Boerum Hill is a small neighborhood in the northwestern section, bounded by Schermerhorn Street to the north and Fourth Avenue to the east. The western border is variously given as either Smith or Court Streets, and Douglass Street as the southern edge. Smith Street and Atlantic Avenue are the neighborhood's main commercial districts.
Named after the Colonial farmer, Simon Boerum, this family-oriented pocket of Brooklyn is bound by Carroll Gardens to the south, Cobble Hill to the west, Park Slope to the east and bustling Downtown Brooklyn to the north.
The Boerum Hill Historic District is an irregularly shaped area bounded by Hoyt, Nevins, Pacific and Wyckoff Streets. It has many gorgeous row homes that were built in the 1850s, during the building boom that followed the start of regular Manhattan-to-Brooklyn ferry service in 1836.
Some of these early Victorian townhouses have been lovingly renovated, and many of the Boerum Hill brownstones are duplexes, with the owner living in one unit and renting out the other. Co-ops, apartment buildings and newer condos in Boerum Hill often feature outdoor space such as terraces in addition to their open kitchens and oversized windows.
Most of the action in this small neighborhood is on both Atlantic Avenue and Smith Street. The neighborhood is dotted with cute and chic boutiques and trendy restaurants. Smith Street in particular ,is a hub of commercial and epicurean pleasures, described by New York Magazine as "the most innovative, exciting "restaurant row" in the city. Other defining characteristics of Boerum Hill include the community garden on Hoyt Street, Brooklyn Inn, one of the oldest bars in Brooklyn where the carved wooden bar came over from Germany in the 1870s. You will also find numerous antiques shops off Atlantic Avenue, the Romanesque fortress, Temple Square, and the many African and Islamic businesses that color the tree-lined blocks.
Boerum Hill is also home of the annual Atlantic Antic, a huge street fair and walking distance to the cultural center Brooklyn Academy of Music (aka BAM). Also of interest, Dean Street in Boerum Hill was featured in Jonathan Lethem’s Brooklyn novel “The Fortress of Solitude.” Many writers and certain well known actors have called Boerum Hill their home.
Boerum Hill spoils you with choices of public transit into Manhattan. Ten subway lines stop at the Barclay's Center Atlantic /Pacific station at the eastern end of the neighborhood and six come into the Borough Hall/Court Street station, a few blocks north of State Street. The F / G trains stop at the Bergen Street .
Brooklyn Heights Real Estate Inc is committed to the Fair Housing Act under the New York State Human Rights Law. To learn more about it, please click here.
