Clinton Hill - An Affluent Neighborhood in Brooklyn

The legacy of industrialist and philanthropist Charles Pratt defines Clinton Hill today.  The Pratt Institute was founded in 1887 as an art and industrial school and the Brooklyn campus continues to thrive more than 100 years later.  The Pratt Institute has more than 3,500 full-time, part-time, and graduate students studying art and design, architecture and library science, and more than 900 full-time and part-time faculty members, with many students and faculty living in the community.

Clinton Hill was discovered in the 1840s by some of Brooklyn’s wealthiest residents who began building mansions with lawns, stables, and carriage houses, and in the 1860s by developers who began building row houses for affluent professionals. But it was Pratt who inspired wealthy Brooklynites to build homes.

Apartment buildings replaced some of the stately mansions beginning in the 1920s and 1930s and large homes were cut up into single room rentals in the 1950s and 1960s. By the 1970s, however, the downward trend was reversed as new owners began restoring the historic homes. A portion of the neighborhood became a historic district in 1981 and many buildings have landmark status.