Kensington is a strange entity, where tree-lined streets abut ragged stretches of laundromats, car washes, and garages—blight and charm intertwined. There’s a heady ethnic mix, too; the neighborhood is a series of distinct districts that have their own culture ecosystems. Is all of this a key to why the neighborhoods of Brooklyn are so evocative?
In the "olde English" section of Kensington, with its quiet, residential streets named in an iconic English way (Westminster, Argyle, Stratford, etc.), the houses are old and charming. It doesn’t even look like Brooklyn. But that would be a contradiction for Brooklyn contains multitudes.
I know the first, green, house well. It's on Beverly Road, and I walk past it to and from the subway every day. You were right up the block from me!
ReplyDeleteThat house is not in Kensington, it's in Flatbush, specifically, the Prospect Park South Landmark District. Anything east of Coney Island Avenue is in Flatbush, not Kensington.
The houses in the third photo might be in Ditmas Park West or West Midwood, also Flatbush neighborhoods.
That used to be my favorite house in the neighborhood! Once when I was in college and living on Westminster Road, I sat on the driveway outside and did a pastel drawing of it.
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