2. Clinton Hill has its own mansion row
Fifth Avenue was not the only part of the city to have a “Millionaires’ Row” of exquisite and lavish Gilded Age homes. Clinton Hill featured plenty of mansions built in the early 1900s, some dating back a few decades earlier, including Charles Pratt’s mansion at 232 Clinton Avenue — now a part of St. Joseph’s College. Pratt built additional mansions for his sons as wedding gifts. The area quickly became known as Brooklyn’s “Gold Coast” after many wealthy Manhattan residents moved to Brooklyn. Clinton Avenue was one of the wealthiest streets in the entire city at the time, though apartment buildings replaced many mansions in the early 1900s, with some converted into rooming houses and others destroyed (by none other than Robert Moses).
Some mansions from the 1870s and 1880s that still stand today are included in the Clinton Hill Historic District, joined by many Beaux-Arts and Italianate rowhouses. 136 Clinton Avenue is perhaps the oldest mansion still standing, dating back to around 1835 and also known as the Lefferts-Laidlaw House. 457 Clinton Avenue (1860s) was built in the Second Empire style, while 313 and 321 Clinton Avenue both are Neo-Grec. 278 Clinton Avenue is an eclectic Victorian home from the mid-1880s, while 241 Clinton Avenue has English Arts & Crafts influences, but is predominantly in Romanesque Revival style.