{"nrhp_refnum":"91002054","name":"Brooklyn Historical Society","other_names":["Long Island Historical Society"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"128 Pierrepont St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Brooklyn","county":"Brooklyn","state":"NY","lat":40.69480008600004,"lon":-73.99241417526878,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-07-17","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1991-07-17","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A four-story Queen Anne style brick building at 128 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights, built 1878-1881 to a design by George B. Post as the home of the Long Island Historical Society, now the Brooklyn Historical Society.","why_significant":"It is one of the few surviving intact works by architect George B. Post. It was the first major building on the east coast to use locally made terra cotta ornamentation, with portrait heads by sculptor Olin Levi Warner. Its unusual structural system suspends the fourth floor from roof trusses on iron rods, leaving the library open below. Its interiors survive largely intact as a rare combined library and museum.","narrative":"Located on Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights, this four-story red brick building was designed by George B. Post and built between 1878 and 1881 for the Long Island Historical Society, later renamed the Brooklyn Historical Society. Post won a competition that drew plans from fourteen architects. The exterior is faced with dark red pressed brick and extensive terra cotta, including portrait heads sculpted by Olin Levi Warner. A side entrance tower and a hipped roof with dormers reflect Post's free adaptation of the Queen Anne style. Inside, the double-height library reading room retains its black ash woodwork, carved columns, gallery, and stained glass. Post suspended the fourth-floor museum from roof trusses with iron rods, which freed the library below from interior supports. The building is significant as one of the few intact surviving works by Post, for its early and influential use of terra cotta, and for its rare combination of library and museum under one roof.","period_of_significance":"1878-1881","architect_builder":"George B. Post (1837-1913)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian: Queen Anne","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Still used as a museum and library; the first floor has been partitioned and used as offices, and the interiors are largely intact.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.981206-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/91002054_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91002054/662cf85456-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91002054/662cf85456-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Historical_Society.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brooklyn_Historical_Society.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"66000524","name":"Brooklyn Heights Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/brooklyn-heights-historic-district-66000524/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315777","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brooklyn_Historical_Society_Building","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4974853"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/brooklyn/brooklyn-historical-society-91002054/"}