Brooklyn Heights Promenade, NY

Brooklyn Heights Promenade, also known as the Esplanade is an elevated platform and promenade cantilevered over Interstate 278 in Brooklyn Heights. It was created as a consequence of conflicting plans for the highway’s path that were settled in the middle of World War II, with views of Lower Manhattan and the New York Harbor.

After World War II, actual development could begin. The Promenade is owned by the New York City Department of Transportation and is not a park; however, the entire Promenade is maintained by NYC Parks. Additionally, it is accessible from Montague Street and Pierrepont Place, from Montague’s west end, as well as the west end of Pineapple and Pierrepont Streets.

To connect Brooklyn and Queens, the demand for a Brooklyn-Queens Expressway existed prior to the Second World War. In 1936, a connection between Gowanus Parkway (Brooklyn) and Triborough Bridge (Queens) was first proposed. In 1939, a New York City Planning Department topographical engineer drew up a plan for a roadway that followed the East River coastline of the two boroughs quite closely.

The park’s commissioner, Robert Moses, (City of New York), came up with an alternative plan that went farther inland. The Brooklyn–Queens Expressway, which Moses proposed to build through the area in 1941, was successfully thwarted. Some residents of Brooklyn Heights were frightened by the front-page headline of the September 19, 1942, issue of the Brooklyn Eagle, Plan for Express Highway Is Shocking. Even a recently completed marble courthouse could have to be demolished in order for Moses’ plan to go through the neighborhood, according to the Eagle.

There was an outpouring of support from one of the city’s wealthiest and most politically connected neighborhoods after hearing the news. As the head of the Brooklyn Heights Association and a Wall Street corporate lawyer, Roy M.D. Richardson, and the vice president of Squibb Pharmaceuticals, which had a major complex at the north end of the neighborhood, worked tirelessly to secure passage of the highway westward along the waterfront escarpment. 

The same conclusion was reached by the engineers of Andrews Clark & Clark, who had been hired to design and build the roadway, as an inland route would have resulted in prohibitive condemnation expenses.

Brooklyn Heights Promenade is located at Montague St &, Pierrepont Pl, Brooklyn, NY 11201

Hand of Glory Tattoo 

Brooklyn Heights Promenade, NY 

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY