Icky in Brooklyn

There is a series of small parks in Windsor Terrace along the South side of the Prospect Expressway. Some don't even have names, the chain usually being referred to as "the expressway parks" or "those skinny parks."

The tiny green spaces were clearly meant to ease neighborhood pain when blocks of homes were town down for the new highway in the 1950s. (I know, I know - I'm on a roll with the expressway thing lately.) Nonetheless, they are nice to have. They're almost comical - nearly hidden little green pockets sandwiched into odd spaces wherever they'll fit.

Starting from the West near Bishop Ford High School, our inaugural stop is also perhaps the most curious - a little art deco sitting area, looking decidedly pre-1950s and very WPA. It sticks out into the shoulder of the expressway. Seems as if the city went to a great deal of trouble to build around this vintage 1930s terrace, perhaps saved at the neighborhood's behest.



Thomas J. Cuite park (with columns echoing the deco theme?) is the next stop downhill, named for a Windsor Terrace resident who was vice-chairman and majority leader of the New York City Council. Cuite's corner includes a charming playground, and is particularly strong is the flora department.



A walkway heads downhill against the expressway, leading to a quiet street, and a very nice benches-and-ivy area near Seeley Street. It's surprisingly quiet, and there are a few cool old school signs and stolen views of old-fashioned backyards and alleys. The public space here is very well taken care of by residents and Parks staff alike.



On the same stretch, is the Little-Park-That-Cried. It doesn't serve much of a purpose. Nice to have the space, but it seems to exist mostly to connect its brother parks on either side. Poor little thing doesn't even have a name, just "Park."



Greenwood Playground features play equipment, basketball courts and softball fields, restrooms, and lots of sitting space. Greenwood is the largest in the band of parks that line the Prospect. This section first opened to the public on December 19, 1935, as one of hundreds of WPA-era playgrounds commissioned throughout the city. The monument at the park's entrance remembers 47 neighborhood men who died in the U.S. Army and Navy during World War I.



The Windsor Terrace Methodist Church (and Greenwood Avenue) bordered the park on the north side until 1954.