Fort Greene

Fort Greene takes its name from the Revolutionary War fortification that once crowned its hill, and the park that replaced it was designed by Olmsted and Vaux — the same partnership behind Central and Prospect Parks — after Walt Whitman, then editing the Brooklyn Eagle nearby, campaigned for its creation. Stanford White's Prison Ship Martyrs' Monument still rises from the summit. The surrounding historic district, landmarked in 1978, holds some of the finest Italianate and Greek Revival brownstones in the borough. Fort Greene has been a center of Black cultural and intellectual life for generations, home at various points to Richard Wright, Spike Lee, and a long roster of writers, musicians, and filmmakers whose presence still shapes the neighborhood's identity. The Brooklyn Academy of Music anchors a cultural district that draws audiences from across the city, and Pratt Institute brings an art-school energy to its eastern edge. DeKalb Avenue and Fulton Street carry a dining scene that is among Brooklyn's best and most varied, from long-standing Caribbean and soul food institutions to newer destinations. Housing runs from landmarked row houses to prewar co-ops and a handful of newer condominium towers along the Ashland and Flatbush corridors, giving buyers a genuine range within a few blocks.