Brooklyn Heights Blog community member “Nabeguy” has posted many vintage photos of Brooklyn Heights including the block where 140 Cadman Plaza West now sits.  About the pics he says:

These photos were taken in November 1961 by my father, who, along with other like-minded neighbors, was in opposition to the proposed zoning variance that would allow for construction of the Cadman Towers. He wanted to illustrate the variety and depth of the 19th-century architectural heritage that was at stake. In one of his last-ditch efforts to forestall the wrecking ball, he lobbied to have the building on Cranberry St. in which Walt Whitman set the type for “Leaves of Grass” designated a National Landmark. Obviously, his attempts were in vain, but we do now have the Whitman Townhouses, and these photos, as reminders of what was lost.