Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill

Understanding Downtown Brooklyn-DUMBO-Boerum Hill

Brooklyn had its own city government before consolidation in 1898. Ferry and commercial growth helped shape the downtown streets, where civic buildings and the homes of abolitionists stood near one another. Later transit systems added another layer beneath those streets.

Boerum Hill’s rows served workers, business owners and commuters connected to South Brooklyn’s waterfront, the canal and Atlantic Avenue. Greek Revival and Italianate houses dominate many mid-century blocks, with more varied styles added later. The historic district’s specific streets do not define the whole neighborhood.

Places to explore

• Brooklyn Borough Hall

  209 Joralemon Street

  The large columned portico marks the former City Hall. Look at the steps, central porch and later cupola as evidence of Brooklyn’s separate civic history. Current interior access requires a separate check.

• New York Transit Museum

  99 Schermerhorn Street

  The museum occupies the former Court Street subway station and recommends advance tickets. Its main entrance descends two flights of stairs.

• Harriet and Thomas Truesdell House

  227 Duffield Street

  The residents were documented abolitionists. The landmark report does not confirm the house as an Underground Railroad stop. View the surviving house as an exterior historical site rather than an open museum.

• Boerum Hill historic streets

  Dean, Bergen, Pacific and Wyckoff streets near Hoyt, Bond and Nevins

  Choose one group of streets and compare house fronts with the storefront buildings on Atlantic Avenue. These are occupied residential and commercial blocks, so the architectural selection does not promise interior entry.

Planning a visit

The Transit Museum’s wheelchair-accessible entrance is at Court and Schermerhorn streets. Borough Hall and the Truesdell House have no verified public tourist interior visit in this collection.