Kingsborough Houses-Kingsborough Extension

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Kingsborough Houses-Kingsborough Extension
NYCHA property
Nickname(s): 
Kingsborough
Location within New York City
Coordinates: 40°40′30″N 73°55′29″W / 40.675120°N 73.924680°W / 40.675120; -73.924680Coordinates: 40°40′30″N 73°55′29″W / 40.675120°N 73.924680°W / 40.675120; -73.924680
Country United States
State New York
CityNew York City
BoroughBrooklyn
ZIP codes
11233
Area code(s)718, 347, 929, and 917

Kingsborough Houses-Kingsborough Extension, also known as Kingsborough Houses, is a housing project in Brooklyn, New York covering 15.97-acres in Crown Heights, and is bordered by Ralph and Rochester Avenues, and Pacific and Bergen Streets. The project consists of 16, six-story buildings with 1,148 apartment units. It is owned and managed by New York City Housing Authority.[1][2]

History[]

Construction of the Kingsborough Houses finished in 1941 and cost $5,160,000.[3] Upon its completion, 36 employees worked on-site at the development, with nine in the office and remaining 27 employed on the grounds.[4] The development opened with a majority of white residents, but by the late 1950s over two-thirds of residents were African-American.[4][5]

The Kingsborough Extension was later completed in 1966[6] and is devoted to housing senior citizens.[7]

Artist and architect[]

The cast-stone frieze, Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho, created was created by Richmond Barthé through the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in 1938. Originally intended for the Harlem River Houses, an African-American public housing development, Barthé created the site-specific work for an amphitheater. The piece consists of scenes from the Old Testament through the eyes of an African-American child, inspired by the play The Green Pastures. After completion, the panels were placed in storage until 1941 when they were installed at the Kingsborough Houses, a majority white development.[8][9] By 2018, the frieze was in disrepair with NYCHA unable to fund due to capital needs.[10]

Landscape architect, Gilmore Clarke, designed the development's grounds in a style reminiscent of city parks of the time.[4]

The Kingsborough Extension was designed by architect Morris Ketchum, Jr.[11]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Locations Gallery - NYCHA". www1.nyc.gov. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  2. ^ "MyNYCHA Developments Portal". my.nycha.info. Retrieved August 16, 2019.
  3. ^ "Mayor Dedicates Kingsborough Houses, City's 10th Home Project, 3d for Brooklyn". NY Times. September 10, 1941. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  4. ^ a b c Bloom, Nicholas Dagen (February 9, 2009). Public Housing That Worked: New York in the Twentieth Century. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 9780812220674.
  5. ^ "A PUBLIC PROJECT AGES GRACEFULLY; Kingsborough Tenants Have Made Development and Its Area Better by Work". NY Times. October 14, 1958. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  6. ^ "Assessment of New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) Properties" (PDF). New York State Department of Health. March 2018.
  7. ^ Aging. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1963.
  8. ^ "Richmond Barthé & "Green Pastures: The Walls of Jericho"". NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  9. ^ Vendryes, Margaret Rose (2008). Barthé: A Life in Sculpture. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 9781604730920.
  10. ^ "A historic work of art is crumbling in a NYCHA complex". am New York. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
  11. ^ "MORRIS KETCHUM JR., 80, DIES; RETIRED NEW YORK ARCHITECT". NY Times. November 27, 1984. Retrieved October 1, 2019.
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