There are buildings in New York that make an event feel significant before a single guest has arrived. The Center for Brooklyn History, at 128 Pierrepont Street in Brooklyn Heights, is one of them — a grand Romanesque Revival structure that synthesizes Queen Anne and Italian Renaissance detailing into something that feels entirely its own. Its facade is adorned with busts of Columbus, Franklin, Shakespeare, Gutenberg, Beethoven, and Michelangelo, sculpted by Olin Levi Warner, interspersed with representations of American flora. The building announces itself.
We are the exclusive caterer at the Center for Brooklyn History, and it is one of the venues we work in most frequently. What follows is a practical account of the space and what hosting an event there actually involves.
The Building
Designed by George B. Post and built between 1878 and 1881 — the same years the Brooklyn Bridge was under construction nearby — the building employs an innovative metal truss inspired by that project's engineering, which allows for a largely column-free library interior. The effect is a sense of openness that photographs can't quite capture: you have to stand in the room to understand how the ceiling height and the absence of structural interruption change the quality of the space.
The Center for Brooklyn History was formed in 2020 by uniting the Brooklyn Historical Society and Brooklyn Public Library, combining materials collected over the past 157 years with BPL's Brooklyn Collection to become the most expansive catalogue of Brooklyn history in the world. The building has recently undergone significant renovation, and the result is a landmark interior — original woodwork, stained glass, carved ash shelving — brought into full working order for contemporary use.
The Spaces
The building features two distinct interior landmarked spaces — the Great Hall and the Othmer Library — as well as multiple supporting areas for cocktail receptions or catering and event staging.
The Great Hall, on the ground floor, is the primary event space: a large, column-free room with soaring ceilings and architectural details that create atmosphere without requiring much supplemental decoration. It is where seated dinners, galas, and larger receptions typically take place.
The Othmer Library is something else entirely. A New York City interior landmark in its own right, it is the kind of room that produces an audible reaction when guests walk in for the first time — carved mahogany bookshelves, stained glass, a reading room that has remained essentially unchanged for over a century. It works particularly well for ceremonies, intimate dinners, and cocktail receptions where the room itself is meant to be a focal point.
Capacity across the full venue runs up to 150 for a seated dinner and 300 for a standing reception, with configurations available that combine both spaces across different moments of an event.
What Works Well Here
The CBH suits events where the setting is meant to carry weight — where the venue is part of the statement rather than a neutral backdrop. Nonprofit galas work particularly well here, in part because the institutional gravity of a national landmark building lends credibility to the occasion, and in part because the space has genuine cultural meaning in Brooklyn. Fundraisers for arts, education, and civic organizations feel at home.
Weddings are a natural fit as well. The Othmer Library makes one of the more extraordinary ceremony spaces in the borough, and the combination of ceremony, cocktail hour, and reception across the building's different areas gives couples a venue that moves — each transition feeling like a distinct chapter of the evening. The Brooklyn Heights neighborhood adds to this: the building sits steps away from the Brooklyn Promenade, making it well-suited to couples who want a venue that is distinctly and meaningfully Brooklyn without being in any way generic.
Corporate events for organizations with a cultural or civic identity work well here too — law firms, academic institutions, cultural organizations, financial firms hosting client dinners where the setting is meant to communicate taste and seriousness.
What Purslane's Exclusivity Means for You
As the exclusive caterer at the CBH, we're not an outside vendor adapting to an unfamiliar space. We know the building's kitchen configuration, the load-in logistics, the lighting conditions at different times of evening, and the ways the flow of guests changes depending on which spaces are activated and in what order. That operational familiarity translates directly into a more seamless event — fewer surprises on the night, and better advice during the planning process.
We handle all catering, bar service, rental coordination, staffing, and zero-waste logistics as standard. Every event we produce at the CBH, as everywhere else, is carbon-neutral and zero-waste — composting and recycling handled on-site, plastic-free packaging throughout, and full documentation available for events that require it through TRUE for Events certification.
To Inquire About Hosting Your Event at the Center for Brooklyn History
You can reach us through our event inquiry form, or explore our full range of exclusive venues and event services on the site. We're also happy to arrange a walkthrough of the space for clients who are in the early stages of planning.