Windsor Terrace is a small residential neighborhood in the central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Prospect Park on the east and northeast, Park Slope at Prospect Park West, Green-Wood Cemetery, and Borough Park at McDonald Avenue on the northwest, west, and southwest, and Kensington at Caton Avenue on the south. As of the 2010 United States census, Windsor Terrace had 20,988 people living within its area.
Windsor Terrace is part of Brooklyn Community District 7, and its primary ZIP Codes are 11215 and 11218. It is patrolled by the 72nd Precinct of the New York City Police Department. Fire services are provided by Engine Company 240/Battalion 48 of the New York City Fire Department. Politically, Windsor Terrace is represented by the New York City Council's 38th and 39th Districts.
History Before the coming of Europeans to the New World, the area which is now Windsor Terrace was inhabited by the Canarsee Indians.See: Specifically, the Gowanus and Werpos tribes inhabited the surrounding area. The land, which was then in the far northwestern corner of the Town of Flatbush, was purchased as a farm by John Vanderbilt. Some parts of the land were also maintained by the Martense family, who owned land in the area through 1895. This area was desirable due to its proximity to downtown Brooklyn, as well as the recent construction of the Coney Island Plank Road through the area and of the serene Green-Wood Cemetery to the southwest.
Following Vanderbilt's death, his land was divided in two. Vanderbilt's land were sold to William Bell, a real estate developer, in 1849. Bell subdivided the land into 47 building lots, and, unlike some other developers in the general area, was able to sell them rather quickly., p.933 Bell then renamed the area after one of the multiple places named Windsor in England. Bell sold part of the land to Edward Belknap in 1851, and Belknap subsequently built four streets on which he marked 49 lots for future "Pleasant Cottages." The development was incorporated as the Village of Windsor Terrace, which was bounded by Church Avenue on the south, McDonald Avenue on the west, the Brooklyn–Flatbush town line on the north, and Prospect Park Southwest and Coney Island Avenue on the east. The Brooklyn Daily Eagle first referred to the area as "Windsor Terrace" in March 1854. By 1856, Belknap had lost his land due to foreclosure.
The area was generally desirable due to its prime location in the far northwest of the Town of Flatbush; close to the City of Brooklyn, yet located far enough outside it that residents of Windsor Terrace were willing to move there for its suburban ambience; and within walking distance of the Coney Island and Brooklyn Railroad's horsecar line. Additional blocks were developed in 1862, when the village had 30 inhabitants living in twelve houses. The village kept growing through the 1870s, boasting a Protestant chapel by 1874, a public school by 1876, and its own volunteer fire department by 1888. The village remained rural in feel until around 1900, when row houses began to be built throughout the area, at first along Prospect Park SW.
Development began to pick up pace during the 1920s as rumors circulated that the neighborhood would soon be served by the New York City Subway. There were a lot of single-family and two-family houses being built, as well as stores being opened on 11th Avenue and two apartment buildings being erected on Prospect Avenue. Many of the new occupants of Windsor Terrace were Irish-Americans, many of whose families remain there to this day. The 1933 arrival of the Independent Subway System (IND) ushered in an era of apartment-building construction.
Even into the 1960s, Windsor Terrace was an isolated neighborhood with a quiet small-town feel to it, although the construction of the Prospect Expressway brought more through-traffic past the area. Gentrification of the neighborhood began in the 1980s, with families who could not afford the prices in Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope coming to Windsor Terrace instead, looking for more affordable real estate. During this time, the old square block-sized Pilgrim Laundry, site of an ancient Victorian-era brick edifice at the corner of Prospect Avenue and Terrace Place, was razed and replaced with 17 two-family houses constructed in 1983. The houses were funded with the cooperation of a public-private partnership and sold through lottery to locals. This brought attention to the need for affordable housing in Brooklyn, and in the late 1980s, the neighborhood was rezoned to prevent the construction of high-rise buildings in order to retain the small-town fabric of the existing neighborhood. However, by then, gentrification of the neighborhood had started, and would continue through the 2000s.
Residents protested after Key Food, the only major supermarket in the neighborhood, closed down in 2015. A new, smaller Key Food-owned store called Windsor Farms Market was opened and is currently operating in a portion of the old location. A food co-op called "Windsor Terrace Food Coop", using the model of the Park Slope Food Coop, was also organized at the same time. The co-op serves both as a supplier of food and a community focal point. To become a member, residents must pay a one-time fee and commit to a work requirement, although memberships from other Brooklyn food co-ops are honored. The food, especially produce, is often higher quality and lower in price than at local supermarkets.
Location and street grid
Boundaries
Windsor Terrace, which is part of Community Board 7, consists of a narrow, nine-block-wide area. Located in central Brooklyn, the neighborhood has a "curved, somewhat comma-like shape". The neighborhood lies between Green-Wood Cemetery to the southwest and Prospect Park to the northeast, split down the middle by the Prospect Expressway. Adjacent neighborhoods include Park Slope to the northeast and Kensington to the south. According to The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn, Windsor Terrace is bounded by Prospect Park West on the north, Prospect Park SW and Coney Island Avenue on the east, Caton Avenue on the south and McDonald Avenue on the west."Windsor Terrace" in , pp.212-214 However, the Encyclopedia of New York City gives the boundaries as Seventh Avenue and Prospect Park W on the north, Prospect Park SW to the east, and Green-Wood Cemetery to the south and west.Gallagher, John J. "Windsor Terrace" in , p.1405 Other sources extend the northwest corner to Eighth Avenue along 15th Street and 20th Street."Windsor Terrace" Google Maps Accessed:February 26, 2015
Windsor Terrace straddles the line between the original Dutch Colonial Brooklyn towns of Brooklyn and Flatbush, as can be seen from its street grid that is bent approximately northeast–southwest along present-day Terrace Place. Old South Brooklyn (which now finds itself more westerly in disposition within the expanded boundaries of modern, consolidated Brooklyn) is located to the north of Terrace Place in the direction of 11th Avenue, and the Town of Flatbush lay to the south, located in the direction of Seeley Street. The grid of old Brooklyn, which is tilted at an angle, is adjacent to the Flatbush grid, which is roughly aligned with the cardinal directions, at this juncture. The only other still-extant nuance of this ancient Dutch boundary is the legacy of original Catholic Parish boundaries, which are between Holy Name of Jesus to the north and Immaculate Heart of Mary to the south, and ZIP Codes applied much later (11215 to the north and 11218 to the south). In this area, Vanderbilt Street, named after John Vanderbilt, splits western Brooklyn's general street grid (comprising numbered avenues from 1st–101st Streets) and southeastern Brooklyn's general street grid (comprising lettered avenues from East 1st to East 108th Streets).
Streets
There are three streets between 16th and 17th Streets in the Windsor Terrace street grid, since the streets diverge from each other from Park Slope eastward. The northernmost of the streets is Windsor Place, which runs between 7th Avenue and Prospect Park Southwest. The southernmost of the streets is Prospect Avenue, which continues southward to Ocean Parkway (near the Fort Hamilton Parkway overpass across the Prospect Expressway) and northward to Third Avenue. Running between these two streets from 10th Avenue to Terrace Place, Sherman Street is named after Roger Sherman, a signatory of the Declaration of Colonial Rights, the United States Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the United States Constitution. The street name "Windsor Place" has been applied to two different streets throughout the neighborhood's history. The current Windsor Place was formerly Braxton Street before the 1900s, while 16th Street between Prospect Park W and Prospect Park SW was known as "Windsor Place" before then.
Prospect Park West takes the place of 9th Avenue in the Windsor Terrace grid, and continues with the "Prospect Park West" name south of Prospect Park's borders, continuing southeastward to Green-Wood Cemetery, where it ends in a cul-de-sac. The stretch of Prospect Park West between 16th Street and Green-Wood Cemetery has always been called the same name as the stretch adjoining Prospect Park; the entire street was formerly and officially named 9th Avenue.
Southeast of Prospect Park West, past Bartel-Pritchard Square, 15th Street becomes Prospect Park Southwest. The road bends noticeably between 11th Avenue and 16th Street; Prospect Park Southwest was previously known as Coney Island Avenue and originally known as the "Coney Island Plank Road" in the days of unpaved roads, when logs or "planks" were laid for stability and to keep the mud down. The southernmost stretch of Prospect Park Southwest, south of the bend at the termination of 16th Street, still retains Coney Island Avenue's street numbering system.
Prospect Avenue extends from Hamilton Avenue to Ocean Parkway and is crossed by a bridge at Seeley Street. The northern part was originally known as Middle Street and had its southernmost limit at what is now Terrace Place. An attempt was made in 1865 to change the name of Middle Street to Sterling Street, possibly for Lord Stirling, but was vetoed by Mayor Alfred M. Wood. Prospect Park's establishment required additional access, and in 1868 the New York Legislature passed an act that provided for Middle Street's renaming to Prospect Avenue and its widening from . Maps made in 1874 for the Kings County Town Survey Commission provided for a extension of Prospect Avenue into the Town of Flatbush; however, this was stymied by a steep, boulder-strewn terminal moraine, and the fact that the city of Brooklyn's and town of Flatbush's sections of the road were misaligned. In 1903, plans were approved to correct the misalignment; Prospect Avenue was extended through the cut, and Seely Street was placed over Prospect Avenue on a concrete-and-steel arch bridge.
Co-named streets 16th Street is co-named "Captain Vincent E. Brunton Way" after a New York City Fire Department captain who died in the September 11 attacks. 10th Avenue is also co-named "John P. Devaney Boulevard" in this area after a firefighter who died while trying to rescue residents of a burning Red Hook building in 1989.
Traffic circles