Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn

Windsor Terrace is a small residential neighborhood in the central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.

Following Vanderbilt's death, his land was divided in two. Bell subdivided the land into 47 building lots, 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 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; Additional blocks were developed in 1862, 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. 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. consists of a narrow, nine-block-wide area. Located in central Brooklyn, the neighborhood has a "curved, somewhat comma-like shape". 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. Other sources extend the northwest corner to Eighth Avenue along 15th Street and 20th Street.

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. 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). 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. 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

Traffic circles

Traffic circles are relatively rare in New York City, but Windsor Terrace has three of them, all framing Prospect Park entrances along the park's border. The northernmost, a medium-sized traffic circle named Bartel-Pritchard Square, is at the intersection of Prospect Park West, Prospect Park Southwest, and 15th Street, and contains an ornate entrance framed with two columns. Park Circle's entrance to Prospect Park is designed in a style similar to the Bartel-Pritchard Square entrance.

The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 64.9% (13,616) White, 6.2% (1,298) African American, 0.1% (31) Native American, 9.9% (2,076) Asian, 0.0% (0) Pacific Islander, 0.7% (151) from other races, and 2.5% (531) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 15.7% (3,285) of the population.

Culture

Windsor Terrace is home to mainly Irish-, German-, Polish-, and Italian-American families, many having settled in its brick row and wood-frame houses when the neighborhood was first developed. or Immaculate Heart of Mary (located on Fort Hamilton Parkway in Windsor Terrace's southeastern extremity). Other smaller Protestant denominations exist nearby, such as the Memorial Baptist Church at 16th Street and 8th Avenue, and Holy Apostles Episcopal on Greenwood Avenue. Over time, Windsor Terrace has become increasingly diverse, as Greek and Hispanic residents have moved in. There is also a minority of Syrians, Maronite Lebanese, and Jewish-Americans. There is also a newer place of worship, the Calvary Cathedral of Praise at Caton Place and East Eighth Street. Windsor Terrace is becoming more ethnically diverse and culturally active, owing to a demographic change since the 1990s, when the area had a more elderly population and not as many families with young children. The increased presence of many families with young kids has not indicated a significant cultural change in the neighborhood. The 72nd Precinct ranked 16th safest out of 69 patrol areas for per-capita crime in 2010. Total crime has decreased since the 1990s, and the 72nd Precinct is one of the safest precincts in Brooklyn . The 72nd Precinct has a lower crime rate than in the 1990s, with crimes across all categories having decreased by 79.1% between 1990 and 2018. The precinct reported 2 murders, 32 rapes, 185 robberies, 209 felony assaults, 153 burglaries, 468 grand larcenies, and 77 grand larcenies auto in 2018.

Fire safety

The New York City Fire Department (FDNY) operates the Engine Company 240/Battalion 48 fire station at 1307 Prospect Avenue. The company was incorporated into the FDNY as Engine Company 240 on January 1, 1913. It was named a New York City designated landmark in February 2013. Its lookout tower hails from a time where fire alarm systems were nonexistent. The United States Post Office operates the Prospect Park West Station post office at 225 Prospect Park West.

Political representation

Politically, Windsor Terrace is in New York's 10th congressional district. It is in the New York State Senate's 20th district, the New York State Assembly's 44th district, and the New York City Council's 38th and 39th districts. Windsor Terrace was once part of New York's 9th congressional district, but following redistricting in 2022, the neighborhood became part of the 10th congressional district.

Windsor Terrace is a heavily Democratic area; in the 2016 Presidential election, 84% of the 9th Congressional district (where Windsor Terrace had been located from 2013 until 2022) voted for Hillary Clinton, compared to 15% for rival Donald Trump. In the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, Hillary Clinton narrowly won the primary in Windsor Terrace, receiving 2,756 votes () to Bernie Sanders's 2,568 votes () with a total of 5,324 Democrats voting. Windsor Terrace had relatively few Republican primary voters. Just 371 voters cast ballots in the 2016 Republican primary, with 197 people ( of the Republican electorate in the neighborhood) voting for Donald Trump, 120 for John Kasich ( of the Republican electorate), and 54 for Ted Cruz ( of the Republican electorate).

Education

thumb|upright=1.2|right|The Windsor Terrace branch of the [[Brooklyn Public Library]]

Schools

The neighborhood public elementary schools, PS 154 (The Windsor Terrace School) on 11th Avenue and PS 130 (The Parkside School) on Ocean Avenue, are well regarded. Each school features a number of enrichment programs for students, such as chess and journalism. In 2013–2014, 64% of PS 154 students met or exceeded Common Core standards in the English Language Arts (ELA) exams and 65% met or exceeded the standards on the math exams. At PS 130, 32% of ELA test-takers met or exceeded standards, and 41% did so on the math test. PS 130 placed in the top 50% of all schools in New York for overall test scores (math proficiency was top 50%, and reading proficiency was top 50%) for the 2017–18 school year. The percentage of students achieving proficiency in math was 62% and the percentage of students achieving proficiency in reading/language arts was 58%.

The NYCDOE district in which the schools are operated, District 15, was rezoned in 2014 due to an increased enrollment in the two schools; some students formerly zoned to PS 154 are now zoned to PS 130. This rezoning proved contentious, with some rezoned students' parents saying that the rezoning requires some students to travel over across "two highways" to get to school. There is also another public school nearby, PS 295 on 18th Street in Park Slope, to accommodate extra students from Windsor Terrace. In the 2012–2013 NYCDOE Progress Report, this school received an "A," garnering a quality score of 60.2 out of 100.

MS 839, serving grades 6–8, is located at 713 Caton Avenue. Brooklyn College Academy operates an annex site for freshmen and sophomore high school students at 350 Coney Island Avenue, with the juniors' and seniors' building at Brooklyn College. Another Catholic school, Bishop Ford High School, formerly operated at 500 19th Street in Windsor Terrace from 1952 to 2014. It closed in June 2014 due to lowered revenues from declining enrollment, with only 25% of its 2006 enrollment. The former school site is now the location of K280, a pre-kindergarten school, and MS 442 (School for Innovation).

Library

The Brooklyn Public Library's Windsor Terrace branch is located at East 5th Street at Fort Hamilton Parkway. It began as a "deposit station" with a small collection in 1922, but after 1940, service was intermittent after the library moved to a makeshift structure created out of two old streetcars. In 1969, it moved again into the current library building, which had been completed that year. The library was renovated in 1994, and again in 2011. The library closed for a one-and-a-half-year renovation in February 2019.

Transportation

left|thumb|An entrance to the [[15th Street–Prospect Park (IND Culver Line)|15th Street–Prospect Park station]]

Windsor Terrace is served by the New York City Subway's 15th Street–Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway stations on the IND Culver Line (now carrying the ). The section of the line containing these two stations opened on October 7, 1933, as part of a "temporary" extension to Church Avenue in Kensington, where it was to have connected with Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) subway services via a ramp to Ditmas Avenue. The former station, 15th Street, has stone entrances set into the park walls. The latter station, Fort Hamilton Parkway, has a long passageway due to its unusual location under the Prospect Expressway; its three entrances (one on Fort Hamilton Parkway itself, and two on Prospect Avenue) straddle the expressway, which splits the neighborhood in two.

As elsewhere in Brooklyn, trolley service, operated by the BMT's rapid transit arm, ran in the neighborhood well into the 1950s and early '60s. The Seventh Avenue Line (now the B67 bus route) was converted from trolley to bus operations in 1951, and a year later, the Vanderbilt Avenue Line (now the B69) was similarly converted. A trolley barn, located between Green-Wood Cemetery and the Prospect Expressway, formerly served the Culver and Crosstown trolley lines on a site where a former federal prison was located during the American Civil War. It was replaced in 1962 by the Bishop Ford High School. The original riding academy closed in 1937 and is now a warehouse. Today, Kensington Stables gives lessons in The Shoe in Prospect Park.

Bartel-Pritchard Square, in Windsor Terrace's northern extremity, is a traffic circle at the intersection of Prospect Park West, 15th Street, and Prospect Park Southwest. Its name commemorates local residents, Emil Bartel and William Pritchard, who died during World War I while in combat. originally had a flower garden in its center. A black granite monument in the center of the circle—installed in 1965 as a result of a donation by the Patrick J. Devaney Post #964, VFW of the U.S.—memorializes all of the locals who have died in war. Like similar structures such as Times Square and Herald Square, the Bartel-Pritchard Square is geometrically not a square, despite its name. The 500-seat The theater, which expanded to 9 screens in October 2004, and malfunctions in the theater's heating system. In October 2016, the building was closed in preparation for conversion to a 7-screen, 650-seat theater. The renovated theater ultimately reopened on December 19, 2018.

Farrell's Bar & Grill, at 16th Street and Prospect Park W, is a noted community institution that has been continuously run by three owners since 1933. Famous among the fire and police officers who live in the community, It has been used as a standard bar backdrop in many film sequences. The neighborhood legend persists that until 1971, when Shirley MacLaine and Pete Hamill went into the bar during the filming of Desperate Characters and successfully demanded that MacLaine be served from the bar; until that time, Farrell's only served men at the bar and women at the rear of the establishment. was built by 1903 at a cost of $22,000, and is supported by underpinning since the IND subway runs under Prospect Avenue at this point. While street bridges that span other streets are more common in the hilly Bronx, they are rare in Brooklyn. The bridge has a stairway on its side that connects the two streets.]]

Several notable Windsor Terrace residents are in the field of entertainment and media, including the actress Debi Mazar and her chef husband, Gabriele Corcos. The MSNBC news host Chris Hayes also lives in the neighborhood. Actress, comedian, writer, and producer Mindy Kaling lived in Windsor Terrace when she wrote her award-winning play Matt & Ben with then-roommate Brenda Withers. George Motz, described as "America's hamburger expert" and the host of the television series Burger Land, lives in Windsor Terrace.

Mallory Hagan, 2013's Miss America, was living in Windsor Terrace at the time that she won Miss America 2013, though older reports incorrectly mentioned that she lived in Park Slope.

Several writers of note have lived in Windsor Terrace, including Frank McCourt; and Paul Auster (although Auster's place of residence is considered to also be in Park Slope). Isaac Asimov lived in Windsor Terrace when his father ran a small candy store on Windsor Place. It is believed Asimov wrote his famous short story Nightfall in his bedroom in the family home across the street. The New York Times journalist Jonathan Mahler, author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning is a Windsor Terrace resident, as is the New York Times bestselling novelist and memoirist Darin Strauss.

Chef Chris Scott and his wife operated several restaurants in Windsor Terrace, living in an apartment above the restaurants.

In popular culture

1971 – Scenes for the film Desperate Characters were shot in Windsor Terrace.
1995 – In August, Alanis Morissette filmed the music video for "Hand In My Pocket" from her album Jagged Little Pill on Prospect Park W between Windsor Place and 16th Street.

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1979 – Scenes from The Gift were filmed in Windsor Terrace.
1986 – Scenes from Brighton Beach Memoirs were shot in 14th Regiment Armory.
1998 – Darren Aronofsky's film Pi has several subway shots filmed in the 15th Street–Prospect Park station.
1998 – Scenes from the film Ragtime were shot in Windsor Terrace.

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