Prospect Park South is a small neighborhood in Flatbush,

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 ...

, located south of Prospect Park. It is included within the Prospect Park South Historic District, which was designated by the

New York City 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 ...

in 1979 and listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1983. The historic district is bounded by Church Avenue to the north, the

BMT Brighton Line The BMT Brighton Line, also known as the Brighton Beach Line, is a rapid transit line in the B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn, New York City, United States. Local service is provided at all times by the Q train, but is joined ...

() of the New York City Subway to the east, Beverley Road to the south, and between Stratford Road and

Coney Island Avenue Coney Island Avenue is a road in the New York City borough of Brooklyn that runs north-south for a distance of roughly five miles, almost parallel to Ocean Parkway and Ocean Avenue. It begins at Brighton Beach Avenue in Coney Island and goes nort ...

to the west. Prospect Park South, along with other neighborhoods within Flatbush, is policed by the 70th Precinct of the

New York City Police Department The New York City Police Department (NYPD), officially the City of New York Police Department, established on May 23, 1845, is the primary municipal law enforcement agency within the City of New York, the largest and one of the oldest in ...

History

In 1899, developer

Dean Alvord Dean Alvord (December 4, 1856 – April 18, 1941) was an American real estate developer, college professor, and philanthropist known for his real estate developments in the New York City Metropolitan Area and in Florida. He was a relative of both ...

purchased about of farmland in order to create Prospect Park South, a community of substantial homes, a "rural park within the limitations of the conventional city block and city street." Alvord characterized the development as ''rus in urbe'', the country in the city. The location was selected to take advantage of the train service on the Brooklyn and Brighton Beach Railroad of the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company (BRT). The line, now known as the

, offered express and local train service that remains to this day. The trains emerged at Fulton Street as an elevated line and continued across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan. Prospect Park South gatepost jeh

Once he had purchased the land, Alvord laid out all the necessary utilities and marked the entrance of most streets with brick piers with cast concrete plaques bearing the

bas-relief Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

inscription "PPS". He also hired John Aitkin, a Scottish landscape gardener, to supervise the plantings for the lawns and the

Flatbush Malls The Flatbush Malls are a pair of tree-lined Landscape design, landscaped median strip, medians series along several roads in the Victorian Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York City. An architecture critic has written that the malls "give t ...

, with meticulous attention given to details. Trees, for instance, were not planted only along the curb line, but also at the building line as well, to give the streets greater breadth of vision, to block out adjoining houses, and provide the illusion that each house was the only one on the block. Both Norway maples and Carolina poplars were used: the poplars for immediate shade, and the slower-growing maples for long-term shade. Alvord did all this before selling a single plot. Alvord also hired architect John J. Petit and a staff to design the houses in the development, although clients could also provide their own architect if they preferred to. Petit ended up designing many of the houses in the development, in a wide variety of styles, including

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

Tudor Revival Tudor Revival architecture (also known as mock Tudor in the UK) first manifested itself in domestic architecture in the United Kingdom in the latter half of the 19th century. Based on revival of aspects that were perceived as Tudor architecture ...

and Queen Anne. The houses in Prospect Park South were required to be substantial, freestanding homes exceeding and costing over US$5,000. Several other restrictions were also placed upon builders wishing to develop the lots. Alvord wanted to create an environment that attracted the Protestant, wealthy elite while excluding the immigrant population moving into Brooklyn at the time. In his original prospectus, Alvord wrote:

In fixing upon a location for a home, it is pleasant to live where children, in going to and fro, are not subject to the annoyance of contact with the undesirable elements of society. The Flatbush Avenue trolley line penetrates no slum sections and is patronized almost exclusively by people of intelligence and good breeding.

While not the first attempt at suburban development in the area, Alvord's vision excited the interest of the wealthy of

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

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 ...

residents. Ultimately, Alvord's restrictions not only created an exciting new design but a standard to become a blueprint for the modern suburb. Enthusiasm for his design in following years would see South Midwood, Fiske Terrace, Ditmas Park, the Beverley Squares, and many more developments spring up in the surrounding area to accommodate the demand, together forming what is now known as Victorian Flatbush. In 1972, New York's Albanian community established a mosque at 1325 Albemarle Road. Prospect Park South was designated as a historic district by the

in 1979.

Notable residents

* John Giuca (born 1983), convicted of second-degree felony murder * Doreen Giuliano, mother of John Giuca, went undercover to investigate possible juror misconduct in his trial *

Maya Wiley Maya D. Wiley (born January 2, 1964) is an American lawyer, professor, and civil rights activist. She has served as president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights since May 2022. Wiley served as counsel to New York City ...

(born 1964), lawyer, professor, civil rights activist, and 2021 mayoral candidate for New York City

Notable houses

The Alvord Mansion at 1522 Albemarle Road was built by Alvord for his family. Later, it was purchased by Israel Matz, founder of the Ex-lax Company. The Alvord Mansion burned down c.1955 under mysterious conditions after its sale by the Matz family to apartment developers fell through in the face of community opposition. Among the other notable houses in the neighborhood are: *Herman Goetze House, 15 Stratford Road, 1905,

George Hitchings George Herbert Hitchings (April 18, 1905 – February 27, 1998) was an American medical doctor who shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine with Sir James Black and Gertrude Elion "for their discoveries of important principles for d ...

New York City Landmark Preservation Commissionbr>"Prospect Park South Historic District Designation Report"
(February 8, 1979) *Herbert Krantz House, 183 Argyle Road, 1904,

, John J. Petit *George E. Gale House, 1305 Albemarle Road, 1905,

Classical Revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

, H. B. Moore *John S. Eakins House, 1306 Albemarle Road, 1905, Shingle style/Colonial Revival, John J. Petit *Col. Alexander S. Bacon House, 101 Rugby Road, Eclectic/

Swiss chalet Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri *Swiss, North Carolina * Swiss, West Virginia *Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses * Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internationa ...

, 1900, John E. Nitchie *Francis M Crafts House, 1423 Albemarle Road, 1899, Queen Anne, John J. Petit *J. C. Woodhull House, 1440 Albemarle Road, 1905, Queen Anne/Colonial Revival, Robert Bryson and

Carroll Pratt Carroll Holmes Pratt (April 19, 1921 – November 11, 2010) was an American sound engineer who, along with laugh track inventor Charley Douglass, pioneered the use of prerecorded laughter. Early life Carroll Pratt was born April 19, 1921, in Hol ...

*Henry P. Reade House, 1501 Albemarle Road, 1904, Queen Anne, John J. Petit *Maurice Minton House, 1510 Albemarle Road, 1900, Colonial Revival, John J. Petit *Louis McDonald House, 1519 Albemarle Road, 1902, Prairie School/

Neo-Jacobean The Jacobethan or Jacobean Revival architectural style is the mixed national Renaissance revival style that was made popular in England from the late 1820s, which derived most of its inspiration and its repertory from the English Renaissance (15 ...

, John J. Petit *Frank K. Schenck House, 219 Marlborough Road, 1900, John J. Petit White, Norval and Willensky, Elliot. '' AIA Guide to New York City'' (3rd ed.), pp.698-700 *Russell Benedict House, 104 Buckingham Road, 1902, Classical Revival, Carroll H. Pratt *William H. McEntee House, 115 Buckingham Road, 1900, Shingle style, John J. Petit *George U. Tompers House, 125 Buckingham Road, 1911, Colonial Revival, Brun & Hauser *Frederick S. Kolle House, 131 Buckingham Road, 1902–03,

Japanese pagoda Multi-storied pagodas in wood and stone, and a ''gorintō'' Pagodas in Japan are called , sometimes or and historically derive from the Chinese pagoda, itself an interpretation of the Indian ''stupa''. Like the ''stupa'', pagodas were origi ...

, Petit & Green *William A. Norwood House, 143 Buckingham Road, 1906, Italian Villa, Walter S. Cassin *The Sovereign, 55 Parade Place, 1927, large residential complex across from the Brooklyn Parade Grounds"55 Parade Place"
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Gallery

File:1440 Albemarle Road Prospect Park South.jpg, 1440 Albemarle Road
(Bill Bryson & Carroll Pratt, 1905) File:1314 Albemarle Road Prospect Park South.jpg, 1314 Albemarle Road
(Carroll Pratt, 1903) File:131 Buckingham Rd jeh crop.jpg, 131 Buckingham Road
( Petit & Green, 1902–03) File:1510 Albemarle Road Prospect Park South.jpg, 1510 Abermarle Road
(John J. Petit, 1900) File:100RugbyBrooklyn.jpg, 100 Rugby Road (John J. Petit, 1905) File:136ArgyleBrooklyn.jpg, 136 Argyle Road (Carroll Pratt, 1903)

References

Notes Bibliography *Gunnison, Herbert Foster "Flatbush To-day", S.N. 1908, held by Harvard Library

External links

Ditmas Park article
in

New York magazine ''New York'' is an American biweekly magazine concerned with life, culture, politics, and style generally, and with a particular emphasis on New York City. Founded by Milton Glaser and Clay Felker in 1968 as a competitor to ''The New Yorker' ...

* . Retrieved 2008-04-24. {{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1899 Colonial Revival architecture in New York City Flatbush, Brooklyn Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Brooklyn Neighborhoods in Brooklyn New York City designated historic districts New York City Designated Landmarks in Brooklyn Communities developed by Dean Alvord Prospect Park (Brooklyn)