The Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance (1876-77) and the Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel (1911-13) are significant Green-Wood Cemetery buildings that are excellent examples of Gothic Revival design that complement the picturesque character of this historic rural cemetery.
Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn was established in 1838, the fourth rural cemetery in the United States, with a landscape design influenced by the “English Rural” garden movement as advocated by Andrew Jackson Downing during the first half of the 19th century. Both the Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance with its High Victorian Gothic style and the Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel with its late Gothic Revival ornament present variations of the Gothic Revival style that continue the design tradition of the elaborate Green-Wood Cemetery Gate at the main entrance, a New York City Landmark.
The Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance, designed by Richard Mitchell Upjohn, consists of a Visitors’ Lounge, a Residence, and associated decorative iron gates, fencing, brownstone gateposts and low walls. They are excellent examples of the High Victorian Gothic style that became popular during the post-Civil War years. As a leading proponent of the style, the architect Richard Mitchell Upjohn, like his father Richard Upjohn, was well-known for his skill adapting the Gothic Revival style to various building types. The brownstone buildings feature asymmetrical massing, prominent patterned steep roofs, arched windows; stained glass; a tall tower-like section; iron cresting; and carved and applied ornamentation. As such, the Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance with its decorative gate structures, presents an elegant and inviting entry along the southeastern boundary of the cemetery.
The Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel, designed by the distinguished architectural firm of Warren & Wetmore, is an excellent example of a late-Gothic-inspired building with a Beaux-Arts form and massing. In addition to its pavilion-like presence within the picturesque cemetery, it is notable for its modern structural use of reinforced concrete. The building’s most prominent feature is the cluster of towers: a tall central tower, surrounded by four smaller similarly designed turrets, all with octagonal ogee-shaped domes. Clad in limestone, the building is embellished with delicate Gothic Revival carved ornament and a collection of arched stainedglass windows with decorative stone tracery.
The Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel and the Fort Hamilton Parkway Entrance buildings and features have excellent integrity. Today, these structures remain significant examples of Gothic Revival style buildings harmoniously incorporated into a picturesque cemetery landscape.
STATUS Designated Historic District
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Sunset Park
Sunset Park’s standout building type is the masonry rowhouse. In fact, Sunset Park contains one of the earliest and most extensive concentrations of two-family masonry rowhouses in the city. Mostly built between 1885 and 1912, these stunning blocks are accented by commercial thoroughfares and institutional...
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