POTW: A Castle in Brooklyn

Did you know there was once a "castle" in Bay Ridge? Today's Photo of the Week is a color postcard depicting the observatory and tower at the Eliphalet Williams Bliss estate, which eventually became Owl's Head Park. Bliss had purchased the estate from famed NY state senator Henry Cruse Murphy, under whose ownership the property "was the Mecca of prominent politicians, men of social and literary positions and persons of cultivated taste." During that time, perhaps the most famous happening at the estate was the signing of the legislation that would allow for the building of the Brooklyn Bridge.

E.W. Bliss expanded and improved the property, including building this "picturesque observatory and tower...strongly suggesting an old European ruin." Bliss had always intended for his estate to become a public park, and 25 years after his 1903 death, the city finally purchased the property for the purpose. Unfortunately, the delay had led to the decline of the property's structures, and by 1940, they had all been demolished. Nonetheless, the park is a neighborhood treasure: not only does it still "command such splendid views," its hills are a popular winter sledding spot, Millenium Skate Park hosts skateboarders from around the borough, and in June 2022, the park was host to the neighborhood's first-ever Pride celebration, which has continued annually since.

All quotes from Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Nov. 25 1894.

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