Working-class 19th century buildings along Vanderbilt Avenue designated as a historic district. On July 12, 2011, Landmarks voted to designate the Wallabout Historic District in the Clinton Hill area of Brooklyn. The new district encompasses approximately 55 buildings along a stretch of Vanderbilt Avenue between Myrtle and Park Avenues near the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The district’s name is derived from the Belgian Walloons who settled the area in the 17th century. The district is notable for its rare conglomeration of wood-framed dwellings constructed in the mid- 19th century which largely housed Brooklyn Navy Yard workers. The area was not considered prestigious, and the laborers and tradesmen who lived there constructed less-expensive wooden buildings, rather than the brick and stone architecture that characterized other Brooklyn neighborhoods developed in the same period. The district includes Greek Revival, Italianate, and Gothic Revival architecture.  (more…)