Map of the approved Bedford Historic District. Image credit: LPC

Approximately 800-building district is primarily characterized by residential architecture from the late 19th century. On December 8 2015, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to designate the Bedford Historic District, composed of approximately 800 buildings and roughly bounded by Bedford, Nostrand, Putnam, Tompkins and Marcy Avenues, and Monroe, Fulton, and Halsey Streets in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. The area mostly consists of residential buildings constructed between 1870 and 1900, both rowhouses and small apartment buildings, in a variety of the typical styles of the area, including Queen Anne, Italianate, neo-Grec, and Renaissance Revival. Landmarks’ Research Department called the district a “remarkably well-preserved section of Bedford-Stuyvesant.” (more…)

Proposed Bedford Historic District. Credit: LPC.

Potential district is characterized by late 19th-century masonry residential structures. The Landmarks Preservation Commission held a well-attended hearing on the potential designation of the Bedford Historic District in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant community on January 15, 2013. The proposed district would be comprised of approximately 800 buildings, roughly bounded by Bedford and Tompkins Avenues from west to east, and Monroe and Fulton Streets from north to south. The area was mostly developed during the period between 1870 and 1900. Many of the late 19thcentury residents were people of New England origin, as well as German and Irish immigrants. Following World War I, African-Americans increasingly moved to the area, drawn by the area’s affordable, high-quality housing. By the 1920s and 1930s, the area became a quiet residential alternative to Harlem. The neighborhood later saw an influx of Caribbean-American residents.

Architecturally, the area is characterized by masonry rowhouses and small apartment buildings constructed between 1870 and 1900. Brooklyn architects Isaac D. Reynolds and Montrose Morris are heavily represented in the proposed district. Individual landmarks in the district include the Alhambra Apartments at 500 Nostrand Avenue, the Renaissance Apartments, at 140 Hancock Street, and the  Girls’ and Boys’ High Schools, both constructed in the 1890s.

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