Here’s a story of a flip with a surprise happy ending. The semi-detached house at 451 Decatur St., one of a pair, was in sorry shape when we first saw it three years ago. Trash was piled up on the porch and the mansard roof was patched with plywood in the rear. Intriguingly, a 1978 photograph of the interior and its owner at the time, Evelyn F. Veres, appears in the New York Public Library’s collection of Brooklyn photographs by Dinanda Nooney. How had the house deteriorated so badly since Veres’ time? When it sold to a developer, Darger Homes LLC, in 2011 for $175,500, it seemed a candidate for a tear down. But instead the developer fixed it up with a new shingled roof and painted the bead board porch ceiling navy blue — a nice touch, we think. We don’t know if any interior details remain, but in March, Fillmore listed it for $479,000. We would be remiss if we did not mention that out front near the curb are many candles, a shrine to a man who was murdered there in May. Guy Simpson, 26, was shot to death in front of the building at 8:52 pm on Saturday, May 26. Around the same time, the house went into contract.
Building of the Day: 451-453 Decatur St. [Brownstoner]
1978 Nooney Photograph of Veres [NYPL] GMAP
Father of Three Shot to Death in Bedford-Stuyvesant [DNAinfo.com]


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