AUGUST 10, 1912





CHANGING CHARACTER OF BROOKLYN HEIGHTS





Most of the Old Families Have Departed from the Section, While Apartment Hotels and
Multi-Family Houses Will Undoubtedly Determine its New Character—Subway Is a Factor





THE announcement a few weeks ago
by Louis Bossert, the prominent
lumber merchant who built and owns tlie
Hotel Bossert on Brooklyn Hei.ghts, tliat
he contemplates tlie enlargement of that
building to twice its present size tends to
confirm the oft expressed opinion that the
Heights section is destined to be a zone
of fine apartment hotels and apartment
houses generally; for The Hotel Bossert
is essentially a place of residence eig'ht
months of tlie year for some ot the best
people in Brooklyn. Many of the fine old
mansions of this part of the borough that
were the homes of men famous in the
professions, in commerce and in flnance
have become boarding houses of the bet¬
ter kind; but Brooklyn Heights is too
fine and too accessible a part ot Brooklyn
to continue in the condition it is in now.
Many of the rentals do not bring the
proper return on the investment and the
Heights has during the last decade been
in the transition state from a section of
the best private homes to a section of
modern   buildings   that   are   more   worth





came determined as a fine home section
many wealthy families from Brooklyn
Heights removed there, while others
found fine new homes in the rich subur¬
ban colonies in New Jersey and West¬
chester. At any rate many of the fami¬
lies that made The Heights famous have
gone.

The operation of the subway between
Manhattan and Brooklyn was a strong
factor in making The Heights more
metropolitan In character, while the
operation of the Montague street cars
across Brooklyn Bridge has been another
contributing force. As a result of better
IrafBc facilities a great many private
dwellings in Montague and adjacent
streets have 'been remodeled into bachelor
apartment houses or buildings with small
suites for married people. They bring a
far better return on the m.ni. y. The last
decade has witnessed a .'omiil.te struc¬
tural change in the Ai.'iit.igii.- sir.ii
block (from Clinton to Iltnr\- sti.-.ts. The
block in Joralemon sti''''t. Iietw.-.n ('.ant
and Clinton streets,  is fast  ihaiit;ing  iiib.





architects, real estate men and insurance
agencies. Subseijuently the Brooklyn
Rapid Transit Company erected a twelve-
story office building on the other end ot
the block, at the northeast corner of
Remsen and Clinton streets; and this
sealed the late of the block for business
purposes. No. 96 Clinton street, an old
mansion on the opposite corner of Rem¬
sen street, has been captured by trade.
The Hamilton Club is on another corner;
and it is one of Brooklyn's famous insti¬
tutions.

Vlany  Clubs on  Heights.

It is safe to say. too, that the section
of Brooklyn Heights contiguous to Clin¬
ton street, imay yet become a centre ot
social and club life in Brooklyn. Beside
the Hamilton Club there is already es¬
tablished in the neighborhood the Brook¬
lyn Club, the large new home of the
(^rescent Club and the Long Island His¬
torical Society; and, across the way is
the huge building of the Brooklyn Sav¬
ings Bank, which finds the neighborhood
suitable for banking purposes.







MONTAGUS    STREET.    AT    HICKS    STREET.





VIEW   OF   COLUMBIA   HEIGHTS.





while. When the Lows, the Prentices,
the Bowens, the Claflins and other
famous families abandoned this part of
the city the turn in the tide of its status
began. The massive old Horace B. Claflin
mansion is now a boarding house; the
picturesque old home of Henry C. Bowen
has been superseded by large apartment
houses and Columbia Heights, the street
forming the western edge of Bi.-i'iklyn
Heights, has succumbed to the invasion
of various influences that are detrimental
to  fine  private  house  occupancy.

The  Xew Influences.

Probably the Brooklyn Bridge had
something to do with the changed char¬
acter of The Heights. Previous to its use
Wall Street Ferry, at the foot of The
Heights, was the great traffic artery (be¬
tween it and New York, Increased facili¬
ties that the bridge .presented brought
into the section a varied class of people.
The opening of the Hotel St. George and
its success was an entering wedge. Then
followed a few apartment hotels such as
the Touraine, the Margaret and the
Standish Arms; and even before their ad¬
vent some large apartment houses were
'built on lower Montague street. And as
the   Upper  West   Side   in   Manhattan   be-





a business section. A tall ollKe building,
for occupancy by physicians, was built on
this block about two years ago; and since
that time other distinct changes have
been wrought. The building of the sub¬
way under Joralemon street and the dam¬
age to property interests as a result tend¬
ed to drive residents away from the thor¬
oughfare   and   redetermine   its   character.

Much property on Brooklyn Heights
has been held in a residential state for a
long time or until the subway problem
was settled. Owners ha\'e been waiting
to see just what the Public Service Com¬
mission and the Board of Estimate would
do regarding subway routes; and now
that tlie routes are decided upon and
Brooklyn is assured of subway exten¬
sions The Heights will undoubtedly un¬
dergo the further changes predicted for it.

The block on Remsen street, from Court
street to Clinton street, has shown a
marked influx of business during the last
flve years. The concessions to trade be¬
gan here when the Title Guarantee &
Trust Company bought several brown¬
stone front dwellings and erected on the
combined site a large anne.x to its Brook¬
lyn office. Then followed the alteration
of other houses into parlor and basement
stores  and   the   rental   of  upper  floors   to





For fifty years Brooklyn Heights had
a family tone characteristic of Concord.
Mass., and other choice New England
communities. Brooklyn derived its fame
as "The City of Churches" from this part
of its territory. Within its confines are
Plymouth Church, made famous by
Beecher; the Church of the Pilgrims,
where Storrs preached; the Holy Trinity,
where Hall attracted great congregations,
and, the famous Dutch Reiformed Church
of The Heights. So changed has the
character of Brooklyn Heights become
that these churches now draw their con¬
gregations from all parts of Bi.i.dchii:
and, the Rev. Newell Dwight iliilis,
Beecher's successor, is seeking to iestor,>
interest in The Heights sectini—where
Beecher lived—by pruph.-syiug th.' .erec¬
tion of a memorial building to tli.- great
divine in which will be reli.s associated
with his career; and. it is e\.ii jir.iposed
to entomb his body in the building. But.
it is idle to attempt to preserve the
original character of Brooklyn Heights.
The great churches mentioned may re¬
main, but the character of population
and of buildings on The Heights will be
different. The area is too near Manhat¬
tan to be utilized for other than a more
dense  population  than  Is  there  now.