Places of Interest

Pratt Institute:

The lifelong dream of self-made oil baron Charles Pratt, Pratt Institute opened its doors on October 17, 1887. Pratt offers programs in Architecture, Art & Design, Urban Planning, Liberal Arts, Information & Library Science and Continuing Education. Located at 200 Willoughby Avenue, Pratt’s 25-acre campus contains the largest sculpture park in New York City, featuring the work of well-known and emerging artists on a rotating and evolving basis. There are galleries throughout the school showcasing the work of faculty and students and rotating exhibitions at the Rubelle and Norman Schafler Gallery.

Clinton Hill Historic District:

Stretching from Vanderbilt to Grand Avenues, and Willoughby to Fulton. Clinton Hill is one of New York’s premier landmark neighborhoods, featuring a diversity of architectural styles and beautiful churches. Once called “Brooklyn’s Gold Coast,” Clinton Hill is distinguished by its large number of free-standing mansions built at the turn of the century by wealthy magnates such as the Pratts.

Fort Greene Historic District:

Stretching from Vanderbilt Avenue to South Elliott, and Willoughby to Greene Avenue. Named after Revolutionary War general Nathaniel Greene, Fort Greene includes many attractive brownstones and historic sites such as the Olmsted and Vaux-designed Fort Greene Park, Hanson Place Baptist Church (a stop on the Underground Railroad), and the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Fort Greene Park:

Fort Greene Park is located between Myrtle and DeKalb Avenues on the North and South, and Fort Greene Place and Washington Park on the West and East. It is both a neighborhood park and historically significant site, named for Revolutionary War General Nathaniel Greene, who oversaw the construction of Fort Putnam at the summit of the park in 1776. At the urging of Walt Whitman, Washington Park was established on the site of Fort Greene in 1847. In 1864, Frederick Law Olmstead and Calvert Vaux, designers of Central and Prospect Parks, were hired to design the current park. Overlooking the park is the Prison Ship Martyrs Monument, a memorial to the Revolutionary War prisoners who were killed aboard ships in Wallabout Bay. The 148-foot tall Doric column set on top of the hill was designed by the renowned firm of McKim, Meade and White and unveiled in 1908.

St. Joseph’s College:

St. Joseph’s is a liberal arts college with undergraduate and graduate programs, located at 246 Clinton Avenue. The school opened its doors with 12 students in 1916 and now maintains 2 campuses, in Brooklyn and Long Island. In 1934, St. Joseph’s opened one of the first college-run preschools, now known as the Dillon Child Study Center.

Long Island University:

LIU is the seventh-largest private university in the country. The Brooklyn Campus, one of three residential campuses, opened in 1926 and is located at 1 University Plaza near Flatbush Avenue. The school offers undergraduate and graduate programs in Business, Liberal Arts, Education, Nursing, Pharmacy and Health Professions as well as Continuing Education.

Brooklyn Navy Yard:

The Brooklyn Navy Yard is located at the northern edge of Brooklyn, on Flushing Avenue and Wallabout Bay in the East River. For more than 150 years, the Yard was a leading military facility. After the Federal government closed it in 1966, it was taken over by the City of New York and re-opened as an industrial park covering 300 acres of the Brooklyn waterfront. The Navy Yard is home to over 300 businesses and the new Steiner Studios movie and television production facility.

Wallabout:

The Wallabout area of Fort Greene is roughly located between Myrtle Avenue and the Navy Yard, from Classon to Carlton Avenues. The name derives from a group of Dutch Hugenots who settled in the area in the 1620s. The area is now synonymous with the Brooklyn Navy Yard and lends its name to the bay on the Brooklyn shoreline of the East River where the British army housed their infamous prison ships during the Revolutionary War. It was also home to "The Brig," once a federal naval prison and the future site of city development of housing, retail, and community space.