Get to know Prospect Lefferts Gardens

Taking its rather long name from three nearby locations — Prospect Park, Lefferts Manor, and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden — Prospect Lefferts Gardens ("PLG," to locals) can be found below Empire Boulevard, on the eastern side of its namesake park. The neighborhood’s character began taking shape in the late 19th century. Nowadays, you'll find primarily low and mid-rise buildings — many of them prewar, with some newer builds along the avenues. Due to a still-observed 1893 land-use covenant, residences within the eight-block, rectangular Lefferts Manor Historic District must be single-family homes built of brick or stone and at least two stories high, among other guidelines. Befitting a neighborhood with multiple namesakes combined into one, Lefferts Manor is hardly PLG's only Historic District with a distinct architectural character: The Chester Court Historic District is a cul-de-sac made up of 18 Tudor Revival-style houses, while the Ocean on the Park Historic District consists of two brick and 10 limestone townhouses set back from the road behind a row of trees.