One of the great mysteries we’ve encountered on our countless Saturday afternoons trawling the architectural landscape of Brooklyn is the rambling, crumbling house on Clarkson Avenue just off Bedford in Flatbush. We first noticed it one day back in the Fall of 2005 and have revisited on several occasions. But we had no idea about its history until Christopher Gray’s piece in The Times this weekend. The house, built by the brewer Herman Raub in 1902, defies simple stylistic categorization. Here’s what Gray has to say:

Its roof planes are akimbo, like a Cubist avalanche. The front portico lunges out from the complex massing, while an open balcony on the third floor bursts through the roof like a jack-in-the-box. Unlike the neo-Georgian and other conventionally styled houses then popular in the neighborhood, Mr. Raub’s was topped by four-sided domes, pointed towers and jerkin-head gables, where the point of the roof is cut off at a slant.

While the exterior is worse for the ware, the spectacular interior—with its baroque murals, paneled dining room and double-height foyer—are surprisingly intact. Which may help explain the $3.15 million price that the owner for the last two decades is now asking for the house. Can anyone steer us to the listing?
A Fantastical Three-Story Concoction [NY Times] GMAP P*Shark
Top photo by Nicholas Strini for Property Shark
Bottom photo from My Life in Brooklyn