{{Short description|Public housing in Brooklyn, New York}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2026}} {{Use American English|date=January 2026}} {{Infobox settlement | name = Gowanus Houses | official_name = | other_name = | settlement_type = NYCHA property | image_skyline = File:NYCHA Gowanus Houses.jpg | imagesize = 300px | image_caption = | nickname = | motto = <!-- images and maps --> | mapframe = yes | mapframe-zoom = 9 | map_alt = | map_caption = Location in New York City | image_map1 = | mapsize1 = | map_caption1 = | pushpin_map = <!--USA New York City#USA New York#USA--> | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_caption = | coordinates = {{coord|40.683700|-73.989500|type:city_region:US-NY|display=inline,title}} | coor_pinpoint = <!-- to specify exact location of coordinates (was coor_type) --> | coordinates_footnotes = <!-- for references: use <ref> tags -->
<!-- location ------------------>| subdivision_type = Country | subdivision_name = United States | subdivision_type1 = State | subdivision_type2 = City | subdivision_type3 = Borough | subdivision_name1 = {{flag|New York}} | subdivision_name2 = New York City | subdivision_name3 = Brooklyn
<!-- Area -->| unit_pref = Imperial | area_footnotes = | area_total_sq_mi = 0.0196 | population_total = 2,604<ref name=NYCHA>{{cite web|title=Gowanus Houses at a Glance|publisher=New York City Housing Authority|date=December 2022|url=https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nycha/downloads/pdf/comp-mod/gowanus-english.pdf|access-date=September 20, 2023}}</ref> | population_density_km2 = auto
<!-- Area/postal codes & others -->| population_note = | postal_code_type = Zip code | postal_code = 11217 | area_codes = 718, 347, and 929, and 917 | website = | footnotes = | blank_name = Average household income | blank_info = }}
The '''Gowanus Houses''' is a housing project of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), located between Douglass and Wyckoff Streets & Bond and Hoyt Streets in both the Gowanus and Boerum Hill neighborhoods of Brooklyn. It sits on {{convert|12.57|acre}} of land, consisting of sixteen separate buildings. As of December 2022, the housing development accommodates over 2,600 residents in 1,139 apartment units.<ref name=NYCHA/> Buildings I, II, VI.<ref name=":0" group="Note">Shorter Part of the Building Only.</ref> VII,<ref name=":0" group="Note" /> VIII,<ref name=":0" group="Note" /> and IX<ref name=":0" group="Note" /> has 6 floors, Buildings III, V, X, and XII has 4 floors, Building XI has 13 floors in both residential building parts, Buildings IV West and East, VI,<ref name=":1" group="Note">Taller Part of the Building only.</ref> VII,<ref name=":1" group="Note" /> VIII,<ref name=":1" group="Note" /> and IX<ref name=":1" group="Note" /> has 14 floors, and Buildings XIII and XIV has 9 floors.
== History == 220px|thumb|left|Gowanus Houses, from the corner of Bond and Douglass St In 1944, NYCHA announced their plans to demolish the existing row houses on the blocks bounded by Hoyt, Bond, Douglass, and Wykoff Streets, to make way for a series of sixteen modernist towers, designed by William T. McCarthy, Rosario Candela, and Ely Jacques Kahn.<ref>{{cite web|title=Boerum Hill Historic District Extension|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|date=June 26, 2018|url=http://s-media.nyc.gov/agencies/lpc/lp/2599.pdf|access-date=September 22, 2023}}</ref> By 1946, the land was cleared,<ref>{{cite book|title=Boerum Hill Extension Proposed Historic District|page=11|date=1977|url=https://archive.org/details/boerumhillextens00newy/|publisher=New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission|access-date=September 24, 2023}}</ref> however, due to a wartime restriction of materials,<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|title=State to Rush Gowanus Area Housing Plans|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-citizen-construction-plans/132243953/|work=The Brooklyn Citizen|date=February 26, 1945|access-date=September 22, 2023}}</ref> the project was delayed until 1948. In January of that year,<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|title=Officials Start Work On Gowanus Houses|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle-gowanus-houses/132244043/|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=January 5, 1948|access-date=September 22, 2023}}</ref> NYCHA broke ground<ref>{{cite news|last=Fisher|first=Ian|date=April 11, 1993|title=Promise and Despair Share Project|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/04/11/nyregion/promise-and-despair-share-project.html|work=The New York Times|location=New York, NY|access-date=September 21, 2023}}</ref> and the project was completed by June 1949.<ref>{{cite news|last=Rosenblum|first=Constance|date=January 7, 2010|title=An Apartment Covered in Memories|url=https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/01/10/realestate/0110HABI_2.html|work=The New York Times|location=New York, NY|access-date=September 23, 2023}}</ref> The development included a community center, playground, and public park.<ref>{{cite news|author=<!--Staff writer(s)/no by-line.-->|title=Court Acts to Adjust Housing Site Awards|url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-brooklyn-daily-eagle-gowanus-houses/132356610/|work=The Brooklyn Daily Eagle|date=August 19, 1946|access-date=September 24, 2023}}</ref>
This housing project was the setting for Spike Lee's 1995 film, ''Clockers'',<ref>{{cite web|title=The Invention of a Neighborhood|date=August 21, 2023|website=The New Yorker|publisher=Advance Publications|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2023/08/28/boerum-hill-brooklyn-gentrification-jonathan-lethem|last=Lethem|first=Jonathan|access-date=September 22, 2023}}</ref> in which it was renamed the "Nelson Mandela Houses" for the movie.<ref>{{cite book|title=Spike Lee's America|url=https://archive.org/details/spikeleesamerica0000ster/|last1=Sterritt|first1=David|year=2013|publisher=Polity Press|page=127|access-date=September 24, 2023}}</ref>
In 2005, the Gowanus Houses Community Center was shuttered. However, following the recent rezoning & redevelopment of the Gowanus neighborhood, the community has secured the funds needed to reopen the center, along with other improvements.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.brooklynpaper.com/center-of-attention-city-to-invest-in-boerum-hill-gowanus-community-centers/|title=Center of attention: City to invest in Boerum Hill, Gowanus community centers|last=Duggan|first=Kevin|date=July 12, 2019|website=Brooklyn Paper|publisher=Schneps Media|access-date=September 24, 2023}}</ref>
== See also == *New York City Housing Authority
== Notes == <references group="Note" />
==References== {{reflist}}
Category:Public housing in Brooklyn Category:Residential buildings in Brooklyn Category:Gowanus, Brooklyn Category:Residential buildings completed in 1949