On the Cobble Hill History Tour: The Curious Case of Winston Churchill's Mother

Outside on Sunday, the first stop on the Cobble Hill History Tour, young and old gathered to hear guide Francis Morrone tell the story of fur trader and philanthropist Cornelius Heeney, who is buried behind the church.

Heeney had planned to build a seminary for the church, located on Congress and Court streets, in the early 19th century. Thanks to a dispute about laymen running the seminary, it was never completed. But, like many other projects in Brooklyn — Jay Street Borough Hall, Brooklyn Public Library, the Roman Catholic cathedral in Fort Greene — foundations were built, walls began to rise and then the project was abandoned for years.

“This is oddly typical of Brooklyn,” said Morrone, the director of the Cobble Hill Association’s Cobble Hill History Project. “This is really a part of the Brooklyn identity called ‘dreaming beyond your means,’ and we Brooklynites proudly accept that we do this.”

Still, Brooklynites managed to get a thing or two done, as participants discovered during the next two hours of the walking tour. Morrone stopped at historical landmarks — such as two houses where Winston Churchill’s mother, Jennie Jerome, lived — and delved into the history of buildings that house new businesses like and .

While most historic districts exclude commercial streets due to the restrictions that come with landmark designation, Cobble Hill’s main drag, Court Street, is dotted with buildings that belong to the Cobble Hill Historic District.

One example is bookstore, which made its home in an 1860s Gothic Revival house. A storefront was added in the early 1900s, making way for BookCourt to be established in 1981. When BookCourt expanded in 2008, it swallowed a former famed flower shop that appeared in the movie “Moonstruck.”

Next stop: Trader Joe's, the former home of South Brooklyn Savings Bank, founded in 1850, Independence Savings Bank, founded in the 1970s, and Sovereign Bank. In 2007, Sovereign Bank moved across the street, leaving the Renaissance Revival style bank building on the corner of Court Street and Atlantic Avenue unoccupied. Trader Joe’s moved in, giving Brooklyn its first TJ’s.

“I’m not here to advertise for Trader Joe's, but I shop there all the time,” Morrone joked, drawing chuckles from the crowd of about 40 Cobble Hill area residents.  

Architectural firm McKenzie, Voorhees and Gmelin designed the building, which is ornamented with elaborate stone carvings. Skyscraper buffs will recognize the firm’s name thanks to one of its architects, Ralph T. Walker, who invented the art deco skyscraper and designed the classic New York Telephone Company Building near Ground Zero.

The tour veered off commercial Court Street and onto Baltic, Henry and Amity streets for a look at residential buildings. The development of Cobble Hill began in the 1830s and 1840s, when the fashionable style of residential architecture — really, the only style, Morrone said — was Greek Revival, which brings to mind Parthanon-esque buildings with temple fronts and full, free-standing columns.

Builders adapted the style, widely popular in civic buildings, to the scale of urban row houses by creating an entryway with two columns holding up a full entablature, or “mini temple front.”   

Many of these homes retain their original ironwork — including unique, swirling stoop railings and fences — which Morrone calls one of the architectural treasures of New York City.

“Ironwork in Cobble Hill is not only distinctive and beautiful, but I would go so far as to say, as distinctive and as beautiful as wrought ironwork to be found anywhere in New York City,” he said.

Another of Cobble Hill’s treasures is 197 Amity Street, the former home of Jennie Jerome, arguably the most famous person born in Cobble Hill. There is a great debate over whether Jerome was born there, or nearby at 426 Henry Street.

In 1953, Jerome’s son, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, visited 426 Henry Street with the first Brooklyn Borough historian, James Kelly, who had done research indicating that Jerome was born at that address.

Years later, historians concluded that Jerome was actually born at 197 Amity Street. Although this was written into the Cobble Hill Historic District Report, a plaque still hangs at 426 Henry Street, declaring it the birthplace of Jennie Jerome.

Morrone, intrigued by Jerome, did some research on his own.

“We have no idea where Jennie Jerome was born," he said. "There is no smoking gun!”

He said there is a strong chance that Jerome was in fact born at 426 Henry Street while the family was readying their home on Amity Street.

While tour participants may never know the true birthplace of Jennie Jerome, they walked away with new knowledge of the history-rich streets on which they live, and the inspiration to — like many Brooklynites before them — dream beyond their means.