Clinton Hill, Brooklyn
Clinton Hill is a neighborhood in north-central Brooklyn, a borough of New York City. It is bordered by the Brooklyn Navy Yard and Flushing Avenue to the north, Williamsburg to the northeast, Nostrand Avenue and Bedford–Stuyvesant to the east, St Marks Avenue and Prospect Heights to the south and southwest and Carlton Avenue and Fort Greene to the west.[2][3]
Clinton Hill
"The Hill", as the general area was known – with a maximum elevation of 95 feet (29 m), the highest in the area[2] – 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 (1769–1828).[4] The main thoroughfare is DeKalb Avenue.[2] The affluent[2] 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.[5]
Clinton Hill is part of Brooklyn Community District 2, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11205 and 11238.[1] It is patrolled by the 88th Precinct of the New York City Police Department.
Demographics[edit]
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.[12]
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 44.8% White, 26.4% Black, 9.5% Asian, 5.7% from two or more races, and 1.5% from other races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 12.1% of the population.[12]
Residents include many "artists, architects, photographers, and craftspeople". In the 21st century, the neighborhood has experienced a significant increase in population, with increased gentrification and a growing upper-middle-class population.[2]
As according to the 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning, 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.[13][14]
Landmarks[edit]
The Clinton Hill Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. The district includes the mansions of Clinton Avenue, built in the 1870s and 1880s. The most prominent of these are linked to Charles Pratt, who built a mansion for himself at 232 Clinton Avenue in 1874, the year his Charles Pratt & Company was acquired by Standard Oil,[4] 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 and Beaux-Arts rowhouses.[15] The Clinton Hill South Historic District was listed in 1986.[15] James William Elwell built the wood-framed Italianate 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.[16]
St. Mary's Episcopal Church at 220 Classon Avenue in Clinton Hill, built c. 1859, and the Mechanics Temple, which was built at 67 Putnam Avenue as the Lincoln Club in 1889, are both part of the historic district.[2][17] Other buildings in the Historic District include a Gothic Revival wooden house at 284 Clinton Avenue, built c.1854; an Italianate brick and stone villa dating from c. 1850 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;[note 1] and at 367 Washington Avenue; and apartment houses on Clinton Avenue.[5][17]
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.[2][5][17]
Many of the buildings of the Pratt Institute are landmarked, or of architectural interest, and St. Joseph's College utilizes several of the former Pratt family mansions on Clinton Avenue.[17]
The brick building at 275 Park Avenue was built in the 1890s as a chocolate factory that produced and distributed Tootsie Rolls throughout the United States. In 2002, the building was converted into loft apartments.[18]
Education[edit]
Institutions[edit]
Pratt Institute, founded by Charles Pratt in 1887, is in Clinton Hill. Pratt began as an engineering school, designed to train immigrants in then-novel sciences.[4] Today the school has programs in architecture, graphic design, interior design, and industrial design.[19]
The Brooklyn campus of St. Joseph's College is in Clinton Hill.[20]
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.[21]
Library[edit]
The Brooklyn Public Library (BPL)'s Clinton Hill branch is located at 380 Washington Avenue near Lafayette Avenue. It opened in 1973.[22]
Notable residents over the years have included:
200 Lafayette Avenue, Joseph Steel or Steele-Skinner House
(1812)
447 Clinton Avenue, originally the David Burdette House, later the Galilee Baptist Church
(c. 1850)
William W. Crane House, 284 Clinton Avenue
(Field & Correja, c. 1854)
Royal Castle Apartments, 20 Gates Avenue
(Wortmann & Braun, 1912)
