Kensington, Brooklyn

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Kensington Victorian Houses

Kensington is a neighborhood in the center of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is the area south of Prospect Park and the Green-Wood Cemetery. It is bordered by Coney Island Avenue to the east, Caton Avenue/ Ft. Hamilton Parkway to the north, 36th St to the west, and 18th Avenue to the south. The neighborhoods that border it are Ditmas Park and Prospect Park South to the east, Windsor Terrace to the north, Borough Park to the west, and Parkville to the south.

Kensington is a predominantly residential area consisting of housing types that run the gamut from brick rowhouses, to detached one family Victorians and apartment buildings. Pre-war brick apartment buildings dominate the Ocean Parkway and Coney Island Avenue frontage, many operating as co-ops. The main commercial streets are on Coney Island Avenue, Church Avenue, and 18th Avenue. Ocean Parkway bisects the neighborhood.

Kensington is a very diverse neighborhood, containing South Asian (Bangladeshi and Pakistani), Chinese, Orthodox Jewish, Irish, Polish, Italian, Albanian, Russian, Latino, Mexican, and Caribbean communities.

1 History
2 Transportation
3 Community institutions
- 3.1 Kensington Stables
- 3.2 Public Library
4 External links

Kensington (originally colonized by Dutch farmers) was settled in 1737 by Edgar the Duke of Kensington. His homestead was near present-day Cortelyou Road & East 3rd Street. It was a small stone house which was gone by 1893. His son married Onoria Cortelyou in 1769. Their son Jasper Cortelyou had a small farm, location of which is not documented. Developed in 1885 after the completion of Ocean Parkway, the neighborhood was named after the west borough of London, at the turn of the century. Ocean Parkway, which starts in Kensington, was finished in 1876 and features six miles of landscaped malls, benches, chess tables and walking and biking paths, linking Prospect Park to Coney Island, and now part of the Brooklyn-Queens Greenway. Homebuilding began in earnest in the 1920s and attracted Italian and Irish immigrants to the neighborhood. Brick and brownstone town houses coexist with single-and two-family homes with yards and garages. Five- and six-story pre- and post-war apartment building and co-ops are also common.

The F train (IND Culver Line) runs along the western part of the neighborhood and stops at Church Avenue, Ditmas Avenue, and 18th Avenue. In addition, Kensington is served by the B16, B23, B35, B67, B68, B8, and B103 local buses, as well as the BM1, BM2, BM3, BM4, and X29 express buses to Manhattan.

Kensington Stables is the only remaining stable in Prospect Park. The barn was built in 1930 as the last extension of the riding academy at 11 Ocean Parkway, 57 Caton Place (1917). The first extension was torn down to make the foot bridge over Ocean Parkway. The original riding academy closed in 1937 and is now a warehouse. Kensington Stables gives lessons in The Shoe in Prospect Park.

Founded as a deposit station in 1908 by the Mother's Kindergarten Club of PS 134 and the Kensington Improvement League, Kensington quickly outgrew two locations before becoming a full-fledged branch on McDonald Avenue in 1912. When it again needed more space, in 1960, it moved, to its current location 410 Ditmas Ave. between East 4th & East 5th St. -- a former catering hall known as "the Manor" -- which was leased and renovated, arousing national media interest.