Fulton Street is a long east–west street in northern

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. This street begins at the intersection of Adams Street and Joralemon Street in

Brooklyn Heights Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, ...

, and runs eastward to

East New York East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough li ...

and Cypress Hills. At the border with

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, Fulton Street becomes 91st Avenue, which ends at 84th Street in Woodhaven. The street is named after

Robert Fulton Robert Fulton (November 14, 1765 – February 24, 1815) was an American engineer and inventor who is widely credited with developing the world's first commercially successful steamboat, the (also known as ''Clermont''). In 1807, that steamboa ...

; a street of the same name in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

was linked to this street by Fulton with his steam ferries. For a hundred years before the Fulton Ferry monopoly, Fulton Street was the Ferry Road through

Jamaica Pass East New York is a residential neighborhood in the eastern section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City, United States. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are roughly the Cemetery Belt and the Queens borough li ...

and, in the centuries before any ferry service, Indian path to the

Hempstead Plains The Hempstead Plains is a region of central Long Island, in what is now Nassau County, in New York State. It was once an open expanse of native grassland estimated to once extend to about . It was separated from the North Shore of Long Island by ...

. It began at the Fulton Ferry Landing and climbed south through Brooklyn Heights past

Brooklyn Borough Hall Brooklyn Borough Hall is a building in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. It was designed by architects Calvin Pollard and Gamaliel King in the Greek Revival style, and constructed of Tuckahoe marble under the supervision of superintendent St ...

to where it now begins at Adams Street. Part of the original Fulton Street survives as Old Fulton Street in Brooklyn Heights and

Dumbo ''Dumbo'' is a 1941 American animated fantasy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and released by RKO Radio Pictures. The fourth Disney animated feature film, it is based upon the storyline written by Helen Aberson and Harold Pearl, ...

, and as Cadman Plaza West in Downtown Brooklyn. The segment of Fulton Street that traveled past Borough Hall has been turned into a pedestrian esplanade.

Route

The initial segment of Fulton Street as it exists today is the Fulton Mall between Adams Street and

Flatbush Avenue Flatbush Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City Borough of Brooklyn. It runs from the Manhattan Bridge south-southeastward to Jamaica Bay, where it joins the Marine Parkway–Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge, which connects Brooklyn to the R ...

. East of Flatbush Avenue, Fulton Street becomes a major artery of

Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third largest central business district in New York City after Midtown Manhattan and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is known for its office and r ...

Fort Greene Fort Greene is a neighborhood in the northwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Flushing Avenue and the Brooklyn Navy Yard to the north, Flatbush Avenue Extension and Downtown Brooklyn to the wes ...

and Clinton Hill. At Franklin Avenue, Fulton Street then becomes the signature street of Bedford–Stuyvesant. At Broadway Junction in

, the street is interrupted by the intersection of

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

and

Jamaica Avenue Jamaica Avenue is a major avenue in the New York City boroughs of Brooklyn and Queens, New York, in the United States. Jamaica Avenue's western end is at Broadway and Fulton Street, as a continuation of East New York Avenue, in Brooklyn's ...

, but continues on the other side as a one-way residential street through East New York and Cypress Hills until Norwood Avenue, once again as a two-way street reaching the Queens border at Elderts Lane in Woodhaven,

. There it becomes 91st Avenue, which continues until 84th Street in Queens. The

elevated An elevated railway or elevated train (also known as an el train for short) is a rapid transit railway with the tracks above street level on a viaduct or other elevated structure (usually constructed from steel, cast iron, concrete, or bricks ...

BMT Fulton Street Line The Fulton Street Line, also called the Fulton Street Elevated or Kings County Line, was an elevated rail line mostly in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. It ran above Fulton Street from Fulton Ferry, Brooklyn in Downtown Brooklyn east ...

used to run over Fulton Street. The New York City Subway's IND Fulton Street subway line () has replaced it east of Washington Avenue. The

BMT Jamaica Line The BMT Jamaica Line, also known as the Broadway - Brooklyn Line is an elevated rapid transit line of the B Division of the New York City Subway, in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City, United States. It runs from the Williamsburg Bridge southeas ...

() runs above Fulton Street between Broadway Junction and

Crescent Street Crescent Street (officially in french: rue Crescent) is a southbound street in downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Running perpendicular to Saint Catherine Street, Crescent Street descends from Sherbrooke Street south to René Lévesque Boulevard. ...

. On March 10, 2005, Fulton Street was co-named Harriet Ross Tubman Avenue along most of its length from Rockaway Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant to Elm Place in

, on the anniversary of the death of the ex-slave and abolitionist, which has been designated " Harriet Tubman Day of Commemoration" in New York State.

Fulton Mall

Fulton Mall is a

pedestrian street Pedestrian zones (also known as auto-free zones and car-free zones, as pedestrian precincts in British English, and as pedestrian malls in the United States and Australia) are areas of a city or town reserved for pedestrian-only use and in whi ...

and

transit mall A transit mall is a street, or set of streets, in a city or town along which automobile traffic is prohibited or greatly restricted and only public transit vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians are permitted. Transit malls are instituted by communi ...

that runs on Fulton Street between

and Adams Street. It contains 230 stores and dedicated bus lanes. For the mall's length, only buses, commercial vehicles, local truck deliveries, and emergency vehicles are allowed to use the street. The center of the mall is an open public space known as

Albee Square Albee Square is a public plaza in Downtown Brooklyn, New York City. The plaza is located at the intersection of Fulton Street, DeKalb Avenue, and Albee Square West. It is named after Edward Franklin Albee II who was the owner of several area t ...

History

Architect Lee Harris Pomeroy redesigned the mall in the early 1980s: he designed street furniture and equipment for the project including large, free-standing canopies, vendors’ kiosks, directory and telephone kiosks, and high mast lighting. The graphics program he also designed for the project consists of informational, directional and street signage. Pomeroy's renovation was completed in 1984 and received an Albert S. Bard Award from the

City Club of New York The City Club of New York is a New York City–based independent, not-for-profit organization. In 1950, ''The New York Times'' called the City Club of New York "a social club with a civic purpose"Herald Square Herald Square is a major commercial intersection in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, formed by the intersection of Broadway, Sixth Avenue (officially Avenue of the Americas), and 34th Street. Named for the now-defunct ''New ...

and a stretch of Madison Avenue. The mall has attracted major investments from prominent Brooklyn retail real estate developers such as

Stanley Chera Stanley Isaac Chera (October 22, 1942 – April 11, 2020) was an American businessman and investor. He was the founder of Crown Acquisitions. Born in Brooklyn to a Syrian Jewish family, Chera started purchasing real estate in New York City in th ...

Albert Laboz Albert "Al" Laboz is a New York real estate developer, landlord, and the founder of United American Land. Biography Laboz was born to a Syrian Jewish family, the son of real estate investor Jack Laboz. He has two brothers: Jody and Jason.

, Joseph Jemal, Raymond M. Chera, and Eli Gindi.

Developments

Fulton Mall includes major retailers such as

Macy's Macy's (originally R. H. Macy & Co.) is an American chain of high-end department stores founded in 1858 by Rowland Hussey Macy. It became a division of the Cincinnati-based Federated Department Stores in 1994, through which it is affiliated wi ...

, H&M, Gap, GameStop,

Foot Locker Foot Locker Retail, Inc. is an American sportswear and footwear retailer, with its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and operating in 28 countries. Although established in 1974, and founded as a separate company in 1988, Foo ...

, Modell's Sporting Goods, and Finish Line. The Fulton Mall Improvement Association is the local business improvement district. According to the Improvement Association, in 2003 the Fulton Mall area saw between 100,000 and 125,000 visitors a day. The mall has spurred additional commercial development in its immediate vicinity, such as the City Point development, and has become the most expensive place to do business in downtown Brooklyn. Fulton Street's retail space was $301 per square foot in 2016 and $326 per square foot in 2017. The Macy's store at 422 Fulton Street was originally

Abraham & Straus Abraham & Straus, commonly shortened to A&S, was a major New York City department store, based in Brooklyn. Founded in 1865, it became part of Federated Department Stores in 1929. Shortly after Federated's 1994 acquisition of R.H. Macy & Company ...

's flagship store. The building was designed in

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style by Starrett & Van Vleck and built in 1933. It was formerly the showroom for the W.C. Vosburgh Mfg. Co. As of 2017, the building is undergoing a $194 million renovation by

Tishman Speyer Tishman Speyer Properties is an American company that invests in real estate. History The firm was founded in 1978 by Robert Tishman and Jerry Speyer. In March 1988, the company announced its first project in Europe, the construction of a 70-s ...

. Its new portion will have 10 floors dedicated to Class A office space. Macy's is also renovating its part of the building. The Offerman Building on Fulton Mall was built in 1893 by Henry Offerman, a businessman in the sugar industry. It was designed in the Romanesque Revival architectural style and originally hosted retail on the ground floor. The Offerman Building was designated a New York City Historic Landmark in 2005,Postal, Matthew. �
Offerman Building
”

Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

, 2005. and by 2017 had been converted into a 121-unit residential complex.

References

External links

Map of Fulton Mall

MetroTech BID

* Co-naming: *

*
City Comptroller William Thompson's speech of dedication
*
An argument for full renaming and context on other Brooklyn street name changes
{{New York City Malls Downtown Brooklyn Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Clinton Hill, Brooklyn Fort Greene, Brooklyn East New York, Brooklyn Streets in Brooklyn