Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in north-central

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, a

borough A borough is an administrative division in various English language, English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. It is bordered by the

Brooklyn Navy Yard The Brooklyn Navy Yard (originally known as the New York Navy Yard) is a shipyard and industrial complex in northwest Brooklyn in New York City, New York (state), New York, U.S. The Navy Yard is located on the East River in Wallabout Bay, a se ...

and Flushing Avenue to the north, Williamsburg to the northeast, Classon Avenue and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the east, Atlantic Avenue and Prospect Heights to the south and southwest and Vanderbilt Avenue and Fort Greene to the west. "The Hill", as the general area was known – with a maximum elevation of , the highest in the area – was believed to have health benefits because many people believed that disease was more prevalent in low-lying areas. The area is named after Clinton Avenue, which in turn was named in honor of New York Governor

DeWitt Clinton DeWitt Clinton (March 2, 1769February 11, 1828) was an American politician and Naturalism (philosophy), naturalist. He served as a United States Senate, United States senator, as the mayor of New York City, and as the sixth governor of New York. ...

(1769–1828). The main thoroughfare is DeKalb Avenue. The affluentRawson, Elizabeth Reich. "Clinton Hill" in , p.272 neighborhood's mixture of apartment buildings, mansions, brownstone and brick rowhouses, and the Pratt Institute and St. Joseph's College, built at various times in a number of different styles, is a great part of its charm. Clinton Hill is part of Brooklyn Community District 2, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11205 and 11238. It is patrolled by the 88th Precinct of the

New York City Police Department The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...

History

The area’s European history began in the 1640s, when Dutch colonists laid tobacco plantations near Wallabout Bay. Bedford Corners, situated just southeast of Clinton Hill, was incorporated in 1663, and the settlers (both Dutch and French Huguenot) purchased surrounding lands from the native Lenape in 1670. On August 27, 1776, the "Road to Jamaica" (approximately Atlantic Avenue, the southern edge of today’s neighborhood) was used by the British army in a surprise overnight march to outflank the American army, which was forced to retreat toward Gowanus Creek, and two nights later, to Manhattan. After the war, the Dutch continued to build on the land, which sloped toward the

East River The East River is a saltwater Estuary, tidal estuary or strait in New York City. The waterway, which is not a river despite its name, connects Upper New York Bay on its south end to Long Island Sound on its north end. It separates Long Island, ...

and offered great views of the water and of

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

. The tree-lined Clinton Avenue was laid out as a boulevard along the crest of the hill in 1832, and by the 1840s, Clinton Hill and neighboring Fort Greene had become fashionable neighborhoods for the wealthy of Brooklyn, who could commute to Manhattan by way of stagecoach to the Fulton Ferry. The area was originally devised as a rural get-away for those "determined to escape from the closeness of city life", as

Walt Whitman Walter Whitman Jr. (; May 31, 1819 – March 26, 1892) was an American poet, essayist, and journalist; he also wrote two novels. He is considered one of the most influential poets in American literature and world literature. Whitman incor ...

, editor of the

Brooklyn Daily Eagle The ''Brooklyn Eagle'' (originally joint name ''The Brooklyn Eagle'' and ''Kings County Democrat'', later ''The Brooklyn Daily Eagle'' before shortening title further to ''Brooklyn Eagle'') was an afternoon daily newspaper published in the city ...

, put it in 1846. George Washington Pine had bought up the land in the area and broke it into lots, selling them to those who wanted to lead a quiet life not too far from the conveniences of the Navy Yard. Whitman, a 28-year resident of Brooklyn, had lived for less than a year in the area in 1855, where he completed his masterpiece ''

Leaves of Grass ''Leaves of Grass'' is a poetry collection by American poet Walt Whitman. After self-publishing it in 1855, he spent most of his professional life writing, revising, and expanding the collection until his death in 1892. Either six or nine separa ...

''. The 1995 '' New Yorker'' article "Walt Whitman’s Ghost" identified the address as 99 Ryerson Street, which still stands. In the 1860s, after the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

, Clinton Hill was developed with row houses, which dominated the street scene by the 1880s. These attracted affluent professionals. The area's development continued after

Charles Pratt Charles Pratt (October 2, 1830 – May 4, 1891) was an American businessman. Pratt was a pioneer of the U.S. petroleum industry, and he established his kerosene refinery Astral Oil Works in Brooklyn, New York. He then lived with his growing fam ...

, an oil executive, built a mansion at 232 Clinton Avenue, which is now part of the Brooklyn campus of St. Joseph's College's. Pratt also built houses there for his sons, which he gave to them as wedding gifts; other mansions followed, part of the general migration of merchants from New York City (Manhattan) to Brooklyn, and the area became known as Brooklyn's "Gold Coast". Pratt founded the

Pratt Institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has an additional campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The institute was founded in 18 ...

in 1887, and its campus remains a focus of the neighborhood. After the late 1870s, Clinton Hill was one of the stops on the Brooklyn, Flatbush and Coney Island Railway (BF&CI, now part of the Brighton subway line), an excursion line which would bring families from the neighborhood to

Brighton Beach Brighton Beach is a List of Brooklyn neighborhoods, neighborhood in the southern portion of the New York City Borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn, within the greater Coney Island area along the Atlantic Ocean coastline. Brighton Beach ...

for a day of recreation, and allow them to be home "at a reasonable hour". Entire families would use the BF&CI to relocate to the newly built Brighton Beach Hotel – owned by the same men who built the railroad – for the summer months, while the ''

paterfamilias The ''pater familias'', also written as ''paterfamilias'' (: ''patres familias''), was the head of a Roman family. The ''pater familias'' was the oldest living male in a household, and could legally exercise autocratic authority over his extende ...

'' commuted to New York via ferry to work. By 1900, apartment buildings were being built on Clinton Avenue, which replaced the mansions there and on Washington Avenue by the 1920s and 40s. In addition some of the remaining mansions were converted into rooming houses in the following decades, and

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

, part of

Robert Moses Robert Moses (December 18, 1888 – July 29, 1981) was an American urban planner and public official who worked in the New York metropolitan area during the early to mid-20th century. Moses is regarded as one of the most powerful and influentia ...

' relentless rebuilding of the city, cleared five blocks south of the Pratt Institute, destroying the brownstones there. This was followed in the 1970s by the brownstone revival, in which many of the remaining brownstones were restored. In the 2000s, the neighborhood became somewhat gentrified, with generally wealthier people moving into the area. New construction included an apartment building of

passive house Passive house () is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building that reduces the building's carbon footprint. Conforming to these standards results in ultra-low energy buildings that require less energy for space heating or co ...

design at 283 Greene Avenue.

Demographics

Based on data from the 2020 United States census, the population of Clinton Hill was 28,647, an increase of 19.3% from 24,014 for the same area in 2010. The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 44.8%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 26.4%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

, 9.5% Asian, 5.7% from two or more races, and 1.5% from other races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 12.1% of the population. Residents include many "artists, architects, photographers, and craftspeople". In the 21st century, the neighborhood has experienced a notable increase in population, with increased gentrification and a growing upper-middle-class population. As according to the 2020 census data from

New York City Department of City Planning The Department of City Planning (DCP) is the department of the government of New York City responsible for setting the framework of city's physical and socioeconomic planning. The department is responsible for land use and environmental review, p ...

, there were between 10,000 to 19,999 White residents and 5,000 to 9,999 Black residents, meanwhile each the Hispanic and Asian populations were each less than 5,000 residents.

Landmarks

The Clinton Hill Historic District was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1985. The district includes the mansions of Clinton Avenue, built in the 1870s and 1880s. The most prominent of these are linked to

, who built a mansion for himself at 232 Clinton Avenue in 1874, the year his Charles Pratt & Company was acquired by

Standard Oil Standard Oil Company was a Trust (business), corporate trust in the petroleum industry that existed from 1882 to 1911. The origins of the trust lay in the operations of the Standard Oil of Ohio, Standard Oil Company (Ohio), which had been founde ...

, and one each as wedding presents for three of his four sons. These four mansions can be seen on Clinton Avenue between DeKalb and Willoughby. The rest of the historic district is noted for its prominent

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

and Beaux-Arts rowhouses. The Clinton Hill South Historic District was listed in 1986. James William Elwell built the wood-framed

villa at 70 Lefferts Place that is in the Clinton Hill district. The house is one of the two oldest houses on Lefferts Place and became designated a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission on December 12, 2006. St. Mary's Episcopal Church at 220 Classon Avenue in Clinton Hill, built , and the Mechanics Temple, which was built at 67 Putnam Avenue as the Lincoln Club in 1889, are both part of the historic district. Other buildings in the Historic District include a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

wooden house at 284 Clinton Avenue, built c.1854; an Italianate brick and stone villa dating from at 447 Clinton Avenue, intact runs of mid-19th century rowhouses on Grand Avenue, St. James Place and Cambridge Place as well as on DeKalb Avenue and Waverly Avenue; mansions from the "Gold Coast" era in the 200 to 400 blocks of Clinton Avenue;At 229, 232, 241, 245, 278, 284, 300, 315, 321, 356, 380, 384, 404 & 406, 405, 410, 415, 443, 447, 457, 463 and 487 Clinton Avenue and at 367 Washington Avenue; and apartment houses on Clinton Avenue. On Lafayette Avenue are both the Emmanuel Baptist Church, completed in 1887, and the Joseph Steele or Steele-Skinner House of 1812. Clinton Avenue contains the Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew, completed in 1891, and the Royal Castle Apartments, completed in 1912. All are individually landmarked. Many of Pratt Institute's buildings are landmarked, or of architectural interest, and St. Joseph's College utilizes several of the former Pratt family mansions on Clinton Avenue. The brick building at 275 Park Avenue was built in the 1890s as a chocolate factory which produced and distributed Tootsie Rolls throughout the United States. In 2002, the building was converted into loft apartments.

Education

Institutions

, founded by

in 1887, is in Clinton Hill. Pratt began as an

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

school, designed to train immigrants in then-novel sciences. Today the school has programs in architecture, graphic design, interior design, and industrial design. The Brooklyn campus of St. Joseph's College is in Clinton Hill. By 2021 the interim location of the German School of Brooklyn (GSB) was the former Coop School in the Bedford Stuyvesant and Clinton Hill area. In 2021 the school moved all levels to its permanent site at 9 Hanover Place in

Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Brooklyn is the third-largest central business district in New York City (after Midtown Manhattan, Midtown and Lower Manhattan), and is located in the northwestern section of the borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. The neighb ...

Library

The

Brooklyn Public Library The Brooklyn Public Library is the public library system of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the sixteenth largest public library system in the United States by holding and the seventh by number of visitors. Like the two Brooklyn Publ ...

(BPL)'s Clinton Hill branch is located at 380 Washington Avenue near Lafayette Avenue. It opened in 1973.

Transportation

Clinton Hill is served by the

New York City Subway The New York City Subway is a rapid transit system in New York City serving the New York City boroughs, boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx. It is owned by the government of New York City and leased to the New York City Tr ...

IND Fulton Street Line The IND Fulton Street Line is a rapid transit line of the IND Division of the New York City Subway, running from the Cranberry Street Tunnel under the East River through central Brooklyn to a terminus in Ozone Park, Queens. The IND Rockawa ...

(), with a stop at Clinton–Washington Avenues station, as well as the

IND Crosstown Line The IND Crosstown Line or Brooklyn–Queens Crosstown Line is a rapid transit line of the B Division (New York City Subway), B Division of the New York City Subway in Brooklyn and Queens, New York City. It provides crosstown service between wes ...

(), with stops at Classon Avenue and Clinton–Washington Avenues. Several New York City Transit local bus routes provide service to the neighborhood, including the . Starting in the 1880s, the

Myrtle Avenue Myrtle Avenue is a street that runs from Duffield Street in Downtown Brooklyn to Jamaica Avenue in Richmond Hill, Queens, in New York City, United States. Myrtle is a main thoroughfare through the neighborhoods of Fort Greene, Clinton ...

and

Lexington Avenue Lexington Avenue, often colloquially abbreviated as "Lex", is an avenue on the East Side (Manhattan), East Side of Manhattan in New York City. The avenue carries southbound one-way traffic from East 131st Street (Manhattan), 131st Street to Gra ...

elevated lines served the area. The Lexington Avenue line followed Grand Avenue south from Myrtle. The last train on the Lexington Avenue line ran on October 13, 1950; dismantling of the elevated tracks began on November 1. Clinton Hill is served by

NYC Ferry NYC Ferry is a public network of ferry routes in New York City operated by Hornblower Cruises. , there are six routes, as well as one seasonal route, connecting 25 ferry piers across all five boroughs. NYC Ferry has the largest passenger fleet ...

's Astoria route, which stops at the

. The Brooklyn Navy Yard stop opened on May 20, 2019.

Notable residents

Notable residents over the years have included: Walt Whitman - George Collins Cox

Asa Akira Asa Akira (born January 3, 1985) is an American pornographic film actress, writer and adult film director. Akira has appeared in 689 adult films as of June 2023. In 2013, she became the third Asian performer (after Asia Carrera and Stephanie Sw ...

(born 1985), pornographic actress and adult film director * Ted Allen (born 1965), writer and television personality * Lester Bowie (1941–1999), avant-garde jazz (trumpet) musician owned Victorian-style home at 207 Washington Avenue for 20 years until his death in 1999 * Jay Critch (born 1997), rapper * Carmen Ejogo (born 1973), actress and singer * Charles F. Erhart (1821–1891), businessman who co-founded Chas. Pfizer & Co., Inc. * James William Elwell (1820–1899), shipping merchant and philanthropist who founded James W. Elwell & Co., and built the historic house at 70 Lefferts Place. * KOTA the Friend (born 1992), hip hop artist and producer who mentions Clinton Hill in some of his songs * Adrian Grenier (born 1976), actor * Lev Grossman (born 1969), novelist and journalist * Heems (stage name of Himanshu Suri), rapper * Tehching Hsieh (born 1950), performance artist *

Letitia James Letitia Ann "Tish" James (born October 18, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving since 2019 as the 67th Attorney General of New York, attorney general of New York (NYAG), having won the 2018 New York Attorney General election, 2018 ...

(born 1958), incumbent

Attorney General of New York The attorney general of New York is the chief legal officer of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and head of the Department of Law of the government of New York (state), state government. The office has existed in various forms since ...

Talib Kweli Talib Kweli Greene (; born October 3, 1975) is an American rapper. He first earned recognition through his collaboration with fellow Brooklyn rapper Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey) in 1997, when they formed the group Black Star. Kweli's music ...

(born 1975), rapper *

Mos Def Yasiin Bey ( ; born Dante Terrell Smith; December 11, 1973), formerly known as Mos Def ( ), is an American rapper, singer, and actor. A prominent figure in conscious hip hop, he is recognized for his use of wordplay and commentary on social an ...

(born 1973), rapper/actor * The Notorious B.I.G. (1972–1997), rapper, grew up on 226 St. James Place, near the Bedford–Stuyvesant border; the address was then regarded as part of Bedford–Stuyvesant *

David Paterson David Alexander Paterson (born May 20, 1954) is an American politician and attorney who served as the 55th governor of New York, succeeding Eliot Spitzer, who resigned, and serving out nearly three years of Spitzer's term from March 2008 to ...

(born 1954), former New York Governor * Rosie Perez (born 1964), actress * Mary Pinkett (–2003), first black New York City councilwoman, she served 28 years from 1974 until 2001 when she was term-limited out of office *

Antoni Porowski Antoni Janusz Porowski (born March 14, 1984) is a Canadian television personality, cook, actor, model, and author. He is the food and wine expert on the Netflix series '' Queer Eye'' (2018–present). Early life Porowski was born in Montreal, Qu ...

(born 1984), chef, actor, and television personality, lived in a studio with former partner, Joey Krietemeyer, that has been featured in interior design magazines * Susan Sarandon (born 1946), actress, lives in a home described as "aesthetically ironic" * Danny Simmons, artist *

Patti Smith Patricia Lee Smith (born December 30, 1946) is an American singer, songwriter, poet, painter, author, and photographer. Her 1975 debut album '' Horses'' made her an influential member of the New York City-based punk rock movement. Smith has fu ...

and

Robert Mapplethorpe Robert Michael Mapplethorpe ( ; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female Nude (art), n ...

shared an apartment on Hall Street in 1967, after they first met * Barbara Stanwyck (1907–1990), actress, model and dancer, was born at 246 Classon Avenue *

Jason Sudeikis Daniel Jason Sudeikis ( ; born September 18, 1975) is an American actor, comedian, screenwriter, and producer. In the 1990s, he began his career in improv comedy and performed with ComedySportz, iO Chicago (Improv Olympic), and The Second City. I ...

(born 1975), actor and comedianChen, Joyce
"Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis’s Former Home Is Now Up for Rent at $13,500 per Month"
''

Architectural Digest ''Architectural Digest'' (stylized in all caps) is an American monthly magazine founded in 1920. Its principal subjects are interior design and landscaping, rather than pure external architecture. The magazine is published by Condé Nast ...

'', March 22, 2018. Accessed July 23, 2023. "Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis... upgraded in early 2016 to a more spacious 6,300-square-foot mansion in Brooklyn’s Clinton Hill neighborhood..." * Conrad Tillard (born 1964), politician, Baptist minister, radio host, author, and civil rights activist * John Thomas Underwood (1857–1937), entrepreneur and inventor who founded the Underwood Typewriter Company *

(1819–1892), poet and editor of the ''

'' from 1846 to 1848, who lived at 99 Ryerson Street while working on ''

'' *

Olivia Wilde Olivia Wilde (born Olivia Jane Cockburn, , March 10, 1984) is an American actress and director. She played Thirteen (House), Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series ''House (TV series), House'' (2007–2012), and appeared ...

(born 1984), actress. Lived in Clinton Hill from 2014 to 2019. * Jessica Williams (born 1989), actress and comedian * Jeffrey Wright (born 1965), actor * Bowen Yang (born 1990), comedian on ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'' Dowd, Maureen
"Bowen Yang of ''S.N.L.'' Is a Smash. And a Mensch."
''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', January 25, 2020. Accessed December 6, 2022. "Mr. Yang... has moved into a one-bedroom apartment in a doorman building in the Clinton Hill neighborhood..." * Malik Yoba (born 1967), actor

Gallery

File:200 Lafayette Avenue Joseph Steele House from front.jpg, 200 Lafayette Avenue, Joseph Steel or Steele-Skinner House
(1812) File:447 Clinton Avenue.jpg, 447 Clinton Avenue, originally the David Burdette House, later the Galilee Baptist Church
() File:284 Clinton Avenue William W. Crane House.jpg, William W. Crane House, 284 Clinton Avenue
(Field & Correja, ) File:Mary CoE Classon Av fr Willoughby Noon jeh.jpg, St. Mary's Episcopal Church
(Richard T. Auchmuty, ) File:Emmanuel Baptist SE sun jeh.jpg, Emmanuel Baptist Church
(1887) File:Lincoln Club Mechanics Temple jeh.jpg, Mechanics Temple, originally the Lincoln Club, at 67 Putnam Avenue
( Rudolph L. Daus, 1889) File:Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew from north.jpg, Church of St. Luke and St. Matthew
(John Welch, 1891) File:Royal Castle Apartments 26 Gates Avenue from east.jpg, Royal Castle Apartments, 20 Gates Avenue
(Wortmann & Braun, 1912)

References

Informational notes Citations

External links

* {{Authority control Neighborhoods in Brooklyn