22 Linden Boulevard;
R. L. Daus, 1905|

To serve the new residents of Flatbush, a Brooklyn Public Library branch was constructed with funds from steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who donated many branches throughout the city. The original structure, which had vaulted reading rooms lit by skylights, underwent major changes in 1937, including the addition of east and west wings, a vestibule and a new moderne façade by the Brooklyn Public Works with Works Progress Administration funds.

890 Flatbush Avenue;
Church: Thomas Fardon, 1793–98;
New York City Individual Landmark;
Parsonage: Unknown architect, 1853;
Church House: Meyer & Mathieu, 1924;
New York City Individual Landmark;
State and National Registers of Historic Places|

This church, which has held services here since 1654, was one of three churches established by a mandate from Governor Peter Stuyvesant. The current building, though it was completed in 1798 and is one of the oldest structures in Flatbush, is the church’s third structure. It contains classic elements of the Georgian style popular in early America, including a white octagonal spire and belfry adorned with Tuscan colonnettes and urns. Its façades are made of Manhattan schist and are punctuated with arched windows. The Tiffany stained glass windows were installed in 1889 to commemorate the descendants of some of Flatbush’s early Dutch settlers. Some of the gravestones in the cemetery also bear the names of prominent Flatbush families, including Ditmas, Gerritsen, Livingston, Lefferts, Martense, Van Siclen and Vanderveer.

911 Flatbush Avenue;
3a. Museum: Unknown architect, 1786, New York City Individual Landmark;
3b. High School: Charles B. J. Snyder, 1902–25, State and National Registers of Historic ;Places|

Erasmus Hall Museum, which is slated to be restored and converted into the Caribbean American Chamber of Commerce and Industry, was originally Erasmus Hall Academy, a private school founded in 1786 by the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church across the street. The inner quadrangle of Erasmus Hall High School contains the Academy’s original Georgian-Federal style frame building with hand-carved beams and clapboards. Also in the quadrangle is a statue of the Dutch Renaissance philosopher Desiderius Erasmus, the school’s namesake. Prior to the Academy’s construction, for which both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr contributed funds, the site was home to a Dutch public school erected in 1658. The later school buildings were designed in the Collegiate Gothic style and are made of buff brick, limestone and terra cotta. Notable alumni include Barbara Stanwyck, Mickey Spillane, Bobby Fischer, Samuel LeFrack, Clive Davis and Barbra Streisand.

35 Snyder Avenue;
John Y. Culyer, 1874–5|

Currently functioning as a public school, this building has served many purposes since its construction in 1875. Built as the Flatbush Town Hall after residents defeated an early proposal to become part of the city of Brooklyn, it has been preserved over the years as a community center and police precinct, among other things. Its fanciful tower, mansard roofs and iron cresting lend grace and charm to this part of Flatbush.

Slee & Bryson,;
1916–20|
Designed by the same architectural firm, the houses on Kenmore Terrace were built in the English Arts and Crafts Revival style, while those on Albemarle Terrace are Georgian Revival brick houses with bay windows, entry porches and slate tile mansard roofs. Albemarle-Kenmore Terrace was desingated a Historic District in 1978 and was listed on State and National Registers of Historic Places in 1983

John C. Sawkins, Edward R. Strong and;
William A. A. Brown, 1902–09|

Caton Park consists of about 50 large frame houses located in a small area three blocks wide and one block long. Constructed by three different developers, Caton Park benefits from its northerly neighbor, the Prospect Park Parade Grounds, which give the neighborhood an even more bucolic and suburban-like setting.

Prospect Park South;
100: Arthur Harmon, 1908;
104: Carroll H. Pratt, 1902;
115: John J. Petit, 1900;
125: Brun & Hauser, 1911;
131: Petit & Green, 1903;
143: Walter S. Cassin, 1906;
New York City Historic District;
State and National Registers of Historic Places|

There are many eclectic houses on these two blocks, including number 100, which was built in the Renaissance Revival style by Arthur Harmon, whose firm would later design the Empire State Building. Number 104 was designed in a Classical Revival style, with a grand columned entry porch, pilasters and painted shingles. Like number 100, number 115 (not pictured) also has a claim to fame. It is the one-time home of M. G. Gillette, of Gillette razors. The Shingle style house’s most prominent features are its gambrel roof and bell-shaped tower. Built as a showpiece for the Prospect Park South development, number 131 incorporated elements of Japanese design, taking advantage of the late-19th-century rage for all things “Oriental.” Also notable are numbers 125 (not pictured) and 143. The former was designed in a mix of Renaissance and Classical Revival styles, and the latter evokes an Italian villa with a tower overlooking the neighborhood.

83 Marlborough Road;
Prospect Park South;
S. B. Eisendrath & B. Horowitz, 1913–14;
State and National Registers of Historic Places|

In 1908, the few Jewish residents of Flatbush at the time formed the congregation of Temple Beth Emeth and constructed this Classical Revival style building several years later. The rounded building features red brick with cast-stone trim, arched window openings and a Corinthian-columned entry porch.

Prospect Park South;
94: John J. Petit, 1907;
100: John J. Petit, 1900;
101: John E. Nitchie, 1900;
New York City Historic District;
State and National Registers of Historic Places|

Dean Alvord developed Prospect Park South with homes of nearly uniform size and layout, but achieved variety through the use of often whimsical details. This block contains houses that showcase this concept to great effect, including number 94 in the style of a Spanish Mission and number 100 evoking a Swiss chalet, both on the west side of the road. Across the street, the Shingle Style house at number 101 became famous for its role as a boarding house in the 1982 film “Sophie’s Choice,” starring Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline.

Beverly Square West;
T. B. Ackerson, 1901|

After purchasing and developing the small plot that he named Beverley Square East, T. B. Ackerson then purchased an adjoining farm to create the Beverley Square West neighborhood. While the homes he constructed here also featured many of the same architectural elements, including Palladian windows and grand columns, Beverley Square West was built with the intention that no two houses be exactly alike.

T. B. Ackerson, ca. 1900|

Number 242 was designed in the Shingle Style with arched porch openings and a polygonal onion-shaped tower. Number 305 was built for a female member of the Guggenheim family, and number 312 was once the home of composer and film producer Arthur Schwartz, who was famous for his Broadway and film music of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s.

Beverly Square East;
T. B. Ackerson, 1898–1901|

Beverley Square East’s first properties were developed by Thomas Benton Ackerson in 1898 along East 19th Street. The houses were well-appointed, with interior wooden moldings and silk wallpaper, as well as such modern amenities as steam heat and electricity. Particularly extravagant examples of Ackerson’s original development are numbers 217, 223 (not pictured) and 247. Number 257 served as Ackerson’s “model home” in sales brochures and advertisements and nearly 100 years later played a role in Spike Lee’s 1992 film “Malcolm X.”

East 18th Street at Dorchester Road;
Ditmas Park;
Church: Allens & Collins, 1910;
Parish house: Whitfield & King, 1899;
New York City Historic District|

The neo-Georgian church, designed by the same firm responsible for the Union Theological Seminary and Riverside Church in Morningside Heights, features a Greek Revival temple front and tower. The earlier parish house was designed in the Shingle Style and its polygonal rounded body has 16 sides.

Ditmas Park;
445: Foster & Gallimore, 1931;
456: Arne Delhi, 1910;
New York City Historic District;
State and National Registers of Historic Places|

These two houses stand across the street from one another. On the east side, number 445 (not pictured) was designed to emulate an English cottage and features multi-colored rough-cut brick, a steeply pitched roof with slate tiles and a large fanciful brick chimney. Number 456 was designed by a Norwegian architect in the Spanish Mission style, but its eclectic contribution to the streetscape also includes a pediment suggesting a Dutch influence.

Ditmas Park West, ca. 1920|

The eclectic mix of homes in Ditmas Park West is the work of multiple builders who purchased lots from Lewis Pounds (who would later become Brooklyn Borough President) beginning in 1903. This neo-Tudor house is particularly notable because it is rumored to have been the home of Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, film stars of the 1920s and 1930s.

1907|

The oldest purpose-built outdoor shopping plaza in America, Newkirk Plaza is home to some of the area’s longest-standing businesses, including Leon’s Barber Shop, which has been in operation for roughly 100 years. Below the plaza is the Brighton subway line, which was “sunk” below street level in 1917. Turning north up East 16th Street, the block between Newkirk and Ditmas Avenues is home to a group of 13 bungalows constructed in 1908–09 after designs by Arlington Isham.

South Midwood;
Unknown architect, ca. 1866|

South Midwood was developed by the Germania Real Estate and Improvement Company and its homes were largely designed by Benjamin Driesler in 1899–1908. Number 527 predates the neighborhood’s development by several decades, as it is believed to have been built in the 1860s. The farm house, which was moved from its original location somewhere near the present-day Regent Place and modernized around 1910, was the home of Henry Lyles Jr., a sperm whale oil dealer and president of both the Flatbush Gas Works and the Bowery Savings Bank. Though it has undergone some major renovations over the years, the house stands as a reminder of what came before the grand Victorians.

West Midwood;
T. B. Ackerson, 1905–08|

Developed by the Germania Real Estate and Improvement Company, the neighborhood of West Midwood was developed in a more methodical way than some of the others. Though still architecturally grand and of a high quality, the houses were mass-produced to take advantage of successful real estate operations in the area.

MP: John Corbin, 1906–10;
FT: T. B. Ackerson, 1905–07;
New York City Historic District|

Midwood Park and Fiske Terrace are graced with beautiful landscaping, including medians along Glenwood Road and East 17th Street, and street name gateposts at the entrance to each block. One of Fiske Terrace’s highlights is the Avenue H subway station at East 19th Street (19a), an individual landmark which opened in 1878 as an excursion line to Brighton Beach as part of the city’s steam-powered rail system. The station was recently restored.