Buddy 50 Windowbox, 381 Pacific Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn
The Green With Envy Tour One of community gardens last Saturday was a walking tour. Lots, and lots, of walking, Five hours of walking interspersed by standing around, and occasionally sitting, in the beautiful gardens.
It was also a street-side introduction to Boerum Hill, a neighborhood with which I’m not familiar. Here’s some things which caught my eye, including some gardens which were not officially on the tour.
“Flags” (T-shirts, actually), 485 Pacific Street
Gardens, North Pacific Playground, Boerum Hill
At first glance this building seems out of place, but take a closer look. The brick and wood relate to the dominant materials on the block. The detailed brick lintel across the width of the ground floor echoes details of its neighbors. The windows reflect the street trees and sky.
Fellow Flickrites luluinnyc and mayotic and I were all intrigued by this unusual building at 385 Pacific Street.
The frieze above the door – I thought it was a wood carving, but on closer inspection it could be terra-cotta – reads “Cuyler Church.”
It really was built as a church building. It has a fascinating history. It served an “immigrant” community of Mohawk ironworkers and their families that settled in this neighborhood starting in the 1930s. In Spring 2001 it was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The former Cuyler Presbyterian Church is located in the Boerum Hill neighborhood of northwestern Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. Designed by Staten Island architect Edward A. Sargent, the building is an example of High Victorian Eclectic design with elements of both Gothic and Romanesque styles of architecture. The Cuyler Presbyterian Church began as an extension of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church to support its growing programs. The chapel was built one-half mile away from the Lafayette Church in the North Gowanus neighborhood (now called Boerum Hill).
– Cuyler Presbyterian Church
Here’s GRDN, a gardening store in Boerum Hill which I’ve been wanting to visit. It’s on the same block as the Hoyt Street Community Garden, but time did not allow me anything but the briefest entry into the front of the shop. I drooled over the hand-thrown Guy Wolfe pots. I want to go back.
Another beautiful building, this is the Brooklyn Inn, a local watering hole since the mid-1800s, at 148 Hoyt Street.
Rubbernecking at the Gowanus Community Garden, only time to admire it as we walked by.
Another lovely windowbox, this one at 218 Bergen Street.
Finally, here’s a different view of the Buddy 50 scooter and windowbox that opened the post. They were each so perfect and beautiful.
Related Posts
Hoyt Street Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.2
Wyckoff-Bond Community Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.3
David Foulke Memorial Garden, Boerum Hill, Green With Envy Tour, I.4
Thanks for the lovely walking tour – sounds like a long day, but looks like it was a most beautiful one!
Greg: Thanks! This was just the walking around part. Definitely check out my posts on the gardens themselves, linked at the bottom of this post. I still have posts to write up for the remaining six on this tour. And there will be another tour of another ten gardens in two weeks!