Our Buildings: 294 Grand Avenue

What makes a neighborhood? People, pets and the stories that make up our days. But we also have our buildings, the places where we work, play, eat, sleep, learn and live. Throughout Fort Greene and Clinton Hill, you will find everything from colonial brownstones to housing projects to luxury apartments: Buildings that have been here since the earliest days of this country.

The buildings in the neighborhood are as much a part of its character as anything else and the diversity of architecture speaks to the diversity of the people who are its backbone. From time to time, we will highlight buildings from around the nabe to reflect on how the places where we live help make this our home.

294 Grand Avenue is a funny beast. From the outside, this Clinton Hill building looks like a patchwork collection of architecture, with a balcony jutting out towards the corner of Clifton Place and marks from previous repairs that are offset by accents of brick and red paint. On the first floor is Urban Vintage, a café that looks like it is modeled after an antique store, with ornate tables, chairs and lamps placed just so about the room. It’s a humble building, but a nice one to pause and look at.