Park Slope is one of the most sought after neighborhoods in New York City. Rows after rows of historic brownstones on tree lined streets, street after street of them, roughly 5 blocks by 30 blocks. A unique historic setting with French, Greek and Romanesque Revival treasures, spires, turrets and bay windows. And above all close to Prospect Park, Brooklyn's version of Central Park.
The "Slope", as it is affectionately called by its residents, has a distinct neighborhood feel. A small-town community with a cosmopolitan attitude. Seventh, Sixth and Fifth Avenues are the Slope's main streets with lots of shops, cafés and restaurants. Young, middle-class couples push baby strollers alongside artistic types and Wall Street professionals. A great mix of the twenties crowd with the more monied types. There are many notable residents of the Slope, artists, writers, financiers and politicians.
You will hear or read critical comments about the gentrification of the Slope. But in all fairness one should remember that the Slope was always an affluent neighborhood, except for the 1950s to mid 1970s. These were the years of general decline of New York City after many years of mismanagement by self-serving politicians. Not an era to be proud of or feel nostalgic about.
Prospect Park is the main attraction for the five neighborhoods surrounding it: Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Prospect Park South and Windsor Terrace. Take a look at the park's layout here. This wonderful 526 acre park was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux in the mid 1800s (they also created the 843 acre Central Park in Manhattan). It is a quiet oasis with its near limitless expanse of meadows, lakes and woodlands. It houses a plethora of facilities including a zoo, an ice-skating rink, a boathouse on Prospect Lake, a band shell. Since the park interior originally was not open to visitors after dark, Olmsted & Vaux designed a perimeter with a wide pavement, benches, gaslights and a double row of trees. A great place to jog, walk or bike. The park's main entrance is on Grand Army Plaza with its magnificent 80ft high triumphal arch (half the size of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris) built in the 1890s to commemorate the North's Civil War victory. On top is a bronze Quadriga - Victory in her chariot pulled by four horses and flanked by two winged figures, symbolizing the victorious Union. Next to Prospect Park is the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, a 52-acre marvel with its world-class plant collections and specialty gardens.
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Boundaries: Park Slope is roughly bounded by Fourth Avenue, Prospect Park West (Ninth Avenue), Flatbush Avenue, and Fifteenth Street. Adjacent neighborhoods: Prospect Heights, Gowanus, Windsor Terrace. Subway stops: 1, 2 and 4 to Grand Army Plaza and F to 7th Avenue |
History: The Slope was a sparsely populated rural area in 1857, when the railroad financier Edwin C. Litchfield built an Italianate villa overlooking his vast property sloping down to the Gowanus Canal. By 1874 Prospect Park was completed, designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux to encompass the villa, which now houses park offices. In an adjacent lot they created a separate entity, Institute Park, for the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, the Brooklyn Museum and a 50-acre Botanic Garden.
The English and German upper class was attracted to the area, escaping crowded, noisy and smelly Manhattan. They constructed mansions and brownstones with stained-glass windows, elaborate carved oak paneling and high-relief plasterwork. In the 1880s Grand Army Plaza with the Triumphal Arch was completed. Most notable are the Romanesque Revival mansions built by Thomas Adams Jr. (creator of Chiclets chewing gum) and by George P. Tangeman (baking powder magnate) on Prospect Park West. The Venetian Gothic palazzo built in 1891 for the private Montauk Club has a terra-cotta exterior and friezes depicting its eponymous tribe. The lavish homes on Prospect Park West and 8th Avenue eventually were christened the "Gold Coast".
As the area developed, distance from the park was measured economically, with more modest brownstones built in the central and south Slope. In the 1950's, with middle-class flight to the suburbs and social deterioration, one-family brownstones were converted to rooming houses. In the late 60's young professionals, along with artists and teachers, reclaimed the row houses, buying cheap and embarking on long-term renovations. In 1973 the Park Slope Historic District was created by the New York Landmarks Preservation Commission, encompassing roughly 40% of Park Slope from Prospect Park West down to 8th and parts of 7th Avenue. While in the early 1960s a brownstone cost around $50,000, today, they cost from $2 million up in "normal" areas and $3 - 4 million closer to the park. Increasingly houses are converted into into luxury co-ops.
post your comments herelast updated: October 15, 2008