Check out the Brooklyn neighborhood where Bernie Sanders and Ruth Bader Ginsburg went to high school

Eye on Real Estate: Their alma mater is James Madison High School; the neighborhood's called Madison

July 19, 2017 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Sen. Bernie Sanders is a distinguished alum of James Madison High School, which is in a Brooklyn neighborhood called Madison. AP Photo/John Minchillo

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Feel the Bern.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, the popular but ultimately unsuccessful contender for the 2016 Democratic Presidential nomination, went to high school in this Brooklyn neighborhood.

So did United States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sen. Chuck Schumer.

A nifty neighborhood called Madison is the home of James Madison High School, which gets considerable media attention because of its astonishing number of high-profile alumni.

We would be remiss if we neglected to mention that singer-songwriter Carole King and TV notable Judge Judy also graduated from the public high school located at 3787 Bedford Ave.

The neighborhood around the school is called Madison. As Brooklyn real-estate aficionados know, it is a place of great charm, with big suburban-style houses with lawns scattered among smaller homes and 20th century rowhouses.

A Brooklyn version of Spanish-Revival architecture

The most eye-catching houses in the area were built in the 1920s or thereabouts, judging from certificates of occupancy in city Buildings Department records.

The house designs are a pared-down Brooklyn version of Spanish-Revival architecture — with stucco exteriors, asymmetrical facades and barrel tiles on their roofs, which have minimal overhang.

Often these big, stand-alone houses are on lawns that slope up from the sidewalk.

Sometimes the facades are partly brick, or completely brick.

Over the years, some of these Spanish Revival-style houses have been enlarged or otherwise altered. Some have siding on them — but look great.

Big old houses in other architectural styles can be found on corner lots in the neighborhood. And some eye-catching big, new houses have been built in Madison.

There are apartment buildings here and there. Sen. Sanders grew up in one at 1525 East 26th St. near Kings Highway.

Two noteworthy Madison houses were built long before the neighborhood was developed. They are Dutch Colonial-style city landmarks, one constructed before the Revolutionary War, the other in 1834.

Wear comfy shoes when you go seeking architectural eye candy

Madison is located just west of Marine Park. Some people consider Madison to be a part of Sheepshead Bay.

“The Neighborhoods of Brooklyn,” an informative book edited by Kenneth T. Jackson and John B. Manbeck, identifies Madison’s boundaries as Ocean Avenue, Kings Highway, Nostrand Avenue, Gerritsen Avenue and Avenue U.

It’s a great place spot to stroll and see architectural eye candy.

But wear your most comfortable walking shoes. The closest subway station, the Kings Highway stop for the B and Q lines, is an 18-minute walk from East 28th Street, where many of Madison’s prettiest houses can be found.

The houses on Avenue P are also especially great-looking, and so are the ones on East 27th Street near the high school.

When you need to take a break from your stroll, you can eat baklava at Safir Bakery or have a cabbage roll at Jay & Lloyd’s Kosher Delicatessen. Both eateries are on Avenue U, a commercial corridor with numerous mom-and-pop shops and eateries.