Before Brooklyn coalesced into a unified municipality, it was a collection of independent farming towns established by the Dutch West India Company, including Flatbush, Flatlands, Bushwick, Brooklyn, New Utrecht, and Gravesend. The tangible links to this agrarian epoch are extraordinarily rare, yet they constitute the chronological anchor of the borough's landmark registry.
- circa 1652Construction of the original Wyckoff House
- eight generationsContinuous occupation by the Wyckoff family
- 1982Opened to the public as a museum
The premier example of this era is the Pieter Claesen Wyckoff House, located at 5816 Clarendon Road in the modern neighborhood of East Flatbush. Constructed circa 1652, the original portion of the dwelling is not only the oldest surviving structure in New York City but also the oldest surviving example of a Dutch saltbox frame house in North America. The architecture of the Wyckoff House reflects the vernacular adaptations of European settlers to the harsh realities of the New World. The original farmhouse was a highly modest, single-room structure featuring a packed earth floor, unglazed windows, and a large jambless (open) hearth.9,8,12
Over successive centuries, the house was heavily modified and expanded. Major additions were constructed circa 1740 and again in 1819, eventually transforming the dwelling into a six-room home complete with three fireplaces, a root cellar, and a walk-up attic. The structure’s defining architectural feature—the sweeping, asymmetrical saltbox roofline with flared eaves—was an engineering innovation designed to push rainwater away from the foundation while providing covered outdoor workspace. The property remained continuously occupied by the Wyckoff family for eight generations, persisting until 1901 when the land was sold to real estate developers as the street grid rapidly urbanized Flatbush.12,10
Miraculously, the structure survived the aggressive development of the early 20th century. In 1961, descendants of the original family formed a foundation to repurchase the home and subsequently donated it to the City of New York in 1969. Following an extensive and meticulous restoration, the site opened to the public in 1982. It now operates as a museum that interprets the diverse realities of Brooklyn’s colonial farms, which relied on the labor of Dutch-American landowners alongside enslaved and freed Africans.8
The LPC has recognized several other vital agrarian survivals across the borough. The Hendrick I. Lott House in Marine Park, incorporated into a larger 1800 structure, stands as another designated Dutch colonial farmhouse that the city purchased in 2002 for extensive restoration. The Wyckoff-Bennett Homestead (c. 1766) in Madison, which housed Hessian officers during the Revolutionary War, and the Lefferts Historic House in Prospect Park—a 1783 structure rebuilt after Colonial troops burned the original farmstead to keep it out of British hands during the Battle of Brooklyn—further anchor the borough's pre-industrial topology. Other early residential landmarks include the Coe House in East Midwood (designated 1969), the Elias Hubbard Ryder House (designated 1976), the Doering-Bohack House (designated 2014), the George B. and Susan Elkins House in Crown Heights (designated 2006), and the Bennet-Farrell-Feldman House in Bay Ridge (designated 1999). Together, these scattered domestic landmarks provide a critical physical record of Brooklyn before the advent of heavy industry and mass transit.10,15
