Turn right into Clark Street to admire the grandest of all former hotels in the Heights, the former St.George Hotel on Hicks Street (between Clark & Pineapple St.). The St.George, actually a complex of several buildings, was a legend, one of the most fashionable hotels in New York City with a ballroom, a swimming pool fed by salt water wells and 1000 rooms for hotel guests and permanent residents, a hangout for celebrities during the 1920s and 30s. But 3 years after completion of the latest addition, the 30 story tower, the hotel was in foreclosure. With a short interlude during WWII, when soldiers were housed here, it was downhill from then on. The tower and the older brick buildings on Pineapple Street were converted into coop apartments in the mid 80s. The oldest part of the structure on Clark Street burnt down in 1995, was rebuilt and today is a student dormitory.
Go back to Willow Street and continue south. On the right side you see 102 Willow Street, the Danske Somandskirke (Danish Seamen's Church). Brooklyn Heights used to be home to many immigrants Scandinavians in the 1920s and 30s, most of whom have moved elsewhere. But the church is still a focal point for many Lutherans of Scandinavian stock. 109 Willow Street is a Colonial Revival style house from 1905.
108 - 112 Willow Street are three Queen Anne style houses, which were built in 1880. 118-122 Willow Street are beautiful examples of Gothic Revival brownstone townhouses from around 1850. No. 120 still has the original railings and boot-scraper (to get rid of the manure and mud when the streets in the Heights were still unpaved). The highlight on this street are the three original red brick Federal style houses at 150 - 159 Willow Street right after the red brick carriage house. Admire the Federal style doorways, ironwork, the pitched roof with dormer windows (No.155 and 157). Some of the windows still have the weavy early 19th century windowpanes. The three houses stand in a line behind todays housing line as Willow Street used to be wider. We have reached the end of Willow Street and turn right into Pierrepont Street.
Right across is the playground where generations of Heights kids spend their early years in full view of the Statue of Liberty and New York harbour. We turn right into Columbia Heights. 1 Pierrepont Street is a pre-war residential building, one of the most prestigious in the Heights. Walking north on Columbia Heights admire a marvelous row of townhouses on your left. 210 - 220 Columbia Heights are large, exceptionally well preserved Italiante style brownstone townhouses. Further down the street is 184 Columbia Heights, another prestigious apartment coop, built by the Squibb Company for its executives in the 1920s. By the way all the buildings on the west side of Columbia Heights face the Promenade and have fantastic views of the East River and Lower Manhattan. The price tag of these apartements and townhouses is commensurate with the views: extraordinary!
Once you have reached the intersection of Columbia Heights with Orange street turn left and it is only a few steps until you reach Brooklyn Height's fabulous Promenade. Soak in the sweeping views: the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge. The Promenade runs on top of the Brooklyn-Queens-Expressway (BQE), which was built in the late 1940s on the steep embankment. The three levels (two for the BQE and one for the terrace on top) rest on huge steel girders, which were anchored horizontally into the embankment, quite an engineering feat.