NEIGHBORHOOD
Welcome to Gowanus; a vibrant, rapidly changing, multi-use Brooklyn neighborhood flanking the Gowanus Canal.
Looking North to the canal head house and Downtown Brooklyn from the Union Street Bridge.
The Canal
The Gowanus canal dates back to the 19th Century. Originally a creek and watershed for the surrounding neighborhoods, it was a busy waterway servicing mills and local industry. It was deepened in the mid 1800’s and became a heavily trafficked commercial waterway.
The canal is 1.8 miles long and only an inlet. This results in a body of water that was once tidal and became rather stagnant. In 1911 a flushing tunnel was built to pump water from the East River/Buttermilk Channel to the canal head.
View looking across the canal at night.
industRy
As large scale industry moved away the neighborhood has given way to more local craftsmen, makers, and artists. The architecture of its industrial past means that the area is primarily made up of low warehouse buildings.
The impact of industry on the canal and surrounding land resulted in heavily contaminated soil and waterway. The canal was designated a Superfund site by the EPA in 2010. Currently a pilot dredging area has been completed and dredging of the full canal started Fall of 2020.
Scaffolding and HPS lights around Gowanus Houses.
housing
Gowanus is home to a variety of housing typologies including new construction luxury high-rises, classic Brooklyn brownstones, tenement buildings, and public housing campuses (NYCHA) including Gowanus Houses and Wykoff Houses.