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December 14, 2005

Bed Stuy Juxtaposition: Willoughby and Hart

house
We drove past this former mansion this weekend after a visit to Home Depot in Bed Stuy. Located at 441 Willoughby, this gorgeous structure stopped us in our (tire) tracks. With little ones squawking in the back seat, we didn't get to linger and really take the whole place in, but we did have time to snap this photo, knowing we'd want to ask the readership about it. It's hard to tell whether this was a former residence or had some church-related function. (For most of the past two decades the deed was held by the Masonic Temple Management Company. Property Shark shows that the property changed hands in 2003 for $40,000, which had to be an inside deal.) We also were very impressed with this whole block of Willoughby East of Nostrand. Wall to wall brownstones with not a single tear-down or abandoned house. Emblematic of Bed Stuy's patchwork nature however is the juxtaposition to Hart Street, just one block north south, which is a wasteland of vinyl-siding and garbage-strewn lots. Amazing contrast. GMAP




Posted by Brownstoner at 10:47 AM | Comments (8)
Categories: Neighborhoods

Comments

Actually, brownstoner, you got your North and South transposed. North is Vernon Avenue, which has a lot of vinyl clad houses, but is half brownstone and has one beautiful brick house on the corner. Its nicknamed The Castle. Hart street, which is to the south of Willoughby is just as beautiful as Willoughby. In some respects its even nicer then Willoughby.

I happen to live on Vernon, next to the only empty lot on the block. Right now on Vernon there is a large senior citizens home being built which took up the 100x100 empty lot that sat on the corner. There is a single empty lot on Vernon between Marcy and Nostrand. Come on brownstoner, yes the block has got its issues, but its not a wasteland of garbage-strewn lots. As for the vinyl-clad houses, check them out. In the last year and a half five of them have been renovated. The guy directly across from my place did a very nice job on his. And one guy who owns three of them (right next to each other) is renovating all three of them right now.

To get back to the original point, the mansion you looked at is actively used by the church group you mentioned. I've seen many services let out on weekends and they also have a food pantery for the working poor. Yes its a beautiful structure but its going to take on its original role any time soon.

Posted by: victor at December 14, 2005 2:43 PM

Right you are about the direction. Hart is indeed South of Willoughby, not North. But we have to say that our impression of Hart was extremely negative--at least compared to Willoughby. Maybe we caught it on a windy day when a lot of debris happened to be flying around, but it seemed like a stark contract indeed. But we're certainly willing to be proven wrong--send us a couple of pics of Hart Street and we'll post 'em.

Posted by: Brownstoner at December 14, 2005 3:10 PM

hey brownstoner

i own brownstones on hart st , between nosrtand and marcy . the block is awesome . if you saw shit flying around it MUST of been a windy day . 25 cops live on this block . they help keep it safe and very clean . if you ask me , it's 1 of the most well kept blocks in bed stuy

Posted by: electricgreek1 at December 14, 2005 6:43 PM

hold on a second . you ment nostrand between willoughby and hart st is a vinlysiding nightmare ?, because hart st between nostrand and marcy is all brownstone's

Posted by: electricgreek1 at December 14, 2005 6:50 PM

Well, clearly something's off here. We'll try to revisit this weekend to see if we got our streets wrong or something...

Posted by: Brownstoner at December 15, 2005 11:48 AM

have always loved this building. it looks like a mini castle, but i think it's now a soup kitchen.

Posted by: pietro at December 15, 2005 2:06 PM

The price was so low, because the neighborhood was and still is so very bad and not safe. Would you step foot there at night? Ahh, look at the rolling gate on the side of the bldg...

Posted by: El-04 at December 19, 2005 11:57 PM

I lived there on the corner of willoughby & nostrand ave for 40 -college. It was on sale 10 years ago for 1 million dollars. I used to sneak in wedding receptions there. I Still own two properties on the block. Still owned by The Masons.

Posted by: Donell at December 29, 2005 1:18 PM

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