"Crooklyn" House at 7 Arlington Place Renovated, Becomes Bed and Breakfast
An extravagant but dilapidated Brooklyn brownstone famed as the family home in Spike Lee’s Crooklyn made headlines when it sold for $1,700,000 in 2013. Now newly restored and decorated, the home debuted Saturday as a bed and breakfast. Built in 1887 in the Renaissance Revival style, the house was designed by one of the borough’s finest…
An extravagant but dilapidated Brooklyn brownstone famed as the family home in Spike Lee’s Crooklyn made headlines when it sold for $1,700,000 in 2013. Now newly restored and decorated, the home debuted Saturday as a bed and breakfast.
Built in 1887 in the Renaissance Revival style, the house was designed by one of the borough’s finest 19th century architects, George P. Chappell. It is full of his signature original touches, such as as custom woodwork with foliate motifs you won’t find in any other row of brownstones.
There are elaborate original wood mantels with colorful Minton-style tiles. The rear parlor, set up as a dining room, has an original built-in dish cupboard.
The house was in estate condition when the current owner, Elizabeth Mandarano, bought it. A lawyer and mother of a young child, Mandarano was looking for an investment property and had no plans to renovate, she told the Brooklyn Reader.
“I had no interest in doing a restoration,” she said. “I was looking for an investment property in Bed Stuy. I had a deal on Halsey that fell through.” But the details won her over immediately.
The ask was $1,300,000 (it went for $400,000 over). The photos from the 2013 sales listing can still be seen on Streeteasy, although they are miniscule.
Mandarano hired brownstone restoration experts to strip painted wood work and restore the bathrooms. The kitchen, on the ground floor, is entirely new and modern, with rustic exposed beams and a brick floor laid in a herringbone pattern.
One surprise that came to light during the renovation was an inscription on one of the fireplaces, which says “The Canty Hearth Where Cronies Meet.” (“Canty” means “happy.”)
Mandarano added a lot of modern-meets-Victorian touches, such as new Lincrusta wallpaper, Dutch-style paintings with modern motifs such as t-shirts and a can of Coke, and toile wallpaper in the dining room showing modern scenes of Brooklyn.
A bar located in the cellar
[Source: Brooklyn Reader | Photos: Emily Gilbert for Arlington Place Bed and Breakfast]
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I’m very proud to say that it was my company FRW that executed the wood restoration throughout this beautiful home. Much of it was painted: all of it on the upper floors. Many small details were missing and needed to be replicated. In the past 40 years I have worked on many brownstone restorations. This one is a lovingly and completely restored as a home could be. Nothing was left unaddressed. The owner’s attention to detail and passion for restoration is the homes greatest asset.
Well done, another one saved!
classically beautiful.
Who did the egg tempera faux quattrocento portraits? We stayed at an air bnb in Beacon, NY once that had a lot of stuff like that. I’ve been wondering the name ever since. There were also some fake brauques, and there’s a fake cubist painting there too….
Crooklyn holds a special place in my heart, one of my favorite movies. Beautiful renovation but sad to see its an investment property and not a home for a family. The paintings don’t fit the house nor neighborhood. Some Crooklyn memorbilia would be fitting but at last im sure brownstoners and this investment property owner doesn’t care . No wonder Spike lee is pissed about gentrification and fliers are telling people to not sell their homes. No respect to the history or people in the area. I see the disconnect with my own eyes everyday.
Hilarious stuff, oceanhill. We’re used to commenters expressing aesthetic revulsion at the way people decorate their homes (and yes, this is clearly a home), but you’ve taken it to the next level by actually moralizing about someone’s interior choices. Well done!
What kind of art belongs in Bed Stuy and how are you the arbiter of what’s culturally appropriate for this investor’s business ? They actually paid a pretty decent chunk of dough for the building and are taking a huge financial risk. It’s not exactly that this is a case of a “Gentrifying Interloper” ripping off Granny. More importantly, if a person/s stuck it out through very bleak times , why shouldn’t they be able to cash out if that’s what they want to do ?
Thank you… I am the wood restorer FRW is my company. We work out of Staten Island for over 40 years….
I like those, but it’s a different thing. Painter is Amy Hill, and apparently they’re oils. They don’t look like it.