Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass, in short DUMBO, is one of the most expensive loft districts in New York City. A tiny neighborhood of 25 blocks on the Brooklyn waterfront under and between the two bridges. A solid stock of old multi-level industrial buildings plus a number of new high risers provide habitat for artists, designers, computer people and all sorts of entrepreneurial minded souls who work and live here. A forgotten wasteland of blighted warehouses and multi-story industrial buildings, the area was "discovered" for real estate development by David Walentas, who against all odds and derided by his peers renovated an old 16 story warehouse, the Clocktower Building. Today he is the largest real estate developer in the area and continues to be the major sponsor of the neighborhood.
The area east of the Manhattan Bridge is known as Vinegar Hill, which some people consider to be part of DUMBO, others a separate neighborhood. We opt for the traditional view, i.e. Vinegar Hill being part of DUMBO. Vinegar Hill's revival began in the late 1970s when artists from Manhattan settled here. There is a lot of construction presently going with more to come when the Brooklyn Bridge Park development starts. The Vinegar Hill waterfront will have a number of new residential buildings as part of the effort to make this huge park, stretching from here down to Atlantic Avenue, financially self-sustaining. Further east on the water front is a Con Ed power plant, constructed in the 1920s, which makes the whole area around it less attractive due to noise and pollution.
DUMBO can be pretty noisy or a quiet oasis - it depends where you are. The subway over the Manhattan Bridge and the road traffic over both bridges can be annoying. Once inside DUMBO, the three main streets, Plymouth, Water and Front and its side streets are pretty quiet. That is if there is no construction going on, which there is frequently nowadays. Ever wondered about old trolley tracks on some of DUMBO's streets? They are in fact the remains of the Jay Street Connecting Railroad, which used to transport goods between buildings along the Brooklyn waterfront. While you are walking through DUMBO, visit the gallery of the DUMBO Arts Center, a non-profit contemporary arts institution on 30 Washington Street.
DUMBO's water front between the bridges is occupied the Empire-Fulton Ferry State Park, a 9acre state park established in 1977 with a promenade at the water's edge and a playground. Adjacent to it, further east, is the first segment of the Brooklyn Bridge Park, the so called "Main Street Lot" (it used to be a parking lot). It is a popular site for photography with its spectacular view of the bridges and Lower Manhattan but it can be a bit noisy due to the traffic on the two bridges. Behind the park are the Empire Stores buildings and the roofless former Tobacco Warehouse. The Empire Stores (1880) - a wonderful example of a brick dry goods storage warehouse - will be rehabilitated as part of the future Brooklyn Bridge Park. It will contain a mix of commercial, retail, and office uses. The Tobacco Warehouse is used as an outdoor entertainment area (films) during the summer. Behind it, in a rather nondescript former spice milling warehouse is St.Ann's Warehouse. For more than 25 years Arts at St.Ann's was one of the cultural pillars of Brooklyn Heights, well known for its avantgarde performances. They moved here from St.Ann's Church & Holy Trinity in 2001 continuing the tradition.
The Brooklyn Bridge Park is a 85-acre project on the waterfront with 76 acres of protected parkland supported by 8.2 acres of commercial development (marinas etc.). It will stretch from the DUMBO waterfront north of the Manhattan Bridge to Atlantic Avenue.
On the western edge of DUMBO, in the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, is the Fulton Ferry Landing site, immortalized by Walt Whitman in his poem "Crossing Brooklyn Ferry". A large landing deck offers nice views to Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge from below. You normally find one or two wedding parties being photographed, their stretched limousines waiting in front of the landing deck. This is where Robert Fulton's steam ferry Nassau (1814) shuttled between Fulton Street in Manhattan and Fulton Street in Brooklyn. Ferry service ceased in 1924. Recently limited passenger ferry service was reestablished by NY Water Taxi.
The Fulton Ferry Landing site has some interesting historic buildings. First the former Marine Company 7 Firehouse (1924) with a tower for drying fire hoses (now occupied by an ice cream store). No. 1 Front Street (1868-69) on the DUMBO side is a former bank building. On the western pier of Fulton Landing is the Bargemusic, a much beloved small concert hall on a barge. On the Brooklyn Heights side of Fulton Ferry Landing is the huge brick Eagle Warehouse. You can recognize it from afar by the large round glass window & clock dial on the upper floor. On this site, from 1841 to 1892, were the offices of the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper, where Walt Whitman, not yet 30, served as editor (he was later fired by the owner for his stand against slavery). The building's architect, the renown Frank Freeman, was a master of the eclectic Romanesque Revival style. His metaphor of warehouse as fortress - impregnable, massive, permanent - was reassuring for the owners of the merchandise stored within. An undergound moat of air surrounds the foundation, protecting it from water seepage. Freeman wrapped the warehouse around the one structure left by the newspaper: its three-story pressroom, built in 1882, at the corner of Doughty Street and Elizabeth Place. You can detect its roofline today. In 1906 he added another building in the same style east of his first. The Eagle Warehouse was converted to a residential coop in 1979.
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