Heights or Hill: Brooklyn Starters, Infinite Possibilities and an Italianate is Coming

“Architecture is the genesis of possible worlds.”  - Professor of Architecture Karl Chu - The Pratt Institute

History & Architecture 

Modern-day American architects and scholars like Doris Kim Sung and Karl Chu have “existential” problems. However, philosophical as their problems may be—the problems nonetheless pose interesting questions.  “Why do we have to adapt to architecture rather than architecture responding to us?” asks Sung. In the future, within infinite possibilities, it is plausible that new buildings may not all be housed in a stationary position like Sung suggests rather in-flux or reactive to the weather, for example, or any challenge of daily life. 

Sung is analyzing architecture by “envisioning an ecosystem of self-repairing, self-aware and adaptive buildings” as Karl Chu suggests a "paradigm shift" will position “genetic architecture” within all of life’s future systems from the internet to human cloning.

Visionary ideas as such are a privilege of the times. Today, the world's au courant architectural styles appear to be the work of a scientist or a great artisan like a contemporary sculpture who may combine basic field principles with ultramodern design concepts, “smart” materials, “green” principles, “original” theory and a “look” into the future to invent the homes and buildings of tomorrow. 

Looking back, before there was a “Prospect Heights,” 200 years prior the land had been occupied by the Lenape Indians. Land surveyors mapped the area as the land between the village of Brooklyn and Bedford, south of the Ferry Roads. According to early eighteenth century history, “... the Ferry Roads were Indian Trails that were widened by Dutch settlers into wagon trails.” During this period, one Ferry Road, in particular, was renamed Flatbush Road and travelled the distance from far points in Brooklyn to the East River crossings. In fact, in 1852, a winding "Flatbush Road" ran closely perpendicular to a more advanced Flatbush Avenue as we know it today.

In the mid-nineteenth century, residential development in big cities like New York was duly systemic to an epoch of expansion and a widespread philosophy called Manifest Destiny (1840's-1870's). The United States had already emerged victorious from the Revolutionary War (1776). The battle for independence inspired an "opportunity to create a new, better society."

As the times progressed, our cities flourished; and the population grew.

By the 1850’s, the City of Brooklyn, in particular, held the promise of a bright future. New lifestyle enclaves for privileged New Yorkers and the middle class were popping up. Families had adopted Brooklyn, a sister city, as home away from home. After Brooklyn Heights, to the south and west came the push for new residential communities like Park Slope and our very own Prospect Heights.

Strategic advances in transportation and completion of Prospect Park are considered to be most formidable influences to give rise to residential development in Prospect Heights. Brooklynites commuted via rail or mostly by way of stagecoach or omnibus— all made possible by newly laid streets mapped from grids. Starting with Bedford township,  up and down Flatbush and Brooklyn (PROPER), Atlantic Avenue to Brooklyn Heights and the waterfront—transportation reached all points and signified great change.

Around this time, the New York architecture movement employed Revivalism beginning with the Greek Revival. The Greek Revival led to Gothic Revival which would last for decades. The Revival Architectural Styles were designed to create “picturesque imagery” and “personal or historical associations” in the publics’ mind. The styles may specifically include design elements reminiscent of Pompeii or ancient Greece. 

 But by the late 1840s and early 1850s, a budding social sphere was creating wealthy fashionable cliques around town and these New Yorkers were tired of “old styles” and yearned for a new architectural aesthetic. The emergence of Italianate Architecture and the row house would capture the public’s demand for “remarkable splendor,”“architectural flamboyance” and function— all important factors of the times. 

Off Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn settlers laid down roots on a street to be named “Carlton Avenue.” The houses at 578 and 580 Carlton Avenue have come to benchmark the timeline origins of Prospect Heights in 1850 and although there have been design modifications and wear and tear, over the years, stark characteristics of the Italianate Architectural Style is still well pronounced—even today.

The history of the 578 and 580 Carlton Avenue begins as the pair of row-houses are erected, each three stories high and designed in the Italianate Architectural Style which was a popular choice in building facades at the time.  The same year, a Brooklynite name Agustus Campbell purchased the pair of homes. There are no records to report as to who the architect may have been.

The origins of the word “Italianate”, of course, derive from the obvious— “Italian”. The inspiration for the Italianate Architectural Style comes from fifteenth century Italian palazzo designs. The “palazzo mode” was applied to mansions made of limestone on Fifth Avenue in Manhattan as well as more modest wood frame designs on Carlton Avenue in Prospect Heights. Although most Italianate Style homes in New York were demolished over time, “tens of thousands” of row houses and mansions  went up in Manhattan and Brooklyn during the mid-late nineteenth century.

These homes and buildings are characterized as having sumptuous parlors, high ceilings and large spacious rooms as prescribed Italianate. However, the buildings’ exteriors are described as pushing well beyond “simple” or “elegant”. One popular magazine of the times, read the exteriors are “entirely destitute of all architectural embellishments; they had no dressings on the windows” .

As the oldest buildings in the area, rife with neglect and wear and tear, the lot at 578 and 580 Carlton Avenue has seen better days. But better days are coming.  For years, the homes were in extreme disrepair. But now the pair of buildings (or at least one of them) is under heavy reconstruction. The buildings at 578 and 580 Carlton Avenue, the “dilapidated” landmarks of Prospect Heights that were once subject of neighborhood talk and Brownstoner reportage, are on the road to preservation.

And justly so.

One hundred years from now, historical scholars will reflect upon today’s modern architectural designs like Richard Meier’s floor to ceiling glass building—a masterpiece at Grand Army Plaza and inventions like “Bloom” by Doris Kim Sung and the captivating lectures on “genetic architecture” given by Karl Chu. 

Architecture is hot. Architecture is grossing global popularity thanks to magazine covers, the internet, television and celebrities which are all far reaching commercial influences. So, be prepared for anything. A newly-assessed aesthetic based on “some theoretical something” that you’ve never heard of or a building that levitates off the ground—may be your next home.

If one thing is certain: expansion will occur; progress is unstoppable within infinite possibilities. On the other hand, preserving the integrity of historical landmarks may help “deconstruct the program” with a human touch... to open our eyes and reveal the world in the time before us; a world we may otherwise never know.

Heights or Hill: In Development-

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