COLUMBIA HEIGHTS, NO. 222
MAY 22, 1936. ABBOTT FILE 127

The same day she photographed the Brooklyn waterfront, Abbott made one photograph in Brooklyn Heights, a residential neighborhood built on a bluff rising sharply from the water's edge. A mansion built in 1865 for the Cornell family stood at the end of Columbia Heights, the street overlooking the water. By including at the left side of the composition an electric streetlight, an automobile, and a sliver of Manhattan's skyline, Abbott documented not only the house but also the passage of time.

Although Brooklyn Heights was designated a historic district in 1965, the Cornell mansion was torn down and replaced in 1982 with a small apartment house. To meet landmark regulations, the apartment house conformed to the shape of the original mansion.

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