Brooklyn

The Brooklyn district, between homes and churches

The Brooklyn audio-guided tour has you discover one of the five boroughs of New York. Nicknamed the district of homes and churches, Brooklyn has kept its authenticity and its reputation as a bohemian district, where artists came to settle, drawn by rents far lower than those of Manhattan.

The district of the brownstones

Seen in so many films, series and novels, Brooklyn is recognised by its brownstones, those typical houses of brown stone. They date from the nineteenth century, a time when the population grew rapidly in this area that was not yet part of the city of New York. Brooklyn was indeed only attached to New York at the end of the nineteenth century, after having long been a city in its own right.

What there is to see

Brooklyn unfolds its streets lined with brownstones, its peaceful residential neighbourhoods and its banks of the East River open onto the Manhattan skyline. Between the Victorian homes of Brooklyn Heights, the trendy DUMBO district and the vast spaces of Brooklyn Bridge Park, the borough offers a face of New York more authentic and more serene than the effervescence of Manhattan.

Practical information

The Brooklyn district is to the southeast of Manhattan, on the other side of the East River, in New York. It can be walked freely and is easily served by the metro and by the bridges that link it to Manhattan. Its residential streets invite strolling.

What is a brownstone?

It is a typical Brooklyn house, of brown stone, dating from the nineteenth century, which owes its colour to the iron-rich stone used.

Why is Brooklyn known as bohemian?

Because many artists came to settle there, drawn by rents far lower than those of Manhattan, giving the district its creative atmosphere.