LPC Designates the Linden Street Historic District in Bushwick, Brooklyn

This week the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Linden Street Historic District in Bushwick due to the neighborhood’s historic streetscape and distinctive row houses designed by Brooklyn architects.

Linden Street. Courtesy of Landmarks Preservation Commission

Linden Street. Courtesy of Landmarks Preservation Commission

“The Linden Street Historic District is the first historic district designated in Bushwick, and advances LPC’s equity goals,” said Sarah Carroll, Landmarks Preservation commission chair. “The district contains some of the most strikingly artistic row houses in Brooklyn and is truly meritorious for its significant architecture, high integrity, and a strong sense of place. Today’s action is very important as the agency continues to designate landmarks and historic districts in areas that are not as well represented by designations.”

Linden Street. Courtesy of Landmarks Preservation Commission

Linden Street. Courtesy of Landmarks Preservation Commission

The Linden Street Historic District is a group of 32 brick and brownstone row houses built between 1885 and 1901 that share common features including continuous decorative cornices. Developed by Samuel M. Meeker and designed by Brooklyn architects in popular late-19th century styles, the row houses create a harmonious historic streetscape.

Bushwick is one of the original six Brooklyn towns, chartered in 1661 during the Dutch colonial period, and remained rural until the 1885 opening of the Broadway elevated train service at Gates Avenue, which spurred row house development in the neighborhood. Built between 1885 and 1901, the row houses were designed in neo-Grec style by Edward F. Gaylor, Queen Anne style by Frank Keith Irving, Renaissance Revival style by Benjamin Finksieper, and a combination of the Romanesque and Renaissance Revival styles by Charles E. Palmer. A collection of ten Queen Anne-style row houses closest to Bushwick Avenue is distinctive due to its extensive use of decorative terracotta, and includes an impressive end house facing Bushwick Avenue.

“The designation of Linden Street as a New York City historic district is a triumph for the Bushwick community,” said city council member Jennifer Gutiérrez. “As one of the original six Brooklyn towns, Bushwick’s rich history is unfortunately often overlooked. This historic district’s striking collection of architecturally significant row houses stands out as an intact and distinctive example of South Bushwick’s late-19th-century development, and its preservation is a testament to our commitment to safeguarding our city’s heritage. With so few landmarks remaining in Bushwick, lost to fires, gentrification, and speculation, it is all the more important that we protect and celebrate the ones that remain. I am delighted that this harmonious streetscape will be recognized as a landmark for generations to come.”

Early residents of the row houses consisted primarily of middle- and working-class people born in New York or who immigrated from Germany, Ireland, England, Scotland, and Australia. This evolved in the mid-20th century to Italian Americans who lived on the block and new immigrants from Central and South America, the Caribbean, Asia, and the Middle East.

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