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Brooklyn · Neighborhood guide

Boerum Hill

Boerum Hill’s residential blocks bring rows of nineteenth-century houses together with the storefronts of Atlantic Avenue. Dean, Bergen, Pacific and Wyckoff streets offer several ways to look at the neighborhood’s architecture and its connection to Brooklyn’s waterfront and commercial growth.

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Brick row houses line a Bergen Street corner beneath leafless trees.
Bergen Street row houses · 2025
Ritchiee212121 · CC BY 4.0 · Resized.
Bergen Street row houses

About Boerum Hill

The blocks developed for a mix of waterfront workers, merchants and commuters. Growth in the 1840s and 1850s followed industrial expansion and new transportation; development continued farther east after the Civil War, as the Gowanus Canal and nearby industry grew. Atlantic Avenue became a commercial corridor.

Many houses and small buildings with storefronts from the 1850s–70s use Greek Revival or Italianate designs. Later construction added other styles. The 2018 extension to the 1973 historic district covers three separate areas; neither designation defines the whole neighborhood.

Places to explore

  • Dean and Bergen streets

    Between Smith and Hoyt streets

    The western section of the historic district extension includes these residential blocks. Compare the row houses and their stoops from the sidewalk; the buildings are homes, not public interiors.

  • Bergen Street row houses

    103–109A Bergen Street

    This group of six houses was built in 1885 to designs by Amzi Hill. Their Second Empire and neo-Grec details include mansard roofs and geometric ornament. Look from the street and leave the entrances clear.

  • Atlantic Avenue and Pacific Street

    Atlantic Avenue between Hoyt and Nevins; Pacific Street between Hoyt and Bond

    The northern section of the extension includes a commercial stretch and a nearby residential street. Look at the different ways row-house-scale buildings accommodate storefronts and homes.

  • Wyckoff and Bergen streets

    Between Bond and Nevins streets

    The eastern section of the extension records a later phase of residential development near the canal. Compare the house fronts here with the older western blocks, keeping to public sidewalks.

Planning a visit

Bergen St on the F and G is an arrival point near the western blocks. MTA line maps describe usual weekday service; check current service changes before traveling.

Choose a few blocks rather than treating the district as a museum. Homes, stoops and entrances are private, and individual shops set their own hours.

Photos

Brick row houses and stoops stand behind autumn trees and parked cars.
Boerum Hill row houses · 2024
Ritchiee212121 · CC BY 4.0 · Resized.
Snow covers stoops and branches along a row of brick houses on Bergen Street.
Bergen Street row houses in snow · 2024
Ritchiee212121 · CC BY 4.0 · Resized.

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