. Accessed January 6, 2019. "Starting in April, its law school will be led by David S. Yassky, who served as taxi commissioner under Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and greeted all riders from their seat-back televisions.... He plans to commute to his new job by subway from his home in Brooklyn Heights."
^Carlson, Jen. "Adam 'MCA' Yauch Will Get Brooklyn Heights Playground Named After Him On Friday"Archived April 8, 2015, at the Wayback Machine, Gothamist, May 1, 2013. Accessed May 25, 2017. "This Saturday will mark one year since Adam 'MCA' Yauch died at 47-years-old, following a three year battle with cancer. After his death, word spread that Squibb Park in Brooklyn Heights (where Yauch grew up) may be renamed for him, but Kathleen Hanna soon stopped that rumor."
^Carlson, Jen. "TV Flashback: The Cosby Show"Archived March 29, 2010, at the Wayback Machine, Gothamist, February 21, 2010. Accessed October 22, 2017. "On the show, the Huxtable family lived in a brownstone at 10 Stigwood Avenue in Brooklyn Heights—however, exterior shots of their home were taken at 10 Leroy Street in Greenwich Village."
^Sullivan, J. Courtney. "Moonstruck House Sells, Recalling Fight for Preservation"Archived January 4, 2018, at the Wayback Machine, The New York Times, August 30, 2008. Accessed October 22, 2017. "The locals know the four-story Federal-style brownstone at Cranberry and Willow Streets in Brooklyn Heights as the Moonstruck House because it was the setting for the 1987 movie starring Cher and Nicolas Cage."
Lancaster, Clay. Old Brooklyn Heights: New York's First Suburb. Dover Books, 1979.
Tippins, Sherill. February House: The Story of W.H. Auden, Carson McCullers, Jane and Paul Bowles, Benjamin Britten, and Gypsy Rose Lee, Under One Roof in Wartime America. Houghton Mifflin, 2005.