Housing and Building Research

[#1661-1665 85th Street.], 1958, v1974.4.491; John D. Morrell photographs, ARC.005; Brooklyn Historical Society.

Housing and building research is one of the most popular research topics at Brooklyn Historical Society. The library and archival collections include a variety of materials that are helpful in understanding the history of Brooklyn neighborhoods, blocks and buildings. If you’re interested in diving into your own housing research, be sure to check out our Housing and Building Research guide that outlines a detailed listing of resources available at BHS and elsewhere. There is also an exciting program this Sunday If These Walls Could Talk where Elizabeth Call, former Head of Reference & User Services at the Brooklyn Historical Society, will lead a hands-on workshop on Brooklyn housing research.

One excellent resource for housing research is the John D. Morrell photographs collection comprised of over 2,000 photographs documenting almost every Brooklyn neighborhood from 1957-1974. John Morrell was a graduate of Pratt Institute and an assistant librarian at Long Island Historical Society (now Brooklyn Historical Society) for many years. The photo of the week depicts homes located at #1661-1665 85^th Street between 16^th Avenue and 17^th Avenue in the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn. This collection is fully digitized and available online.

Interested in seeing more photos from BHS’s collection? Visit our online image gallery, which includes a selection of our images. Interested in seeing even more historic Brooklyn images? Visit our Brooklyn Visual Heritage website here. To search BHS’s entire collection of images, archives, maps, and special collections visit BHS’s Othmer Library Wed-Sat, 1:00-5:00 p.m. library@brooklynhistory.org