36
ERS
FEND
E DE
TO TH
ION
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1861
1865
o t s e c a Pl
r o l o C d n a t Visi
Jake Rose
Illustrations by Various Artists
Brooklyn New York City’s most populous borough, Brooklyn, is home to nearly 2.6 million residents. If Brooklyn were an independent city it would be the fourth largest city in the United States. While Brooklyn has become the epitome of ‘cool and hip’ in recent years, for those that were born and raised here over the years, Brooklyn has never been ‘uncool’. The world is just catching up to what they’ve always known. Brooklyn has long been the melting pot of the United States. Home to as many as 200 different languages and a population that is nearly 40 percent foreign born, Brooklyn’s diversity is a shining example of multiculturalism at work in the United States. The diversity of their people is mirrored in the diversity of their neighborhoods, economy and ideas, all of which make Brooklyn a hotbed for innovation, culture and history. Their parks and museums are world-class, their neighborhood architecture second to none and their people committed to One Brooklyn. Yet the spirit of a Brooklynite ensures that they are always striving to improve.
1.
Soldiers and sailors Arch / Grand Army Plaza Designed and built by Calvert Vaux in 1867, Grand Army Plaza is the elliptical entrance that provides a wide and picturesque approach to Brooklyn’s Prospect Park. The Plaza was one of Prospect Park’s first features to be built and marks the start of the Eastern Parkway. Park officials estimated that over 11 million people visited Prospect Park in its first five years of operation. The Plaza was bolstered by the completion of the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch in 1892. Over the next decade, the Plaza added four Doric columns, an electric fountain, statues of Gouverneur Kemble Warren, Henry Tablet, Alexander Skene, and Henry Slocum, an iron chariot at the top of the Arch, and side sculptures. With the advent of the automobile, a DeathO-Meter was installed at the Plaza in 1927 that kept track of Brooklyn automobile fatalities. The current Bailey Fountain was completed in 1932. John F. Kennedy’s bust was added in 1965. In 1973 and 1975, the Arch and Grand Army Plaza were designated as official City landmarks.
TO THE DEFENDERS OF THE UNION 1861 1865
3.
Brooklyn Academy of Music The Brooklyn Academy of Music is America’s oldest performing arts center. Since opening in 1861, it has presented the brightest talents in theater, dance, music, and literature. Nevertheless, the Academy experienced a renaissance in 1967 when it appointed Harvey Lichtenstein as their executive director. During his reign, BAM became a preeminent cultural center, as it launched events like the Afro-Asian and Next Wave Festivals, DanceAfrica, BAMart, 651, and BAMcafé. BAM also had its Theater Company present its first production, unveiled the Majestic Theater, and converted the Carey Playhouse into BAM Rose Cinemas during this time. Since 1999, BAM has renovated its façade, broke ground on the Richard Fisher Building and the Hamm Archives Center, and began partnerships with Sundance Institute, Met Opera, the Old Vic Theatre, and London’s Neal Street Productions. Today, BAM is an urban arts complex that presents performing arts, media, and film, while also providing a cultural stage and meeting place for all New Yorkers.
4.
Brooklyn Bridge Park Stretching 1.3 miles along Brooklyn’s East River edge, Brooklyn Bridge Park is an 85-acre post-industrial waterfront site that spans from Jay Street to Atlantic Avenue. Designed by Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, the Park contains Piers 1-6, Empire Fulton Ferry, and the historic Civil War-era Empire Stores and the Tobacco Warehouse properties. The park includes playing fields, sport courts, playgrounds, lawns, a roller rink, a greenway, and boat launches. The subject of major planning since the creation of the Downtown Brooklyn Waterfront Local Development Corporation in 1998, Brooklyn Bridge Park broke ground in 2008 and opened in 2010 along with Piers 1 and 6. In 2011 the Empire Fulton Ferry section reopened to feature Jane’s Carousel. Since then, the Park has opened a Pool on Pier 2, sports fields, playgrounds, fishing prep stations and Picnic Peninsula on Pier 5, Squibb Park and Bridge, the Pier 3 Greenway Terrace, and Pier 4 Beach. The park’s most recent additions include John Street, Main Street, and Pier 6’s outer portion.
5.
jane’s Carousel Created in 1922 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company, Jane’s Carousel is a beautiful wooden carousel with 48 carved horses and two chariots. Though originally installed in Idora Park in Youngstown, Ohio, Jane and David Walentas bought the Carousel in 1984. Jane then took the worn-down Carousel and began restoring it at her DUMBO studio by making carpentry repairs and hand scraping away the heavy layers of “park paint”, which revealed its original color palette and John Zalar and Frank Carretta’s elegant woodcarvings. The horses were rendered in faithful detail. The carved trappings were painted and re-leafed. Jewels, beveled mirrors, and pinstriping were restored. The rounding boards, scenery panels and structural pieces were re-painted and re-stenciled. Blackened varnish was removed from the paintings, and mechanical systems were updated. Jane’s Carousel was installed in a Pavilion commissioned by the Walentas’ and designed by Pritzker Prize winning architect, Jean Nouvel. The Carousel opened in 2011 in Brooklyn Bridge Park.
7.
Brooklyn public Library - Central library With its breathtaking façade, sweeping lobby and vast collections, Central Library is a Brooklyn icon. Though the building’s history dates to 1889, it was not until 1941 that the Central Library was opened to the public. The library’s design evokes an open book, with its spine on Grand Army Plaza and two wings opening like pages onto Eastern Parkway and Flatbush Avenue. Its 50-foot-high entry portico, set into the limestone façade, reflects Grand Army Plaza’s elliptical configuration. The entrance features fifteen gilded figures from American literature, framed by columns with goldleaf etchings that depict the evolution of art and science through the ages. The library exterior also features inscriptions along the front entrance and Flatbush and Eastern Parkway wings. At 352,000 square feet, with a circulation of over 1.7 million materials and an annual door count of 1.3 million visits, Central is Brooklyn’s home library, and one of New York City’s foremost cultural, civic, and educational institutions.
8.
brooklyn botanic garden When Brooklyn Botanic Garden was founded in 1910, New York City was becoming a concrete jungle of tall buildings and paved roads. Creating a public garden was one way to ensure that green space remained. Since opening, Brooklyn Botanic Garden has reached its community with initiatives like the Children’s Garden, the Garden Apprentice Program, and the Brooklyn Urban Gardener program. Today Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a world-class destination with popular attractions that include Cherry Esplanade, the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, the Cranford Rose Garden, Magnolia Plaza, the Shelby White and Leon Levy Water Garden, the Discovery Garden, the Native Flora Garden, the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum, and the Steinhardt Conservatory. Its award-winning Steinberg Visitor Center was built in 2012 to welcome a new generation of garden-goers.
9.
prospect Park audubon/boathouse Designed and built by Frank Helmle and Ulrich Huberty in 1905, the classically inspired terra-cotta-encased Prospect Park Boathouse faces west to catch sunsets over the water and expertly utilizes Guastavino arches and tiled vaulting. In 1964, poet Marianne Moore, preservationists, and Brooklynites saved the boathouse before it could be torn down. The boathouse became a landmark in 1968 and was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. In 1999, Prospect Park Alliance restored the building with the help of Audubon New York to create the Prospect Park Audubon Nature Center, the nation’s first urban-area Audubon. Created in 2000, the Center offers free public programming and hands-on exhibits that allows park visitors of all ages to explore Prospect Park’s natural diversity. In 2015, the Alliance expanded its programs with a second Audubon tent and free Discovery Packs for families to explore the Park on the go. Today, the boathouse is the park’s most popular building and is one of Brooklyn’s 10 best buildings.
13.
Coney Island As New York City’s original seaside getaway, Coney Island has a rich history, a vibrant present, and a promising future. Located a few miles east of Manhattan, Coney Island became a beach resort in the 1800s where engineers made rides into carousels and rollercoasters. Opening in 1903, Steeplechase Park and the original Luna Park ushered in Coney Island’s golden age as the nation’s largest amusement park. That era led to the construction of its three historic landmark rides: the Wonder Wheel, the Cyclone rollercoaster, and the Parachute Jump. Today, Luna Park has become a popular tourist attraction home to dozens of rides. With plans for more development and a goal to restore the city’s best place for fun in the sun, the future is bright. So come out to Luna Park and bask in the surf, sand, food, events, and excitement that Coney Island has to offer. Enjoy the urban play land that it has once again become and discover its alluring history.
14.
ford ampHitheater Opening in 2016 as the cornerstone of the Seaside Park and Community Arts Center, Ford Amphitheater at Coney Island Boardwalk is a 5,000-seat outdoor live entertainment venue located within the landmark Childs Restaurant Building. Designed and built in 1923 by Ethan Dennison and Frederic Hirons in a resort style, the building combines Spanish Colonial Revival elements with maritime references. Clad in yellow stucco, the building’s arches, columns, arcades, windows, and piers feature three-dimensional terra-cotta ornaments in motifs that include fishes, seashells, ships, gargoyles, and the ocean god Neptune. After closing in 1950, the Childs Restaurant building was used as a candy manufacturing facility for over 50 years, and then opened a roller-skating rink in 2008 funded by designer Tommy Hilfiger and Glamour magazine. With its large size, impressive ornamentation, oceanic rooftop garden, and beautiful murals, the Childs Restaurant Building is a classy seaside reminder of Coney Island’s heyday.
17.
Brownstones of brooklyn A soft sandstone that weathers into a chocolate brown texture, brownstone is a key component of some of the finest housing ever built in Brooklyn. During the late 18th and early 19th century, brownstone was used for stoops, doorway trims, and windowsills on houses. But by the late 1840s, brownstone became the most fashionable building material for row house façades, as it enhanced the monumentality of the row house front since it could be laid in long sheets with virtually invisible seems while also being quick and affordable to produce. The brownstone front was so popular for dwellings in New York from the 1840s to the 1890s that any row house in New York is often termed a brownstone. The Great Depression and World War II reconfigured old brownstones into boarding houses and working-class housing. Then in the 1960s, the self-proclaimed ‘pioneers’ known as the brownstoners arrived on the scene to refurbish deteriorating homes. Today, Park Slope has some of the best-known examples of brownstones in the country.
18.
St. Ann’s Warehouse Originally located at the Church of St. Ann and the Holy Trinity on Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights, St. Ann’s Warehouse presents a wide array of concert and theater performances that have earned them an innovative reputation with its musical collaborations, concert presentations, and works for Puppet Theater. St. Ann’s had its first big success in 1983 with staging the first American puppet opera, Amy Trompetter’s production of Rossini’s The Barber Of Seville. In 1990, Rolling Stone called St. Ann’s the guiding light in New York’s avant-rock scene. In 2000, St. Ann’s relocated to a former spice-milling factory in DUMBO, where it served as a platform for awardwinning productions and as the stage for noted musicians like David Bowie and Lou Reed. In 2015, St. Ann’s moved again to the historic Tobacco Warehouse in Brooklyn Bridge Park, where the organization has established itself as an international center for interesting theatrical events.
25.
brooklyn museum Founded in 1823 as the Brooklyn Apprentices’ Library, the Brooklyn Museum is one of the United States’ oldest and largest art museums. The Museum itself was built from 1895 to 1926, consisting of the west and northeast wings, a central pavilion, a staircase, and the Beaux-Arts Court. In 1977, the Museum was added to the National Register of Historic Places. During the 1990’s, the Museum built the Cantor Auditorium and the Schapiro Wing, as well as revamping the Beaux-Arts Court. The Museum’s front entrance and plaza contains the glass-encrusted Rubin Pavilion and Lobby, a front stoop, a fountain, and a reflecting pool. In 2007, the Beaux-Arts Court’s floor was renovated, adding steel framed glass panels while preserving the mosaic tiled marble floor. The Museum is home to the Elizabeth Sackler Center for Feminist Art, the country’s first public space that explores feminist art. Above all else, the Brooklyn Museum is where people can discover dignity and empathy through its exceptional works of art, interesting discussions, and inventive tactics.
34.
Brooklyn Superhero Supply COmpany The brainchild of Dave Eggers, Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company has a secret identity. Beyond the platform on which young and old alike test capes while being blasted by a highpowered fan, and behind the shelves stocked with grappling hooks and invisibility paint is the headquarters for 826NYC, a not-for-profit writing program that focuses primarily on kids ages 6 to 18. Encouraging writing in any and all forms–comics, fables, poetry, essays, songs, short stories, novels, and teleplays–the organization seeks to help young people express themselves creatively and confidently through the written word. The agency (accessed via a trick bookshelf) offers free after-school one-on-one tutoring on a drop-in, first-come-firstserved basis, as well as weeknight and weekend workshops and help with school publications. They also host class trips to 826 and help teachers with in-class, writing-based projects.
36.
GriMaldi’s pizza In the world of pizza, Grimaldi’s is an institution. Grimaldi’s history of coal-fired brick oven pizza cooking can be traced to the first pizzeria in America back in 1905. Coal-fired brick oven cooking gives pizza a unique smoky flavor and a crisp crust that is just not possible with gas, convection, or wood oven. Knowing coal-fired brick oven cooking is a dying art, Grimaldi’s wants to ensure that future generations will be able to experience this distinctive and truly authentic pizza.
TO THE DEFENDERS OF THE UNION 1861 1865
Through its 36 beautiful black-andwhite line drawings and detailed descriptions, “Color Brooklyn� masterfully highlights what makes the borough so special to its residents.
Color Brooklyn is filled to the brim with the most iconic settings of Brooklyn, such as the Brooklyn Museum, the Barclays Center, Grand Army Plaza, and Brooklyn Bridge Park, among many others.
ISBN 9781948286053
9 781948 286053
51495 >
www.colorourtown.com