One of the most cherished beliefs among vintage architecture aficionados is that if you want new, buy new. In other words, please don’t buy an old house and rip out all the original features because once they’re gone, they’re gone.
This lovely brownstone, just 1.5 blocks from Prospect Park in Brooklyn’s historic Park Slope, thankfully retains many of the old-time features that make 19th-century townhouse lovers’ hearts go pitter-patter: original millwork, including heavy pocket doors with Victorian hardware, which have never been painted; many old fireplaces with elaborate surrounds; tall pier mirrors; elaborate Queen Anne style moldings; an original coal range in the kitchen; and delightful tiles, including encaustic tiles on the foyer floor, and what look to be Minton’s Shakespeare tiles around the living room fireplace.
The listing says the townhouse was built in 1905, but that appears to be a mistake. The exterior is in the Neo-Grec style, with traces of Queen Anne, and every bit of the interior screams 1880s. Indeed, New York City archives reveal the house was actually built between 1884-85, as part of nine similar brownstones on the same block, and the Brooklyn Review and Record notes that in 1895, the house sold for $9,750. Repped by Michael Rubin at Compass, today’s asking price for the four-story, 4,120-square-foot brownstone is just a teensy bit higher at $4.3 million.
Measuring 20’ wide, the four-bedroom and two-and-a-half-bath house looks nearly as gracious as it must have almost 140 years ago. Today, however, the decoration and furnishings are strikingly minimal, as far away from Victorianalia as one can get. The parlor floor, with 12’ ceilings, is dedicated to entertaining, with a 32’ long living room and a formal dining room that spans the full width of the house.
The garden level is especially spare, with plain new cabinets, floating shelves, and a simple, custom walnut banquette; off the kitchen is a convenient mud room with a full-size washer and dryer and direct access to the sunny, 35-foot-deep backyard. There is also a family room on this level, and beneath that is a cellar with plenty of storage space for bicycles, out-of-season clothes and all the other detritus of daily life that does not fit with a minimalist aesthetic.
The third floor is dedicated to the primary bedroom, and consists of a spacious sitting room, two fireplaces, three closets, and a bathroom that has yet to be transformed into a sleek and contemporary space. Above that are two large bedrooms, which share a bath, plus two small rooms that were probably originally intended for domestic staff but nowadays could be used as compact guest bedrooms and/or home offices.
Whether they prefer a minimalist décor or fill it with heavy 19th-century carved wood furnishing, let’s hope the next owners show as much respect for the house’s intact architectural integrity, and plan to love it just as it is, with all it’s fanciful Victorian flourishes, as the sellers have.
