Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn
Encyclopedia
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...
of Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
. It is bounded by Prospect Park
Prospect Park (Brooklyn)
Prospect Park is a 585-acre public park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn located between Park Slope, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Kensington, Windsor Terrace and Flatbush Avenue, Grand Army Plaza and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden...
to the northeast and Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery
Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Brooklyn, Kings County , New York. It was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior.-History:...
, a National Historic Landmark
National Historic Landmark
A National Historic Landmark is a building, site, structure, object, or district, that is officially recognized by the United States government for its historical significance...
, to the southwest. Its southeastern boundary is Caton Avenue, while to the northwest it is bordered by Prospect Park West. It is between the neighborhoods of Park Slope
Park Slope, Brooklyn
Park Slope is a neighborhood in western Brooklyn, New York City's most populous borough. Park Slope is roughly bounded by Prospect Park West to the east, Fourth Avenue to the west, Flatbush Avenue to the north, and 15th Street to the south, though other definitions are sometimes offered. Generally...
to the northwest and Kensington
Kensington, Brooklyn
Kensington is a neighborhood in the center of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the area south of Prospect Park and the Green-Wood Cemetery. It is bordered by Coney Island Avenue to the east, Fort Hamilton Parkway and Caton Avenue to the north, McDonald Avenue and 37th Street to the...
to the southeast.
The subway arrived in 1933 with the building of the IND South Brooklyn Line, the "Culver Line," which includes the F and G train stops of 15th Street-Prospect Park
15th Street-Prospect Park (IND Culver Line)
15th Street – Prospect Park is a local station on the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the F and G trains at all times....
and Fort Hamilton Parkway
Fort Hamilton Parkway (IND Culver Line)
Fort Hamilton Parkway is a local station on the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the F and G trains at all times.There are two local tracks and two side platforms...
.
Largely residential, Windsor Terrace is home to mainly Irish, German-American, Polish-American and Italian-American families, many having settled in its brick rowhouses and small woodframe homes when the neighborhood was first developed at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Over time, Windsor Terrace has become increasingly diverse, including Greek
Greeks
The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
and Hispanic
Hispanic
Hispanic is a term that originally denoted a relationship to Hispania, which is to say the Iberian Peninsula: Andorra, Gibraltar, Portugal and Spain. During the Modern Era, Hispanic sometimes takes on a more limited meaning, particularly in the United States, where the term means a person of ...
people, in addition to a small minority of Syria
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
ns, Maronite Lebanese
Lebanese people
The Lebanese people are a nation and ethnic group of Levantine people originating in what is today the country of Lebanon, including those who had inhabited Mount Lebanon prior to the creation of the modern Lebanese state....
and Jewish-Americans. More recently, an influx of Park Slope and Manhattan refugees as a result of "gentrification
Gentrification
Gentrification and urban gentrification refer to the changes that result when wealthier people acquire or rent property in low income and working class communities. Urban gentrification is associated with movement. Consequent to gentrification, the average income increases and average family size...
" has pushed house prices well above average. The neighborhood public schools, P.S. 154 and P.S. 130, are well regarded. They are some of the primary attractions of the neighborhood for both the traditional Windsor Terrace community and the Park Slope spillover. Both schools feature a number of special enrichment programs for students, such as chess and journalism. Both schools received "A" grades in the 2010-11 New York City Department of Education Progress Reports.
The Prospect Expressway runs through the middle of the neighborhood, effectively separating it into two halves. Some neighborhood streets, such as Greenwood Avenue and Vanderbilt Street, were bisected by the expressway and remain so, while others, such as Seeley Street, 11th Avenue/Terrace Place, and Prospect Park West, are bridged over the highway. Windsor Terrace is patrolled by the NYPD's 72nd Precinct.
Windsor Terrace lays claim to several writers of note, including Pete Hamill
Pete Hamill
Pete Hamill is an American journalist, novelist, essayist, editor and educator. Widely traveled and having written on a broad range of topics, he is perhaps best known for his career as a New York City journalist, as "the author of columns that sought to capture the particular flavors of New York...
and brother Denis Hamill. Paul Auster
Paul Auster
Paul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
, perhaps Brooklyn's current favorite laureate, lives nearby. Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov
Isaac Asimov was an American author and professor of biochemistry at Boston University, best known for his works of science fiction and for his popular science books. Asimov was one of the most prolific writers of all time, having written or edited more than 500 books and an estimated 90,000...
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.
In film
Most of the 19751975 in film
The year 1975 in film involved some significant events, with Steven Spielberg's thriller Jaws topping the box office.-Events:*March 26 - The film version of The Who's Tommy premieres in London....
Al Pacino
Al Pacino
Alfredo James "Al" Pacino is an American film and stage actor and director. He is famous for playing mobsters, including Michael Corleone in The Godfather trilogy, Tony Montana in Scarface, Alphonse "Big Boy" Caprice in Dick Tracy and Carlito Brigante in Carlito's Way, though he has also appeared...
film Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon
Dog Day Afternoon is a 1975 drama film directed by Sidney Lumet, written by Frank Pierson, and produced by Martin Bregman. The film stars Al Pacino, John Cazale, Charles Durning, Chris Sarandon, Penny Allen, James Broderick, and Carol Kane. The title refers to the "dog days of summer".The film was...
was filmed on Prospect Park West between 17th Street and 18th Street in Windsor Terrace. Director Wayne Wang's sister movies Smoke
Smoke (film)
Smoke is an American independent film released in 1995. It was produced by Hisami Kuroiwa, Harvey Weinstein and Bob Weinstein and directed by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster...
and Blue in the Face
Blue in the Face
Blue in the Face is a 1995 comedy directed by Wayne Wang and Paul Auster. It stars Harvey Keitel, Victor Argo, Giancarlo Esposito, Roseanne Barr, Michael J. Fox, Lily Tomlin, Mira Sorvino, Lou Reed, Mel Gorham, Jim Jarmusch,and Malik Yoba....
were filmed at the former Post Office location at the corner of 16th Street and Prospect Park West in 1995, in conjunction with well-known local writer Paul Auster
Paul Auster
Paul Benjamin Auster is an American author known for works blending absurdism, existentialism, crime fiction and the search for identity and personal meaning in works such as The New York Trilogy , Moon Palace , The Music of Chance , The Book of Illusions and The Brooklyn Follies...
. 1997's As Good as It Gets
As Good as It Gets
As Good as It Gets is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by James L. Brooks and produced by Laura Ziskin. It stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, obsessive-compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single mother with an asthmatic son, and Greg Kinnear as a gay artist. The screenplay was...
shows Oscar-winners Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt walking through wonderful streetscapes of Prospect Park West (known as 9th Avenue to locals and those in the know) and past the beautiful row houses that characterize the neighborhood. Farrell's Bar & Grill, also at 16th Street & Prospect Park West, is an old and famous institution (as seen in the film Pollock
Pollock (film)
Pollock is a 2000 biographical drama film which tells the life story of painter Jackson Pollock. It stars Ed Harris, Jennifer Connelly, Robert Knott, Bud Cort, Molly Regan, Marcia Gay Harden and Sada Thompson.-Plot:...
with Ed Harris
Ed Harris
Edward Allen "Ed" Harris is an American actor, writer, and director, known for his performances in Appaloosa, Radio, The Rock, The Abyss, Apollo 13, A Beautiful Mind, A History of Violence, and The Truman Show. Harris has also narrated commercials for The Home Depot and other companies...
), and used as a standard bar backdrop in many other film sequences. Scenes from Ragtime
Ragtime (film)
Ragtime is a 1981 American film based on the historical novel Ragtime by E. L. Doctorow. The action takes place in and around New York City, New Rochelle, and Atlantic City in the first decade of the 1900s, and includes fictionalized references to actual people and events of the time. The film was...
(E.L. Doctorow), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has written numerous Broadway plays, including Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and The Odd Couple. He won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Lost In Yonkers. He has written the screenplays for several of his plays that...
), Pete Hamill's The Gift
The Gift (1979 film)
The Gift is a 1979 made for television film directed by Don Taylor and starring Allison Argo and Kevin Bacon....
and Denis Hamill's Turk 182
Turk 182
Turk 182! is a 1985 film starring Timothy Hutton, Robert Urich, Kim Cattrall, Robert Culp and Peter Boyle. It is also one of the first movies to receive a PG-13 rating.-Film synopsis:...
were all shot in Windsor Terrace. The Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky
Darren Aronofsky is an American film director, screenwriter and film producer. He attended Harvard University to study film theory and the American Film Institute to study both live-action and animation filmmaking...
movie π has several subway shots made in the 15th Street-Prospect Park
15th Street-Prospect Park (IND Culver Line)
15th Street – Prospect Park is a local station on the IND Culver Line of the New York City Subway. It is served by the F and G trains at all times....
station. The opening scene in the Geena Davis
Geena Davis
Virginia Elizabeth "Geena" Davis is an American actress, film producer, writer, former fashion model, and a women's Olympics archery team semi-finalist...
movie Angie was also shot in Windsor Terrace, on Fuller Place (one street up from Howard Place where Helen Hunt's character lived in As Good as It Gets
As Good as It Gets
As Good as It Gets is a 1997 American romantic comedy film directed by James L. Brooks and produced by Laura Ziskin. It stars Jack Nicholson as a misanthropic, obsessive-compulsive novelist, Helen Hunt as a single mother with an asthmatic son, and Greg Kinnear as a gay artist. The screenplay was...
). Alanis Morissette
Alanis Morissette
Alanis Nadine Morissette is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination...
filmed the music video for "Hand In My Pocket
Hand in My Pocket
"Hand in my Pocket" is a song by Canadian recording artist and songwriter Alanis Morissette, for her third studio album Jagged Little Pill . The song was written by Morissette and Glen Ballard, and was released as the second single from the album. "Hand in My Pocket" is a rock song. The song was...
" from her album Jagged Little Pill
Jagged Little Pill
Jagged Little Pill is the third studio album by Canadian recording artist and songwriter Alanis Morissette. It was Morissette's first internationally released album, and her first studio album after the three year hiatus following her break with MCA Records. The album marked a shift from her style...
on Prospect Park West between Windsor Place and 16th Street during August 1995.
Kensington Stables
Kensington Stableshttp://www.kensingtonstables.com is the only remaining stable near Prospect ParkProspect Park (Brooklyn)
Prospect Park is a 585-acre public park in the New York City borough of Brooklyn located between Park Slope, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, Kensington, Windsor Terrace and Flatbush Avenue, Grand Army Plaza and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden...
. The barn was built in 1930 as the last extension of the riding academy at 11 Ocean Parkway, 57 Caton Place (1917). The original riding academy closed in 1937 and is now a warehouse. Kensington Stables gives lessons in The Shoe in Prospect Park. Kensington Stables now exists on the Windsor Terrace side of the border between Kensington and Windsor Terrace as per NYC.gov.
Beginning in 2006, a neighboring development project at 22 Caton Place became the subject of controversy. Some area residents, including those at 81 Ocean Parkway (which adjoins 22 Caton Place), are lobbying for modifications to the development plan.