POTW: Brooklyn Historical Society Pierrepont

Tess Colwell

[Long Island Historical Society, Pierrepont Street and Clinton Street], 1961, V1974.031.30; Long Island Historical Society photographs, v1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society. [Long Island Historical Society, Pierrepont Street and Clinton Street], 1961, V1974.031.30; Long Island Historical Society photographs, v1974.031; Brooklyn Historical Society.
Visitors to the Brooklyn Historical Society Pierrepont location sometimes ask if the building served another purpose before it was the historical society. The answer is—it was always the historical society! Built in 1881, the Queen Anne-style building was designed by architect George Browne Post. The Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society) held a design competition from December 1877 to 1878 as a basis for the construction of the new historical society building. Post won the competition, and his vision, attention to detail, and innovative design can be seen every day by visiting our landmarked building. You can check out 73 architectural drawings (including Post’s) submitted for the building design competition here.

The photo of the week depicts the front entrance to Long Island Historical Society  in 1961. This photograph is from the Long Island Historical Society photographs collection comprised of photographs from 1925 to 1980 that relate to the historic building and activities of the Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society). To view more photographs from this collection, check out this gallery.

Don’t forget that Brooklyn Historical Society now has two locations. In addition to the Pierrepont location, BHS has opened a second location in DUMBO. All summer long, BHS DUMBO offers free summer Friday hours (6-9pm). We hope you will visit us at both locations!

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our Brooklyn Visual Heritage website here. To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Sat, 1:00-5:00 p.m. library@brooklynhistory.org

 

 

This blog post reflects the opinions of the author and does not necessarily represent the views of Brooklyn Public Library.

 

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