Our Beautiful Brooklyn Blocks
A 19th century movement known as City Beautiful has had a lasting influence on Brooklyn and continue...
Suzanne Spellen
Suzanne Spellen is a longtime Brownstoner contributor. She is an architectural historian, researcher, and writer with a special love for Bedford Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, and local African American history. She loves old houses, architectural detail, and enjoys exploring new places, camera in hand.
The Remarkable Story of Crown Heights’ Zion Home for Aged Colored People
Imagine being old and no longer able to work, with no family and no wealth of any kind. In the late ...
The Pope’s Mr. Pope: The Rise and Fall of the Pope Family Mansion on Bushwick Avenue
One of our cultural icons is the self-made man or woman. We love to see stories of people who came f...
Parties, Gossip, and Too Much Brew: How 19th Century Brooklynites Celebrated the New Year
Editor's note: This post has been updated. Read the original post here. For those following the ...
Celebrating Christmas in 1899: A Tale of Two Brooklyns
Editor’s note: This story is an update of one that ran in 2013. Read the original here. Many of...
A Winter Wonderland: Ice Skating and Frosty Frolics in 19th Century Brooklyn
The post-Civil War years were a period of great change in American society. For the first time, an e...
A Quick History of the Dining Room and Its Decoration in Brooklyn and Beyond
Thanksgiving was meant to be a day set aside for the giving of thanks for the harvest, the bounty of...
‘I Only Do Big Things’: Woman, Architect, and Brooklynite Fay Kellogg
For centuries, Western women have been held up as the sacred keepers of the hearth and home. By the ...
Rene Chambellan, Art Deco Architecture’s Master Sculptor, in Brooklyn and Beyond
Editor’s note: We’re thrilled to publish the third of a monthly column featuring new stories abo...
Civic Pride: From Romanesque Revival to Neo-Brutalist, Brooklyn’s Firehouses Impress
Any municipality may have beautiful homes and impressive cultural, religious, and commercial structu...
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