Windsor Terrace is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is bounded by Prospect Park to the northeast and Green-Wood Cemetery, a National Historic Landmark, to the southwest. Its southeastern boundary is Caton Avenue, while to the northwest it is bordered by Prospect Park West. It is between the neighborhoods of Park Slope to the northwest and Kensington to the southeast.[1][2][3][4]

The subway arrived in 1933 with the building of the IND South Brooklyn Line, the “Culver Line,” which includes the F and G train stops of 15th Street-Prospect Park and Fort Hamilton Parkway.

Largely residential, Windsor Terrace is home to mainly Irish, German-American, Polish-American and Italian-American families, many having settled in its brick rowhouses and small woodframe homes when the neighborhood was first developed at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Over time, Windsor Terrace has become increasingly diverse, including Greek and Hispanic people, in addition to a small minority of Syrians, Maronite Lebanese and Jewish-Americans. More recently, an influx of Park Slope and Manhattan refugees as a result of “gentrification” has pushed house prices well above average. The neighborhood public schools, P.S. 154 and P.S. 130, are well regarded.[5] They are some of the primary attractions of the neighborhood for both the traditional Windsor Terrace community and the Park Slope spillover. Both schools feature a number of special enrichment programs for students, such as chess and journalism. Both schools received “A” grades in the 2010-11 New York City Department of Education Progress Reports.[6][7]

The Prospect Expressway runs through the middle of the neighborhood, effectively separating it into two halves. Some neighborhood streets, such as Greenwood Avenue and Vanderbilt Street, were bisected by the expressway and remain so, while others, such as Seeley Street, 11th Avenue/Terrace Place, and Prospect Park West, are bridged over the highway. Windsor Terrace is patrolled by the NYPD’s 72nd Precinct.[8]
Windsor Terrace lays claim to several writers of note, including Pete Hamill and brother Denis Hamill. Paul Auster, perhaps Brooklyn’s current favorite laureate, lives nearby. Isaac Asimov lived in Windsor Terrace when his father ran a small candy store on Windsor Place. It is believed Asimov wrote his famous short story Nightfall in his bedroom in the family home across the street.[9]

In film

Most of the 1975 Al Pacino film Dog Day Afternoon was filmed on Prospect Park West between 17th Street and 18th Street in Windsor Terrace. Director Wayne Wang’s sister movies Smoke and Blue in the Face were filmed at the former Post Office location at the corner of 16th Street and Prospect Park West in 1995, in conjunction with well-known local writer Paul Auster. 1997’s As Good as It Gets shows Oscar-winners Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt walking through wonderful streetscapes of Prospect Park West (known as 9th Avenue to locals and those in the know) and past the beautiful row houses that characterize the neighborhood. Farrell’s Bar & Grill, also at 16th Street & Prospect Park West, is an old and famous institution (as seen in the film Pollock with Ed Harris), and used as a standard bar backdrop in many other film sequences. Scenes from Ragtime (E.L. Doctorow), Brighton Beach Memoirs (Neil Simon), Pete Hamill’s The Gift and Denis Hamill’s Turk 182 were all shot in Windsor Terrace. The Darren Aronofsky movie π has several subway shots made in the 15th Street-Prospect Park station. The opening scene in the Geena Davis movie Angie was also shot in Windsor Terrace, on Fuller Place (one street up from Howard Place where Helen Hunt’s character lived in As Good as It Gets). Alanis Morissette filmed the music video for “Hand In My Pocket” from her album Jagged Little Pill on Prospect Park West between Windsor Place and 16th Street during August 1995.

Kensington Stables

Kensington Stables[1] is the only remaining stable near Prospect Park. The barn was built in 1930 as the last extension of the riding academy at 11 Ocean Parkway, 57 Caton Place (1917). The original riding academy closed in 1937 and is now a warehouse. Kensington Stables gives lessons in The Shoe in Prospect Park. Kensington Stables now exists on the Windsor Terrace side of the border between Kensington and Windsor Terrace as per NYC.gov.

Beginning in 2006, a neighboring development project at 22 Caton Place became the subject of controversy. Some area residents, including those at 81 Ocean Parkway (which adjoins 22 Caton Place), are lobbying for modifications to the development plan.[citation needed]

Boerum Hill Cobble Hill Columbia Street Waterfront District Gowanus Park Slope Red Hook Sunset Park Windsor Terrace