Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Prospect Heights is a neighborhood in the northwest of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Flatbush Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Eastern Parkway to the south, and, Franklin Avenue to the east, [Article on Prospect Heights by Judith Berck in "The Encyclopedia of New York City", edited by Kenneth T. Jackson, Yale University Press and the New York Historical Society, New Haven, Connecticut, 1995, ISBN 0-300-05536-6] at the end of Prospect Hill. In its northern section are the Vanderbilt Railyards, which could become part of the massive and controversial Atlantic Yards project.

Compared to other Brooklyn neighborhoods, Prospect Heights is relatively small and is notable for its cultural diversity as well as its tree-lined streets. Prospect Heights has seen rapidly demographic changes over the last decade, and its shifts are exemplified by a mixture of older buildings under reconstruction, rows of classic 1890s brownstones, and newly built luxury condos.

Geography

Along the southern boundary, Eastern Parkway, from Grand Army Plaza to Washington Avenue is reminiscent of Manhattan's Fifth Avenue "Museum Mile". Immense, opulent buildings line the north side of the parkway, and the south side features the Brooklyn Public Library, Mount Prospect Park (not to be confused with Prospect Park), the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the recently renovated Brooklyn Museum. To its north lies Fort Greene, to the south, Prospect Park, to its west, Park Slope and to its east, Crown Heights.

The interior portion of the neighborhood consists mostly of brownstone-style residential rowhouse buildings, some built as early as 1890, although some blocks, such as Lincoln and St. Johns Place between Underhill and Washington Avenues, include larger multi-unit apartment buildings. A number of new condominium complexes are under construction in many parts of the neighborhood.

Defunct bakeries and factory spaces line Pacific Street from Vanderbilt Avenue to Carlton Avenue, and some have recently been renovated and converted into lofts; still others have recently been purchased by developer Bruce Ratner in anticipation of his Atlantic Yards Project. Recently, a number of these have begun to be demolished.

Ratner's company Forest City Ratner has planned a controversial development on top of the neighborhood, the plans for which would include a basketball arena and luxury housing. An upscale residential building designed by the architect Richard Meier is currently under construction in the former parking lot of a nearby synagogue at Grand Army Plaza.

The controversy over the boundaries of Prospect Heights and the surrounding area can be traced back to a letter to the editor of the "Brooklyn Eagle" written on March 14, 1889 and published on March 17, 1889 [http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=QkVHLzE4ODkvMDMvMTcjQXIwMTcxMA=&Mode=Gif&Locale=english-skin-custom] . Entitled "SLOPE HEIGHTS OR HILL" it begins:

"It is amusing to see the attempts made to fix upon a name for the rapidly growing part of Brooklyn near Prospect Park, bounded by Flatbush, Fifth and Ninth avenues, Some call it Park Slope, some Park Hill Side, some Prospect Heights and others Prospect Hill"...

Culture and architecture

Largely an Italian, Jewish, and German neighborhood in the 1910s through the 1950s, Prospect Heights is currently well known for its mixed black and white culture. Every year the West Indian Day Parade, the largest annual parade in New York City, follows Eastern Parkway, beginning in Crown Heights and ending at Grand Army Plaza in Prospect Heights. During the last thirty years, the neighborhood has seen an influx of new residents, more frequently young and white than in the recent past, perhaps due to its having had slightly lower real estate prices than neighboring Park Slope. A thriving commercial zone has emerged along Vanderbilt Avenue, which in just the last few years has been the location for new bars, restaurants and specialty shops.

Because of the area's density of Italianate and Neo-Grec rowhouses, much of the neighborhood has been proposed for official designation as a New York City historic district. The proposed Prospect Heights Historic District would cover an area roughly bounded by Flatbush Avenue, Sterling Place, Washington Avenue, and St. Marks Avenue, though a section of the historic district would extend as far north as Pacific Street. [ [http://phndc.org/node/37 Prospect Heights Historic District | phndc.org ] ] The proposal is under study by the city Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Current controversy over development

Recently, controversy has erupted in the neighborhood over a massive development project proposed by developer Bruce Ratner and designed by the architect Frank Gehry for the portion of the neighborhood known as Atlantic Yards. It seeks to construct an arena which would house the Brooklyn Nets basketball team and a substantial amount of housing and commercial space, including a cluster of high-rise buildings that would tower over most of the borough's existing low-rise architecture.

A number of community groups oppose the project, claiming, among other things, that it abuses the principles of eminent domain. They further argue that the development will change the character of the neighborhood by introducing out-of-scale architecture and increased traffic to an already very congested intersection. Community groups also dispute Ratner's suggestions that residents meaningfully participated in the development of a Community Benefit Agreement.

Supporters of the project believe in its potential for reinvigorating what is now an unused, unattractive space. It is also favored by local unions for its potential to create construction jobs during and after its development.

Notable residents, past and current

*Foxy Brown, rapper. Born Inga Marchand, continues to live in the neighborhood as of 2007.
*Tillamook Cheddar (dog), canine "artist."
*Aaron Copland, composer, grew up above the family furniture store on Washington Avenue.
*Joan Rivers, comedienne. Her father was a doctor and they used to live on Eastern Parkway.
*Mark Rudd, leader in the 1960's Weather Underground and Columbia University's 1968 protests. When he lived "underground" in the early 1970s, it was in one of the large apartment buildings on Plaza Street.
*Isa Chandra Moskowitz vegan chef, cookbook writer, and host of "The Post Punk Kitchen," which is filmed in Prospect Heights

References