Greenpoint

Understanding Greenpoint

Shipbuilding helped turn rural Greenpoint into an industrial neighborhood in the nineteenth century. Glass, pencils, boxes and oil refining followed. Charles Pratt’s Astral Apartments offered an alternative to the crowded housing often provided for workers.

Places to explore

• Astral Apartments

  Franklin Street between India and Java streets

  The brick and terra-cotta building fills a whole block front. Look at the scale of its openings and projecting details while considering its original purpose as workers’ housing.

• McGolrick Park pavilion

  Nassau Avenue, Monitor, Driggs and Russell streets

  The open arcade curves between two small pavilions. The paths respond to that curve, making the shelter part of the park’s plan rather than a detached monument. Check Parks for present facility conditions.

• Greenpoint Library and Environmental Education Center

  107 Norman Avenue at Leonard Street

  The building combines ordinary library services with environmental learning. Rainwater collection, a demonstration garden and a gardened reading deck make its environmental purpose visible.

Planning a visit

BPL lists the G and B24/B43/B48/B62 buses for the library. Choose the library, pavilion or Astral Apartments as the actual destination and check current transit service.

The Astral Apartments have no public interior visit established in this review. The park pavilion is an outdoor architectural selection; no route between it and Franklin Street has been checked. BPL lists the library as fully accessible; garden and roof opening can follow separate program schedules.