5. The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead, 1766

The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead in Flatlands is one of the last privately owned Dutch Colonial houses in the city of New York, and it was described by the historian Maud Dilliard as the most beautiful example of Dutch Colonial architecture in Brooklyn. The house, originally owned by the Wyckoff family, was bought by the Bennetts in 1835. It has a long porch, with six slender columns used to support its slopping roof, and Eighteenth Century paneled woodwork in its interior.

The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead played an active role in the American Revolution; during the British invasion of 1776, Hessian soldiers were quartered in the building. It’s likely these soldiers participated in the Battle of Brooklyn of 1776, and the house’s windowpanes showed etchings of the soldiers’ names and ranks, marks likely made during the troop’s stay there. Two such panes are preserved by the house’s current owners.

The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead is located at 1669 East 22nd Street, Brooklyn.