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Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn: Victorian Blocks and Restoration Plaza

Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York

Pictures from Bedford-Stuyvesant

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Restoration Plaza on Fulton Street Lawn and trees at Herbert Von King Park

Bedford-Stuyvesant's name joins two formerly separate areas. Bedford was a 17th-century hamlet, itself named for the market town of Bedford in England; Stuyvesant Heights was named for Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of the colony of New Netherland. The two grew together into the unified area now called Bed-Stuy, and Stuyvesant Heights remains a section within it rather than a neighborhood beside it. After the IND Fulton Street Line opened in 1936, African Americans left an overcrowded Harlem for the greater housing availability here, and by 1950 the number of Black residents had risen to about 155,000, roughly 55 percent of the population. Wikipedia describes the neighborhood's roughly 8,800 buildings built before 1900 as the largest intact collection of Victorian architecture in the United States. Since the early 2000s gentrification has shifted the population again and pushed rents upward.

  1. The campus of the corporation described as the first community development corporation in the United States, on Fulton Street.

  2. Founded in 1972 inside Restoration Plaza, and awarded the National Medal of the Arts in 2023.

  3. An 1886 school building by James W. Naughton on Nostrand Avenue, designated an individual New York City landmark in 1983.

  4. A Carnegie library of 1907 on Lewis Avenue, still an active branch, with a heritage collection on African American culture.

  5. A Classical Revival Carnegie library on Thomas S. Boyland Street, still an active Brooklyn Public Library branch.

  6. Laid out in 1857 as Tompkins Park; Vaux and Olmsted were commissioned to design it in 1871.

  7. A Chauncey Street park the city bought in 1904, named for the steamboat developer Robert Fulton.

  8. Laid out in 1896 on former circus grounds, with a First World War memorial dedicated in 1921.

  9. Southern cooking on Lewis Avenue, from the group founded by Marietta 'Peaches' Cade.

  10. The B+C Restaurant Group's Bed-Stuy location, on Tompkins Avenue.

Restoration, and the years around it

A riot took place in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1964, and further unrest followed in 1967 and 1968, driven by perceptions of the NYPD as oppressive and racially biased.

The response took an institutional form that outlasted the decade. The Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation was established in the late 1960s under the leadership of Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and is described as the United States' first community development corporation. Its headquarters campus, Restoration Plaza at 1360 Fulton Street, states on its own site that for more than 57 years Restoration has worked to advance community development and racial equity, and reports roughly 1.5 million plaza visits and more than 60,000 individuals served each year through programs in financial inclusion, small business support, housing, jobs, health, arts and culture.

Restoration Plaza houses the Billie Holiday Theatre, founded in 1972, an AUDELCO and Obie Award-winning Black theater and the first Black theater to transfer a Broadway hit with 50 percent community financing. It reopened in May 2017 with 218 seats after a renovation carried out between 2015 and 2017 by MBB Architects, and received the National Medal of the Arts in 2023.

Much of the neighborhood's 19th-century fabric is now locally designated. On April 16, 2013 the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District, extending the landmarked area north to Jefferson Avenue, east to Malcolm X Boulevard and west to Tompkins Avenue. Three further historic districts are designated here: the Alice and Agate Courts Historic District, February 10, 2009; the Bedford Historic District, December 8, 2015; and the Willoughby-Hart Historic District, June 25, 2024.

Schools, libraries and a park with a memorial

At 475 Nostrand Avenue stands Girls' High School, completed in 1886 to a design by James W. Naughton. Girls' High School operated in the building until 1975, when it merged with Boys High School to form Boys and Girls High School; the building was designated an individual New York City landmark on June 28, 1983.

Two Carnegie libraries still operate as Brooklyn Public Library branches here. Macon Library, at 361 Lewis Avenue, opened in 1907 and holds a heritage collection on African American culture. The Saratoga Branch Library, at 8 Thomas S. Boyland Street, is a Carnegie library in the Classical Revival style.

Saratoga Park, 3.21 acres bounded by Halsey Street, Saratoga Avenue, Macon Street and Howard Avenue, was established in 1896 on former circus grounds. It holds a First World War memorial with a sculpture by James Novelli, dedicated in 1921. The memorial's plaques were stolen in 1970 and its sculpture in 2000; it was restored and rededicated in 2014.

Getting there

The IND Fulton Street Line runs beneath Fulton Street, and its sources place several of its stations here in Bedford-Stuyvesant. Utica Avenue, at Utica Avenue and Fulton Street, is served by the A at all times, running express by day and local late nights, and by the C at all times except late nights. Nostrand Avenue, at Nostrand Avenue and Fulton Street, has the same pairing: A at all times, C at all times except late nights. Kingston-Throop Avenues, on Fulton Street between Kingston and Throop Avenues, is served by the C at all times except late nights and by the A late nights only. Ralph Avenue, at Ralph Avenue and Fulton Street, carries the same pattern and its source states that the station serves both Bedford-Stuyvesant and Ocean Hill.

Franklin Avenue-Fulton Street, at Franklin Avenue and Fulton Street, is the transfer point between the elevated BMT Franklin Avenue Line and the underground IND Fulton Street Line. The Franklin Avenue Shuttle calls there at all times, along with the C at all times except late nights and the A late nights only.

The G runs at all times through Bedford-Nostrand Avenues on the IND Crosstown Line, at Lafayette Avenue between Bedford and Nostrand Avenues.

On the BMT Jamaica Line, Halsey Street at Halsey Street and Broadway is served by the J at all times, and Gates Avenue at Gates Avenue and Broadway by the J at all times except peak-direction rush hours and the Z during peak-direction rush hours only. Both are described by their sources as sitting at the border of Bedford-Stuyvesant and Bushwick rather than definitively inside either.

The Long Island Rail Road's Nostrand Avenue station, on the Atlantic Branch at Nostrand and Atlantic Avenues, is in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get to Bedford-Stuyvesant?
By subway, most easily on the IND Fulton Street Line under Fulton Street: the A and C stop at Utica Avenue and at Nostrand Avenue, and the C, with the A late nights, stops at Kingston-Throop Avenues and at Ralph Avenue. The G stops at Bedford-Nostrand Avenues, and the J, with the Z at peak-direction rush hours, stops at Halsey Street and Gates Avenue on the Bushwick border. The Long Island Rail Road's Atlantic Branch stops at Nostrand Avenue, at Nostrand and Atlantic Avenues.
Where does the name Bedford-Stuyvesant come from?
From two formerly separate areas that grew together. Bedford was a 17th-century hamlet named after the market town of Bedford in England. Stuyvesant Heights was named for Peter Stuyvesant, the last Director-General of the colony of New Netherland.
Is Stuyvesant Heights a separate neighborhood from Bedford-Stuyvesant?
It is a section within Bedford-Stuyvesant rather than a neighborhood beside it: Stuyvesant Heights is one of the two halves that grew together into Bed-Stuy. The Landmarks Preservation Commission's April 16, 2013 designation carries both names, as the Bedford Stuyvesant/Expanded Stuyvesant Heights Historic District.
Which park is Saratoga Square Park?
Saratoga Park, bounded by Halsey Street, Saratoga Avenue, Macon Street and Howard Avenue. 'Saratoga Square Park' is a colloquial name for the same park; its official name is Saratoga Park.
Where can I stay in Bedford-Stuyvesant?
No hotel is listed here. The nearest verified lodging is Akwaaba Mansion, a bed-and-breakfast in a restored 1860s Italianate villa at 347 MacDonough Street, in the Stuyvesant Heights section of Bedford-Stuyvesant.

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