A ground acknowledgement ceremony will kick off work on the new library and honor the East New York African Burial Ground.
The site last week. Photo by Susan De Vries
by Anna Bradley-Smith and Cate Corcoran
There’s an almost block-long hole in the ground at 655 New Lots Avenue in East New York where the 1950s concrete building housing the New Lots Library stood until recently. Part of a plan announced in 2024, the demolition of the building was signed off by the city this month to make way for a modern mass timber library slated to open in 2028.
Brooklyn Public Library, along with architects for the project, Gilbane Building Company, the East New York African Burial Ground Collective, and Envoie Projects are holding a ground acknowledgement ceremony to fete the start of work on the new library and honor the East New York African Burial Ground on Thursday, October 29.
Located in very historic spot, the construction site sits across the street from the 1823 Dutch Reformed Church and its 1840s cemetery. At one time, Dutch and Black graves dotted the library site and what is now Sankofa Park next to it. In the 17th century, the library site and the park held a Dutch Reformed Church schoolhouse and a cemetery, including graves of free and enslaved African Americans, according to the NYC Parks Department and historian Mary French.
Between Barbey Street and Schneck Avenue, the site is currently surrounded by a green construction fence, but work on the new build has not yet started. A permit for foundation work has been approved but not issued, city records show, and the permit for the new four-story building hasn’t been issued either.
The site last week. Photo by Susan De Vries
View of the construction site from inside Sankofa Park with the New Lots Reformed Church, an individual landmark with an existing cemetery on the grounds, visible across the street. Photo by Susan De Vries
Inspired by the area’s history, the dramatically reimagined new library will be bigger with more public space, three stories, and 25,000 square feet, as Brownstoner reported in 2024. Designed by architects MASS Design Group and Marble Fairbanks, the building’s curved, glassy exterior will be wrapped by a woven basket-like screen, and inside, pale wood beams and columns that look like trees and branches will prop up the ceiling and curve and flow.
Rendering by MASS Design Group & Marble Fairbanks Architects via Brooklyn Public Library
Rendering by MASS Design Group & Marble Fairbanks Architects via Brooklyn Public Library
Rendering by MASS Design Group & Marble Fairbanks Architects via Brooklyn Public Library
The burial grounds had been disturbed by construction of the library and the park in the 1950s, but about 15 years ago, human remains and other burial artifacts were found under the park, according to a 2018 Parks Department study. In 2019, the remains were reinterred in a section of the park now known as the East New York African Burial Ground.
The library pictured in December 2024. Photo by Susan De Vries
In 2024, the city finished a $4.9 million transformation of Sankofa Park that included a new commemorative area to honor those buried in the park, the installation of new play equipment, a basketball court, upgrades to the park’s public bathrooms, fencing, and seating.
An interim branch library opened in August in St. Paul Community Baptist Church at 818 Schneck Avenue. The branch includes books, computers, and an adult learning center.
The interim branch library at 818 Schenck Avenue. Photo by Susan De Vries
Related Stories
Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.
What’s Your Take? Leave a Comment