Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Encyclopedia
Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in the north-central portion of the borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...

 of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...

 in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

. It is bordered on the east by Bedford-Stuyvesant
Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn
Bedford-Stuyvesant is a neighborhood in the central portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Formed in 1930, the neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community Board 3, Brooklyn Community Board 8 and Brooklyn Community Board 16. The neighborhood is patrolled by the NYPD's 79th and 81st...

, on the west by Fort Greene
Fort Greene, Brooklyn
Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Part of Brooklyn Community Board 2, Fort Greene is listed on the New York State Registry and on the National Register of Historic Places, and is a New York City-designated Historic District...

, on the north by Wallabout Bay
Wallabout Bay
Wallabout Bay is small body of water in Upper New York Bay along the northwest shore of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, between the present Williamsburg and Manhattan bridges, opposite Corlear's Hook on Manhattan to the west, across the East River...

 and on the south by Prospect Heights
Prospect Heights, Brooklyn
Prospect Heights is a neighborhood in the northwest of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The traditional boundaries are Flatbush Avenue to the west, Atlantic Avenue to the north, Eastern Parkway to the south, and Washington Avenue to the east...

. The neighborhood is served by the NYPD's 88th Precinct.

By the 1840s, Clinton Hill had become a fashionable neighborhood for the wealthy of Brooklyn, who could commute to Manhattan by way of stagecoach to the Fulton Ferry in nearby Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn Heights, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Heights is a culturally diverse neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Originally referred to as 'Brooklyn Village', it has been a prominent area of Brooklyn since 1834. As of 2000, Brooklyn Heights sustained a population of 22,594 people. The neighborhood is part of...

. By the 1880s and '90s, Clinton Avenue was lined with mansions of millionaires, many of which have survived to the present day. The most prominent of these are linked to Charles Pratt
Charles Pratt
Charles Pratt was a United States capitalist, businessman and philanthropist.Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. An advertising slogan was "The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil." He...

, who built a mansion for himself and one each as wedding presents for three of his four sons (pictured, right). These four mansions can be seen on Clinton Avenue between DeKalb and Willoughby. Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

, founded by Charles Pratt
Charles Pratt
Charles Pratt was a United States capitalist, businessman and philanthropist.Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. An advertising slogan was "The holy lamps of Tibet are primed with Astral Oil." He...

 in 1887, is located a few blocks from his former home. Due in part to the presence of Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute
Pratt Institute is a private art college in New York City located in Brooklyn, New York, with satellite campuses in Manhattan and Utica. Pratt is one of the leading undergraduate art schools in the United States and offers programs in Architecture, Graphic Design, History of Art and Design,...

 the neighborhood boasts an increasing arts community, and many bohemians are flocking towards the yet-to-be gentrified industrial areas adjacent to the Brooklyn Navy Yard
Brooklyn Navy Yard
The United States Navy Yard, New York–better known as the Brooklyn Navy Yard or the New York Naval Shipyard –was an American shipyard located in Brooklyn, northeast of the Battery on the East River in Wallabout Basin, a semicircular bend of the river across from Corlear's Hook in Manhattan...

.

Clinton Hill has one of the largest concentrations of row houses from the post-Civil War period.

Also located in Clinton Hill is St. Joseph's College's
Saint Joseph's College, New York
St. Joseph's College is a liberal arts college in New York State, with campuses located in the Clinton Hill area of Brooklyn and in Patchogue, Long Island...

 Brooklyn campus and St. Mary's Episcopal Church
St. Mary's Episcopal Church (New York, New York)
St. Mary's Episcopal Church is a historic Episcopal church at 230 Classon Avenue in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York, New York. It was built in 1858 in the Gothic Revival style. It is constructed of Belleville brownstone. It features a square tower with polygonal extension and a broach spire. ...

, which was built in 1858.

The Clinton Hill Historic District
Clinton Hill Historic District
Clinton Hill Historic District is a national historic district in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York, New York. It consists of 1,063 contributing, largely residential buildings built between the 1840s and 1930 in popular contemporary and revival styles. Buildings include freestanding mansions, row...

 was listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 in 1985. The Clinton Hill South Historic District
Clinton Hill South Historic District
Clinton Hill South Historic District is a national historic district in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York, New York. It consists of 246 contributing, largely residential buildings built between the 1850s and 1922. It includes fine examples of Neo-Grec style row houses...

 was listed in 1986.

Notable residents

Residents over the years have included:
  • American writer and television personality Ted Allen
    Ted Allen
    Ted Allen is an American writer and television personality. He was the food and wine connoisseur on the American Bravo network's Emmy-winning television program Queer Eye. He now is the host of the prime-time series on Food Network Chopped, a culinary competition in which four chefs per episode...

     currently lives in Clinton Hill.
  • Actress Rosie Perez
    Rosie Perez
    Rosa María "Rosie" Pérez is an American actress, dancer, choreographer, director and community activist.- Early life :...

     currently lives in Clinton Hill.
  • Actor Adrian Grenier
    Adrian Grenier
    Adrian Grenier is an American actor, musician and director. He is best known for his lead role on the HBO original series, Entourage, as Vincent Chase.-Early life:...

     currently lives in Clinton Hill.
  • Rapper/actor Mos Def
    Mos Def
    Dante Terrell Smith is an American actor and Emcee known by the stage names Mos Def and Yasiin Bey. He started his hip hop career in a group called Urban Thermo Dynamics, after which he appeared on albums by Da Bush Babees and De La Soul. With Talib Kweli, he formed the duo Black Star, which...

     currently lives in Clinton Hill.
  • Poet Walt Whitman
    Walt Whitman
    Walter "Walt" Whitman was an American poet, essayist and journalist. A humanist, he was a part of the transition between transcendentalism and realism, incorporating both views in his works. Whitman is among the most influential poets in the American canon, often called the father of free verse...

     lived at 99 Ryerson Street while working on Leaves of Grass.
  • Former New York Governor David Paterson
    David Paterson
    David Alexander Paterson is an American politician who served as the 55th Governor of New York, from 2008 to 2010. During his tenure he was the first governor of New York of African American heritage and also the second legally blind governor of any U.S. state after Bob C. Riley, who was Acting...

     grew up in Clinton Hill
  • In 1967, after first meeting, Patti Smith
    Patti Smith
    Patricia Lee "Patti" Smith is an American singer-songwriter, poet and visual artist, who became a highly influential component of the New York City punk rock movement with her 1975 debut album Horses....

     and Robert Mapplethorpe
    Robert Mapplethorpe
    Robert Mapplethorpe was an American photographer, known for his large-scale, highly stylized black and white portraits, photos of flowers and nude men...

     shared an apartment on Hall Street.
  • Rapper Notorious B.I.G. a.k.a. Christopher Wallace
    Christopher Wallace
    Christopher Wallace may refer to:*Christopher Wallace , retired British Army general and current trustee of the Imperial War Museum*The Notorious B.I.G...

     grew up in Clinton Hill at 226 St. James Place.

Transportation

Clinton Hill is served by the IND Fulton Street Line
IND Fulton Street Line
The IND Fulton Street Line is a rapid transit line of the IND Division of the New York City Subway, extending from the Cranberry Street Tunnel under the East River through all of central Brooklyn to a terminus in Ozone Park, Queens. The IND Rockaway Line branches from it. It forms part of the A...

 ( trains), with a stop at the Clinton–Washington Avenues station as well as the IND Crosstown Line
IND Crosstown Line
-External links:*...

 ( train), with stops at Classon Avenue
Classon Avenue (IND Crosstown Line)
Classon Avenue is a station on the IND Crosstown Line of the New York City Subway. Located at the intersection of Classon and Lafayette Avenues in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, it is served at all times by the G train....

 station and a separate Clinton–Washington Avenues station. Several New York City Transit
New York City Transit buses
New York City Transit buses, marked on the buses MTA New York City Bus, is a bus service that operates in all five boroughs of New York City, employing over 4300 buses on 219 routes within the five boroughs of New York City in the United States...

bus routes provide service to the neighborhood, including the B25, B26, B38, B45, B48, B52, B54, B57, B62 and B69.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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