One of Brooklyn Heights’ mightiest architectural triumphs, the Romanesque Revival Herman Behr Mansion at 82 Pierrepont Street—which changed hands in 2008 for $10.98 million—has been covered in netting, as it undergoes a mass of restoration to its facade.

It was built in 1888 by architect Frank Freeman for $80,000, and named after the mining industrialist who built it—and had a sordid existence after its namesake died. (Behr’s son Karl, a renowned tennis pro, survived the sinking of the Titanic in 1912.) In 1919, after the family relocated upstate—with a massive add-on—it became The Hotel Palm, which those in the know were aware was a neighborhood bordello.

Afterward, as the Franciscan House of Studies, it housed the Order of the Franciscan monks, who were sent to the Brooklyn Heights locale when they needed a place to “dry out.” In 1977, it was converted to 26 rental apartments (six lucky bastards are rent-stabilized), and it has remained 100% occupied since.

(Info extracted from Chuck Taylor’s The Smoking Nun blog here.)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/45755

Recently, your BHB scribe was allowed to take pictures inside the majestic Othmer Library. Photos are below. If you’ve never seen it for yourself, this is truly a site to behold. BHS hours are as follows: Wednesday-Friday 12-5 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Sunday, 12-5 p.m.; closed Monday/Tuesday. The library is open Wednesday through Friday 1-5 p.m.

BHS members free, adults $6, seniors 62 & over $4, teachers and students 12 & over $4, children -12 are free.

(Photos: Chuck Taylor/Ingalls pic courtesy of the BHS Blog)

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/42034

Tomorrow evening (Friday, June 1) the Brooklyn Film Festival starts at the Brooklyn Heights Cinema with screenings of Brooklyn Castle (8:00 p.m., Cinema 2, sold out) and Rose (photo) (8:30 p.m., Cinema 1, tickets available through the Festival website linked above). The Festival continues through the weekend, the following week and weekend, finishing on Sunday, June 10. A complete schedule is on the linked Festival website.

Several events will be taking place at Brooklyn Bridge Park this weekend. The World Science Festival–Science on Site will be on Pier 1 Saturday from 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. Also on Saturday, professional and amateur astronomers will be on Pier 1 for a stargazing party from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. On Sunday afternoon, from 3:00 to 5:30, Walt Whitman fans should gather at the Granite Prospect on Pier 1 for a marathon reading of the Brooklyn Bard’s “Song of Myself”.

On Saturday afternoon, starting at 3:00 p.m., gather at the Brooklyn Historical Society, 128 Pierrepont Street (corner of Clinton) for a walking tour, “Hiding in Plain Sight: A Walk Down Pierrepont Street, Brooklyn Heights”. Tickets ($8; $5 for BHS members) may be purchased, and there are more details, here.

Don’t forget the final two performances of Theater 2020′s production of Shakepeare’s A Comedy of Errors: Friday and Saturday at 8:00 p.m., at the Cranberry Street Theater Space, Assumption Church, 55 Cranberry Street.

Source: Brooklyn Heights Blog
http://brooklynheightsblog.com/archives/41508