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 Шаблон:Convert of land, consisting of sixteen separate buildings. As of December 2022, the housing development accommodates over 2,600 residents in 1,139 apartment units.[1]
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.[2] By 1946 the land was cleared,[3] however, due to a wartime restriction of materials,[4] the project was delayed until 1948. In January of that year,[5] NYCHA broke ground[6] and the project was completed by June of 1949.[7] The development included a community center, playground, and public park.[8]
The Gowanus Houses was the setting for Spike Lee's 1995 film, Clockers,[9] in which it was renamed the "Nelson Mandela Houses" for the movie.[10]
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.[11]
