Much can be said about the architecture and streetscape of Brooklyn Heights, the Promenade and some of Early New York. Learning more about the history surrounding these areas speaks to the facts around the way structures and streets were designed and laid out.

Our walk began in the neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights, which in comparison to Early New York (at the time) was nothing. In the beginning people were mostly settling and developing the land of Early New York. So, in order to make people move out to Brooklyn, the land (in lots) was offered at lesser values than the cost of land in Early New York. This definitely appealed to many people and to others it was a chance to make tons of money. Some of these people who bought land would buy a couple lots and build houses on them so that they could later sell those houses to make a profit. This is the reason why some of the houses in Brooklyn Heights look identical. Meanwhile in Early New York, the buildings are all different in appearance. The value of land in Early New York was greater than land in Brooklyn so buying lots of land in Manhattan wasn’t as plausible and required a greater sum of money.

The structures going up in Early New York and Brooklyn had different purposes and this can be seen through the height of buildings. For Brooklyn, the structures going up were homes and they stayed at small scales because no one needed a living room that’s twenty or more feet tall. The houses in Brooklyn weren’t tall in general either and would be at most two to three levels only. However, the structures in Early New York had ground floors that were tall and the reason for that was because these buildings were warehouses/storage areas. All the commercial action was centered in Early New York, all its trading and importation happened there so they had to build to accommodate for this. This accommodation can also be seen in the streetscape, where compared to Brooklyn, the streets in Early New York are much wider. This was done for the purpose of vehicular transportation of goods. Also, the structures here that weren’t residential ones went up several levels.

People settling down in Brooklyn had front row seats to the development of Early New York and so that area became a place of residence. Even though Brooklyn and Early New York  had different uses for their buildings, there were some similarities in the designing of their buildings. Some houses in Brooklyn Heights and some commercial buildings in Early Manhattan have pilasters on their façades. Not only that but the material used in the beginning was the same for both areas. Wood, which was later replaced with brick in both areas, was the cheapest building material and so it was greatly used until too many fires consumed buildings on both sides causing them to look towards another building material.