{"id":331733,"date":"2026-08-28T12:02:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T12:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/331733\/"},"modified":"2026-08-28T12:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T12:02:19","slug":"whats-up-with-downtown-brooklyn-as-the-skyline-goes-higher-will-its-history-be-forgotten","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/331733\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s Up with Downtown Brooklyn? As the skyline goes higher, will its history be forgotten?"},"content":{"rendered":"

PODCAST The fascinating history of Brooklyn\u2019s most bustling \u2014 and most frequently misunderstood \u2014 neighborhood.<\/p>\n

Downtown Brooklyn has a history that is often overlooked by New Yorkers. You\u2019d be forgiven if you thought Brooklyn\u2019s civic center \u2014 with a bustling shopping district and even an industrial tech campus \u2014 seemed to lack significant remnants of Brooklyn\u2019s past; many areas have been radically altered and hundreds of old structures have been cleared over the decades.<\/p>\n

But, in fact, Downtown Brooklyn is one of the few areas to still hold evidence of the borough\u2019s glorious past \u2014 its days as an independent city and one of the largest urban centers in 19th century America.<\/p>\n

Around\u00a0Brooklyn City Hall (now Borough Hall)\u00a0swirled all aspects of Brooklyn\u2019s Gilded Age society. With the construction of the\u00a0Brooklyn Bridge\u00a0and a network of elevated railroad lines, Downtown Brooklyn became a major destination with premier department stores on Fulton Street, entertainment venues like the\u00a0Brooklyn Academy of Music\u00a0and exclusive restaurants like\u00a0Gage & Tollners.<\/p>\n

The 20th century brought a new designation for Brooklyn \u2014 a borough of Greater New\u00a0 York \u2014 and a series of major developments that attempted to modernize the district \u2014 from the creation of Cadman Plaza to New York\u2019s very own \u2018tech hub\u2019. In 2004 a major zoning change brought a new addition to the multi-purpose neighborhood \u2014 high-end residential towers. What will the future hold for the original heart of the City of Brooklyn?<\/p>\n

How do vibrant New York City neighborhoods react to major changes to city life while retaining their historic character? For the next three weeks, we will present three neighborhood-history shows from the Bowery Boys podcast in a new light, exploring how these historic areas survive sudden changes in economic growth, housing needs and tourism. See last week\u2019s show on SoHo for the first part in this series.<\/p>\n

This episode was originally released in 2019. It includes a new introduction and has been reedited and remastered by Kieran Gannon<\/p>\n

LISTEN HERE:<\/p>\n

_________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

The Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast is brought to you \u2026. by you!<\/p>\n

Find us on\u00a0Patreon<\/a>, a patronage platform where you can support your favorite content creators.<\/p>\n

Visit our page\u00a0<\/a>to learn more about the exclusive features available to supporters, including our Patreon-only podcast Side Streets.<\/p>\n

We greatly appreciate our listeners and readers and thank you for joining us on this journey so far.<\/p>\n

__________________________________________________________<\/p>\n

And a video about the history of MetroTech Center from NYU Polytechnic<\/p>\n

The scene just north of Brooklyn Borough Hall, in a photo taken in the early 1900s. The Henry Ward Beecher monument would be moved further north with the creation of Cadman Plaza.<\/p>\n

\"\"Detroit Publishing Company \/ Library of Congress<\/p>\n

Downtown Brooklyn in 1892, a year of momentous change for the neighborhood. Here you see the elevated railroad snaking up Fulton Street with Brooklyn City Hall on the far left.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The classic interiors of Gage & Tollner\u2019s exclusive restaurant on Fulton Street. The interiors are landmarks and you can actually peer into the storefront on Fulton Street to see them (although no business currently occupies the space.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Museum of the City of New York<\/p>\n

Flatbush Avenue Extension from Fulton Street, 1914 (a few years after the opening of the Manhattan Bridge). Note the\u00a0Crescent Theatre<\/a>\u00a0to the far right. It opened as a vaudeville\/burlesque house and transitioned to silent films.<\/p>\n

\"\"Library of Congress<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Borough Hall in 1908 with its new neighbor, the Temple Court Building (constructed 1901).<\/p>\n

\"\"Irving Underhill\/Library of Congress\/ 1908<\/p>\n

The post office was once next to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle offices. The Eagle building was demolished, as was Washington Street. (It became Cadman Plaza East.)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Museum of the City of New York<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Museum of the City of New York<\/p>\n

The post office building on Cadman Plaza in 1976, with the newly situated Henry Ward Beecher monument.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Edmund Vincent Gillon, Museum of the City of New York<\/p>\n

A 1963 photo of Abe Stark, Brooklyn borough president, hovering over a model of the \u2018new\u2019 civic center plan for downtown Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\"\"Higgins, Roger, photographer\/Library of Congress<\/p>\n

This photo was taken in 2019, before the Brooklyn Tower was propped atop it. Dime Savings Bank of Brooklyn is an oddity among the old retail shops of Fulton Street but its classical architecture has helped it survive the wrecking ball. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Look above the first or second floors on Fulton Street and you\u2019ll find some curious and spectacular architectural finery.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The landmarked Offerman Building, the most beautiful former department store on Fulton Street.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

More department store richness:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The\u00a0New York Telephone Company Building\u00a0and the\u00a0NY and NJ Telephone and Telegraph Building\u00a0both remain standing amid a sea of new supertall residential construction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Some curious features of MetroTech Commons \u2014 two whimsical animal-themed sculptures and the Bridge Street Church, a historical landmark associated with the Underground Railroad.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A block north of MetroTech Commons, you\u2019ll find the historic George Westinghouse High School.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The old Brooklyn Fire Headquarters on Jay Street, built in 1892 in a style most unusual for the neighborhood \u2014 Richardsonian Romanesque Revival.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Jay Street-MetroTech station still contains some quirky details from the past.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This undistinguished old building was once the home of Gage & Tollner\u2019s, the most exclusive restaurant in Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The austere Municipal Building was constructed in 1924 and the skyscrapers which surround it also joined the neighborhood in the same decade.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Brooklyn Borough Hall and Columbus Park:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The 1892 Federal Building and Post Office with a tribute to Henry Ward Beecher (which once sat closer to Brooklyn Borough Hall).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Further Listening:<\/p>\n

If you like Brooklyn history, check out these episodes from our back catalog that are referenced in this week\u2019s show.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PODCAST The fascinating history of Brooklyn\u2019s most bustling \u2014 and most frequently misunderstood \u2014 neighborhood. Downtown Brooklyn has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331734,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,13005,124811,100,99,124812,124813,9,24,63,7994],"class_list":["post-331733","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-borough-hall","tag-brooklyn-eagle","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-elevated-railroad","tag-fulton-ferry","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-podcasts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331733","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=331733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}