Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn
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Green-Wood Cemetery
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Richard M. Upjohn's Gothic revival northern entrance to the cemetery, built in 1861-65, has been a New York City landmark since 1966 (2015)
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| Location | Brooklyn, New York City |
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| Coordinates | 40°39′08″N 73°59′28″W / 40.65222°N 73.99111°WCoordinates: 40°39′08″N 73°59′28″W / 40.65222°N 73.99111°W |
| Area | 478 acres (1.9 km2) |
| Built | 1838 |
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Cemetery: David Bates Douglass Gates: Richard M. Upjohn Chapel: Warren & Wetmore Weir Greenhouse: G. Curtis Gillespie |
| NRHP Reference # | 97000228 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | March 8, 1997 |
| Designated NHL | September 20, 2006 |
| Designated NYCL |
Gates: April 19, 1966 Weir Greenhouse: April 13, 1982 Fort Hamilton Parkway Gate & Green-Wood Cemetery Chapel: April 12, 2016 |
Green-Wood Cemetery was founded in 1838 as a rural cemetery in Kings County, New York. Like other early rural cemeteries, Green-Wood was founded in a time of rapid urbanization when churchyards in New York City were becoming overcrowded.
Located in Greenwood Heights, Brooklyn, the cemetery lies several blocks southwest of Prospect Park, between Park Slope, Windsor Terrace, Borough Park, Kensington, and Sunset Park. Paul Goldberger in The New York Times, wrote that it was said "it is the ambition of the New Yorker to live upon the Fifth Avenue, to take his airings in the Park, and to sleep with his fathers in Green-Wood".
The gates of the cemetery were designated a New York City landmark in 1966, and the Weir Greenhouse, used as a visitor's center, in 1982. The cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997 and was granted National Historic Landmark status in 2006 by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The Fort Hamilton Parkway Gate and the cemetery's chapel were designated as landmarks by New York City in 2016.
The popularity of Green-Wood Cemetery inspired a competition to design a "Central Park" for NYC. The winners were Calvert Vaux and Frederick Law Olmsted. It essentially inspired the creation of Central Park and Prospect Park.
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