Top 5 Stories on Brownstoner This Week: Michelle Williams and Affordable Upstate Homes

Michelle Williams to Renovate and Restore Her Prospect Park South Mansion to Former Glory
Golden Globe-winning actress and Brooklyn resident Michelle Williams is transforming her heart-breakingly lovely Prospect Park South dream house, renovating it to even further perfection. Plans include bringing back the house’s original clapboard siding and streamlining the rear to restore the already incredible mansion to its original majesty and glamour. Her proposal comes before the Landmarks Preservation Commission Tuesday.

—

These 4 Upstate New York Homes With Lake Views Can Be Yours for Under $200K
Upstate New York is packed with affordable, adorable listings that boast mountain, woodland and water-side vistas. It’s no surprise that the tantalizing taste of spring in the air has second-home-seekers craving Mother Nature and all of her jaw-dropping views. Check out these lakeside getaways, all at about two-and-a-half hours or less from Brooklyn, and all priced under $200,000.

—

What Will Happen to the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Brooklyn Heights Tunnels?
Under Brooklyn Heights, beneath the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ rich portfolio of borough real estate, there is a private pedestrian walkway, a series of four subterranean tunnels connecting several of the properties. With the buildings’ future ownership pending, however, the they may soon close forever. Under new management, city fees and agreements that allow the passages to remain open would need to be rediscussed, and it is likely that new owners would not have use for the tunnels.

—

Massive Heights Brownstone With Magnificent Details, Wine Cellar Asks $12.75 Million
Brownstones don’t get much bigger than this grand Italianate house at 118 Remsen Street in Brooklyn Heights. Twenty-five feet wide and five stories, it’s also uncommonly deep, with a 25-foot extension on the first two floors. It’s also got some prime details and a magnificent parlor floor, with towering, ornate ceilings, a carved mirrored mantle, arched entry doors, wall moldings and inlaid floors.

—

Cocaine Break-ins and Broadway Strolls: The Life of a 1960s Brooklyn Pharmacist
A lifelong Brooklynite, Kenny Frishberg, this writer’s grandfather, began working at Fair Trade Pharmacy in Midwood in 1954. In the nearly 40 years he worked there — he retired in 1993 –he watched Brooklyn change and morph all the while he filed prescriptions.

Related Stories
Top 5 Stories on Brownstoner This Week: A Colorful Renovation and an $11 Million Home
Top 5 Stories on Brownstoner This Week: Pushy Real Estate Investors and Bold, Quirky Interiors
Top 5 Stories on Brownstoner This Week: The York Street F Stop and Brooklyn Starter Homes

Email tips@brownstoner.com with further comments, questions or tips. Follow Brownstoner on Twitter and Instagram, and like us on Facebook.