caught fire at the dock in Manhattan and capsized. The building was erected in the 1840s for a Congregational church; its Romanesque style was uncharacteristic for its architect, Gothic master Richard Upjohn.
With the church on your right, walk on Remsen. See the “cultural medallion” on #91 about a former resident. Why such a short tenancy here for Henry Miller? He was evicted because he couldn’t make rent. The mansion two doors down has a copper roof and may be the standout of this outstanding block.
Turn left on Hicks Street, taking note of Grace Court Alley to your left, a mews of former carriage houses for the mansions on Joralemon and Remsen. On your right at Grace Court, Grace Church proffers another bold design by Richard Upjohn, this one in his more typical Gothic Revival vernacular.
Walk down Grace Court, a tranquil, secluded street with a fantastic view of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty at the dead end. There’s also a celebrity connection: Arthur Miller wrote Death of a Salesman at #31, and then sold the house to civil rights leader W. E. B. DuBois.
Return to Hicks and go right.
Make a right on Joralemon. The 1847 brownstone on your left at #58 has blackened windows because there’s nothing in the house except a ventilation shaft for the subway.
Turn left on Willow Place. About halfway down the block you find the Unitarian Church’s former chapel on your right. Alfred Tredway White, the philanthropic scion who grew up on Pierrepont Place, was its patron. It had to be sold upon his death in 1921 and for a while housed a brothel frequented by Navy Yard employees. Rescued by a citizens’ rehabilitation campaign in the 1960s, it is now used by the Heights Players, a long-running community theater. Toward the end of the block on your left is a group of brick townhouses in a so-called colonnade row. An identical quartet was built directly across the street (both in the 1840s), but it has only one weathered survivor.
Brooklyn Bridge Park
Brooklyn Bridge Park opened in phases starting in 2010 and became one of the city’s most popular green spaces in no time. Once you start roaming through the park, you’d never believe this real estate went neglected and inaccessible for so long. Stretching 1.3 miles from Atlantic Avenue (just south of Joralemon) all the way to beneath the Manhattan Bridge, the park centers on five redeveloped piers. At Joralemon Street’s Pier 5 are a marina and a picnic area with barbecue grills. Pier 6 features volleyball courts and playgrounds, while the absent Pier 4 has been replaced with a sandy beach and tidal pools. Pier 2 offers shuffleboard, roller skating, and kayaking, while Piers 1 and 3 both have terraces made from salvaged granite. And don’t miss the Squibb Park bridge, which carries pedestrians between the park and the foot of Middagh Street. There are lawns, pathways, plantings, and of course views throughout the park, as well as a series of 20- to 30-foot grassy hills that reduce noise level from the nearby expressway. You can also catch a ferry here. Park signage points you where you want to go and shares key historical and environmental information. All facilities and programs are subject to seasonal closings.
Make a right on State Street. The
Turn right on Columbia Place, site of one of Alfred T. White’s projects, Riverside, partway down on your left. Built in 1890, they were conceived as “model tenements” that elevated the quality of housing that the working class could afford, with decent plumbing and ventilation—not to mention decent aesthetics.
Back at Joralemon, you can go to the left and walk under the highway and across Furman Street to Brooklyn Bridge Park (see sidebar). Or if you’d rather save that for another time, go right on Joralemon and left on Clinton to the R train, about 0.4 mile away.
Points of Interest
Plymouth Church 57 Orange St.; 718-624-4743, plymouthchurch.org
Dansk Sømandskirke (Danish Seamen’s Church) 102 Willow St.; 718-875-0042, dskny.org
Brooklyn Heights Promenade West of Columbia Heights between Remsen Street and Orange Street
Brooklyn Historical Society 128 Pierrepont St., 718-222-4111; brooklynhistory.org
Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Catholic Cathedral 113 Remsen St.; 718-624-7228, ololc.org
Adam Yauch Park State Street and Columbia Place; nycgovparks.org
Dumbo and Vinegar Hill
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Dumbo and Vinegar Hill:
Postindustrial, Prepossessing
Above: The Clocktower Building and Empire Stores are neighborhood icons
BOUNDARIES: Brooklyn Bridge Park, Navy Yard, Sands St., Main St.
DISTANCE: 2 miles
SUBWAY: F to York St.
At a community meeting sometime in the late 1970s, the folks who’d started to repopulate a neglected industrial district on the East River came up with a name for their neighborhood: Dumbo, an acronym for “down under the Manhattan Bridge overpass.” Who’s going to want to live in a place called Dumbo? they figured, already sensing that their quiet, boho artists’ colony might attract notice. Ultimately, it proved to be no deterrent. Not only did developers seize on Dumbo, it became the most expensive neighborhood in Brooklyn,
