★★★★★ 5.0
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Brooklyn Borough Hall
Nine years. That's how long Brooklyn Borough Hall sat as an abandoned foundation after the city ran out of money in 1837, just one year after laying the cornerstone. When you're standing here at 209 Joralemon Street looking up at those six towering Ionic columns carved from Tuckahoe marble, you're seeing the result of one of New York's most unusual architectural collaborations... the building had to be redesigned by second-place architect Gamaliel King to fit into first-place winner Calvin Pollard's already-dug foundation. This Greek Revival masterpiece isn't just Brooklyn's oldest public building... it's where the entire borough's identity was forged. For fifty years before the 1898 consolidation, this was the seat of government for the independent City of Brooklyn, then America's fourth-largest city. The Remsen and Pierrepont families donated this land back in 1834, and their names still mark the nearby Brooklyn Heights streets where they once lived. Step inside past those marble columns and you'll discover the building originally housed everything from the mayor's office to an actual jail in the basement, plus a secret that most visitors miss... there's still an observation room tucked high in that cupola with a telescope for surveying the harbor. The bronze statue of Justice crowning the dome wasn't even added until the 1980s restoration, crafted from century-old architectural drawings that were gathering dust in city archives.
Did You Know?
- Brooklyn Borough Hall is the oldest public building in Brooklyn, originally built as City Hall for the independent City of Brooklyn in 1848—almost 50 years before Brooklyn became part of New York City in 1898, making it a rare surviving symbol of Brooklyn’s once-separate civic identity.
- The building’s dramatic Greek Revival façade, with its towering columns and Tuckahoe marble exterior, was designed by two architects—Calvin Pollard and Gamaliel King—after a design contest, but a fire in 1895 destroyed the original cupola and statue of Justice; the current Victorian-style cast-iron cupola and a new bronze statue of Virtue (based on original plans) were added during a major 1980s restoration, blending two centuries of architectural styles in one landmark.
- Inside, Brooklyn Borough Hall once housed not just the mayor’s office and city council, but also a courtroom and even a jail—a common feature in early 19th-century city halls that consolidated all municipal operations under one roof, offering a vivid glimpse into the daily life and governance of old Brooklyn.