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23-553: In the 19th century, Basswood Island , Wisconsin was the site of a quarry run by the Bass Island Brownstone Company , which operated from 1868 into the 1890s. The brownstone from this and other quarries in the Apostle Islands was in great demand, with brownstone from Basswood Island being used in the construction of the first Milwaukee County Courthouse in the 1860s. Hummelstown brownstone

46-675: A residence known as the Quaker Mill House. Brownstone was prized by tombstone carvers in southern New England and the Mid Atlantic region during the Colonial era. Table-type memorials in particular were often carved out of brownstone as well as regular headstones. Especially valued for being easy to carve, those same characteristics often resulted in stones being less durable and prone to heavy erosion and wear over time, especially when compared to slate or schist graves of

69-581: A variety of jobs and created the community for their families. For 50 years, the Mohawk families called their neighborhood "Little Caughnawaga," after the homeland of Kahnawake. Many families would travel back to Kahnawake in the summer. The Boerum Hill Historic District was first recognized and designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on November 20, 1973, after many years of advocacy by

92-530: Is a "Greystone Belt" in Chicago, with large numbers of such structures located in the south and northwest quadrants of the city. It is estimated that around 30,000 of Chicago's greystones built between 1890 and 1930 are still standing. Brownstone, also known as freestone because it can be cut freely in any direction, was used by early Pennsylvanian Quakers to construct stone mills and mill houses. In central Pennsylvania, some 1700s-era structures survive, including

115-671: Is extremely popular along the East Coast of the United States, with numerous government buildings throughout West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, and Delaware being faced entirely with the stone, which comes from the Hummelstown Quarry in Hummelstown, Pennsylvania , a small town outside of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. The Hummelstown Quarry is the largest provider of brownstone on the east coast. Typically,

138-555: Is home to many artists who own art galleries in the neighborhood and to many young families, and biking is popular in the neighborhood and nearby Prospect Park . Cultural offerings include The Invisible Dog Art Center, Roulette, Issue Project Room, and BAM. There are also the Smith Street restaurant row and the Atlantic Avenue design district. The neighborhood has been featured in several contemporary creative works. It

161-651: Is in the neighborhood on Dean Street and Third Avenue. The neighborhood is part of Brooklyn Community District 2 and is served by the NYPD 's 84th Precinct. Boerum Hill is named for the colonial farm of the Boerum family, which occupied most of the area during early Dutch settlement. According to the 1790 census, John Boerum's family owned at least two enslaved people. Most of the housing in Boerum Hill consists of three-story row houses built between 1840 and 1870. Despite

184-494: Is known for its Victorian brownstone homes – considered some of the best-preserved examples of 19th-century urban design in the United States. Although some brownstones exist in Chicago, a similar residential form known as "greystones" is far more prevalent. A greystone is a type of residential structure that utilizes Indiana limestone for its facade , regardless of its overall architectural style. As in Brooklyn, there

207-594: Is one of the Apostle Islands and a part of the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore . From 1865 to 1923, the island was home to a farm run by Richard McCloud and Elisha Brigham. It was also the site of a quarry run by the Bass Island Brownstone Company which operated from 1868 into the 1890s. The brownstone from this and other Apostle Islands quarries was in great demand, and brownstone from Basswood Island

230-684: Is the stoop , a steep staircase rising from the street to the entrance on what amounts to almost the second-floor level. This design was seen as hygienic at the time many were built, because the streets were so foul with animal waste. It has become fashionable to use the term "brownstone" to refer to almost any townhouse from a certain period, even though they may not have been built of brownstone. For example, many townhouses in Boerum Hill in Brooklyn are built of brick, but have concrete masonry cladding which resembles stone. There are also many brick townhouses that have brownstone-built stoops throughout

253-506: Is the setting of Spike Lee 's movie Clockers (1995), which was filmed in the Gowanus Houses . It is the setting for two of Jonathan Lethem 's novels: Motherless Brooklyn (1999), a crime mystery set on Bergen Street between Smith and Hoyt streets; and The Fortress of Solitude (2002), set primarily on one block in Boerum Hill (Dean Street between Nevins and Bond streets). The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)'s Pacific branch

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276-917: The Lower East Side to Washington Heights , with notable concentrations in the Upper West Side , Upper East Side , Harlem and East Harlem . In Queens and The Bronx, the historic districts of Long Island City and Mott Haven also host many brownstones. Brownstones also predominate in some Hudson County neighborhoods directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan, especially in Hoboken and around Van Vorst Park and Hamilton Park in Jersey City . New York City brownstones can cost several million dollars to purchase. A typical architectural detail of brownstones in and around New York City

299-968: The Passaic Formation in northern New Jersey once supplied most of the brownstone used in New York City and New Jersey. Devonian aged sandstone is commonly used in Southern Wales . There are many brownstones throughout numerous NYC neighborhoods , especially in the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Park Slope , Clinton Hill , Fort Greene , Cobble Hill , Carroll Gardens , Boerum Hill , Gowanus , Windsor Terrace , Prospect Heights , Crown Heights , Brooklyn Heights , Bedford Stuyvesant , and Sunset Park . Smaller concentrations exist in parts of Bay Ridge , Williamsburg , Bushwick , Greenpoint , and Prospect Lefferts Gardens . Brownstones are also scattered throughout Manhattan from

322-433: The "hill" in the name, the neighborhood is relatively flat; some parts sit atop former marshes that bordered Gowanus Creek . In the 1950s, all the neighborhoods south of Atlantic Avenue and west of Prospect Park were known generically as South Brooklyn . Boerum Hill in particular was sometimes called "North Gowanus". The name "Boerum Hill" was coined in early 1964 by Boerum Hill Association founder Helen Buckler, referencing

345-594: The Boerum Hill Association. The Boerum Hill Historic District was then listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. Many of its buildings are landmarked. In 2012, Boerum Hill had the sixth highest neighborhood median home prices among all New York City neighborhoods, and the highest of any neighborhood outside Manhattan. Boerum Hill is known for its independent boutiques, restaurants and rows of brownstones. Boerum Hill

368-506: The buildings were run as boarding houses. Nearby was the union hall for ironworkers , who came to the city to work on bridges and skyscrapers. The north end of Smith Street was the center of New York City's Mohawk community, who came mostly from Akwesasne and Kahnawake , Mohawk reserves in Quebec , Canada. (Akwesasne extends across national boundaries into New York state.) Many of the Mohawk men were ironworkers, while their wives worked at

391-414: The name of the colonial farmers. From the early 1970s until about 2003, Boerum Hill was populated mostly by working class and middle-class African-American and Puerto Rican families. Since about the late 1990s, gentrification has changed the neighborhood to one of mostly upper-class individuals, though working-class families still reside in the immediate area. In the early twentieth century, many of

414-512: The northwestern portion of the New York City borough of Brooklyn , bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either Smith or Court Street, and Warren or Wyckoff Street as the southern edge. Smith Street and Atlantic Avenue are the neighborhood's main commercial districts. The Brooklyn High School of the Arts

437-653: The outer boroughs. Such neighborhoods that consist of these homes are Borough Park , Dyker Heights , Bensonhurst , Bath Beach , Sunset Park , Kensington , Flatbush , Midwood , East New York , Cypress Hills in Brooklyn, Ridgewood , Glendale , Astoria , Woodhaven in Queens, and Longwood and Morrisania in the Bronx. The Rittenhouse Square and Fairmount neighborhoods of Philadelphia also include examples of brownstone architecture. Many of these homes have been converted into apartment buildings. Back Bay, Boston ,

460-586: The same time period. Brownstone began losing popularity among carvers during the first few decades of the 1800s owing to the rising popularity of marble though it continued to be used for obelisks and other grave monuments until much later. Brownstone used for headstones was usually quarried from the Connecticut River Valley and New Jersey, and many grave carvers especially in Connecticut, New York and New Jersey carved from it. Brownstone

483-610: The stone was transported out of Hummelstown through the Brownstone and Middletown Railroad. Portland brownstone , also known as Connecticut River Brownstone, is also very popular. The stone from quarries located in Portland, Connecticut and nearby localities was used in a number of landmark buildings in Chicago , Boston , New York City , Philadelphia , New Haven , Hartford , Washington, D.C. , and Baltimore . Quarries from

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506-464: Was deemed "not really much good as a building material" by Vincent Scully, professor emeritus of the history of art at Yale University . Brownstone was popular because it is unusually easy to carve and quarry , but these qualities also made houses clad in it susceptible to weathering and damage over time. Basswood Island Basswood Island is a Wisconsin island in Lake Superior . It

529-399: Was used in the construction of the first Milwaukee County Courthouse in the 1860s. The quarry was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the 1970s. 46°51′01″N 90°44′47″W  /  46.85028°N 90.74639°W  / 46.85028; -90.74639 Boerum Hill Boerum Hill (pronounced / ˈ b ɔːr əm / BOR -əm ) is a small neighborhood in

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