Brooklyn Heights & Dumbo

As the closest neighborhoods to Manhattan, Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo homes are highly desirable, and steeped in history, but each with a unique architectural heritage of its own. The recent redevelopment of Brooklyn Bridge Park, on the East River waterfront enhances both neighborhoods with new shops, restaurants, and even a beloved antique carousel housed within an elegant, modernist glass cube by the Pritzker Architecture Prize recipient Jean Nouvel.

 

The south of the Brooklyn Bridge is lined with beautiful Federal and Greek Revival Brownstone row houses, dating back as far as 1834. It was developed as a neighborhood that would draw interest from wealthy merchants and bankers working in Manhattan. They could escape across the East River via the Fulton Ferry, to a suburban lifestyle on the outskirts of town. Easier than over overland to uptown Manhattan. The addition of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883 fueled even more development and by 1890, Brooklyn Heights was about completely built-up. It remained an elegant and refined neighborhood, until the great depression when it hit a period of decline. In the 1950s, a new generation began moving in and renovating these historic properties. In 1965 the Brooklyn Heights Historic District became the very first of its kind in New York City. These coveted townhouses and apartments are part of New York’s best-preserved collection of 19th-century architecture. The neighborhood is bordered by Old Fulton Street on the north, Cadman Plaza West on its east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, and the East River to the West. 

 

DUMBO is an acronym for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass”, and was originally a waterfront, industrial manufacturing area. Which, like the rest of the city was deeply affected by the elimination of U.S. factory jobs and manufacturing in the 1960s, sending it into an economic decline with fallow industrial buildings on the dormant Brooklyn waterfront port. In a familiar pattern as with Soho and Tribeca in Manhattan, these factory lofts with cobblestone streets attracted artists in the 1980s, bringing new attention to the area and slowly, adding more residents. The neighborhood has benefited by way of tasteful loft conversions and new luxury housing, often developed by the Walentas family who still own large tracts of the area. The Dumbo Historic District was established in 2007 to help preserve the architectural heritage of the area. It stands today as a mixed-use residential and creative office community today. Dumbo is home to 25 percent of New York City-based tech firms, the highest concentration by neighborhood in the city. It features an exquisite adaptation of the old Brooklyn waterfront as the 85-acre Brooklyn Bridge Park, a riverfront green space linking Brooklyn Heights and Dumbo, with waterfront restaurants, public green space, athletic fields, and spectacular views of Manhattan, Dumbo is a unique part of downtown Brooklyn that has become a popular destination for visitors who cross the Brooklyn Bridge from Lower Manhattan to take in the scenic views, beautifully landscaped park, and enjoy one of New York's latest loft neighborhoods.