April 16, 2008

House of the Day: 1907 Ditmas Avenue

This monster of a home (5,500 square feet) at 1907 Ditmas Avenue in Ditmas Park looks pretty sweet to us: Lots of well-preserved detail, large rooms, big corner lot. Whether it's worth the $1,700,000 remains to be seen. One thing's for sure, though—Even if it doesn't go for the asking price, the folks who bought it for $848,500 in 2003 stand to make a pretty penny!
1907 Ditmas Avenue [Mary Kay Gallagher] GMAP P*Shark

March 25, 2008

House of the Day: 1208 Beverly Road

Two houses for the price of one! That's the sales pitch for 1208 Beverly Road. Located at the edge of Prospect Park South, the house is configured as two side-by-side residences. From the listing verbiage, one of the units "combines gorgeous original detail with the most tasteful modern improvement" while the other one presumably doesn't. For the asking price of $1,495,000, you get an impressive 4,617 square feet of space. For some reason, we're not totally loving the interiors of this place; it feels like something was lost in the reno. Nonetheless, having a six-bedroom rental certainly helps take the edge off those mortgage payments. The monthly rent is currently $3,300.
1208 Beverly Road [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark

March 19, 2008

LPC Designates Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park

As expected, yesterday the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park in Victorian Flatbush a historic district. The designation covers 250 houses and is Brooklyn's 20th historic district. The areas, which include many houses in Arts and Crafts, Colonial Revival and Dutch Colonial Revival styles, were primarily built up by two local builders in the early 20th century. Flatbush Gardener has a couple of nice photos of houses in the area here and here. Not a moment too soon.
Victorian Flatbush Landmarking, in Drips and Drabs [Brownstoner]
Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park Designation Two Weeks Away [Brownstoner]
Photo from the LPC.

March 17, 2008

Victorian Flatbush Landmarking, in Drips and Drabs

While several micro-neighborhoods in the area collectively known as Victorian Flatbush have been designated historic districts, many others are unprotected and in danger of losing their rich history, according to an article in yesterday’s Times. The good news is that the LPC is almost certainly going to name Midwood Park and Fiske Terrace historic districts this week, which means they’ll join already landmarked Albemarle-Kenmore Terraces (designated in 1978), Prospect Park South (’79), and Ditmas Park (’81). Still, that leaves more than half of Victorian Flatbush—including Caton Park, West Midwood, Ditmas Park West, and Beverley Square West—unlandmarked, and many preservationists and residents are worried that unchecked development will result in the loss of those areas’ stunning collections of Victorian houses. “We don’t want the Manhattanization of Brooklyn,” says Ron Schweiger, who lives in Beverley Square West and is the Brooklyn borough historian. “We don’t want high-rises coming into residential areas. That’s why we want all of Victorian Flatbush to get historic district status.” (On a side note, the joke was on the Times writer who took one local blogger's renaming of her micronabe at face value. Hah!)
Peaked Roofs, Crossed Fingers [NY Times]
Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park Designation Two Weeks Away [Brownstoner]
Times Admits Past Errors: We Are Not All Ditmas Park [Flatbush Gardener]
Photo of Beverley Square West house by Flatbush Gardener.

February 19, 2008

House of the Day: 491 East 17th Street

This 3,500-square-foot one-family house at 491 East 17th is advertised as being on "the best block in Landmark Ditmas Park." If that's true, we suspect that this is one of the less good-looking places on the street due, in large part, to the brick addition on the front of the house. The interior, however, is very charming. And, considering that the house across the street sold for $1,900,000 last year, the asking price of $1,300,000 for this place may look interesting for those with a hankering for the Victorian nabe.
491 East 17th Street [Mary Kay Gallagher] GMAP P*Shark

November 19, 2007

House of the Day: 325 East 17th Street

Corcoran must have used an entire case of Pledge shining up the woodwork for the photos of 325 East 17th Street. The Beverley Square East Victorian has lots of original woodwork and inherent charm but the renovation (which must be pretty recent) feels a little overdone to us in places (a 48-inch commercial stove?) and lacking in taste in others (what's up with that fence). It's like the owner is trying to force an attractive middle-class house and put it on steroids in the hopes of selling it for top dollar. It'll be interest to see how the asking price of $1,695,000 goes over. This is east of the tracks, after all, a far cry from Westminster or Argyle Road when it comes to property values. There was an open house yesterday—did anyone check it out?
325 East 17th Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark

November 8, 2007

Prospect Park South Community Garden Taking Shape

Flatbush Gardener has a report about a 0.8-acre plot of land tucked away on Albemarle Road that’s going to be turned into a community garden. The property is on a site that was originally owned by Dean Alvord, the developer of Prospect Park South, and later by Israel Matz, the founder of Ex-Lax (Flatbush Gardener has thus provisionally dubbed the space “Ex-Lax Gardens”). A lot of the existing trees on the space need to be removed before vegetables can be cultivated, and community meetings are going to be held for people who are interested in getting involved with the garden. Are any readers involved with the project? What can you tell us about it?
The Future Home of the Ex-Lax Gardens GMAP

October 25, 2007

House of the Day: 1216 Albemarle Road (Revisited)

When 1216 Albemarle Road came on the market with early last summer for $1,900,000, it didn't take a genius to know that there was no chance in hell buyers would take the bait. After all, the botched project included a partially-finished structure and LPC-approved plans to return the house to its 1965 (rather than original) design. Earlier this month, the listing moved from Mary Kay Gallagher to Corcoran, where it restarted its "time-on-market" clock with an asking price to $1,595,000. With the market still unimpressed, the price was axed another $395,000 last weekend to its current ask of $1,200,000. We gotta say we think the owners are still deluded. Do you agree?
1216 Albemarle Road [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
House of the Day: 1216 Albemarle Road [Brownstoner]

October 16, 2007

House of the Day: 795 East 19th Street

Has the area around Brooklyn College really come this far? A charming Dutch Colonial house at 795 East 19th Street that traded for $715,000 in 2003 is now on the market for $1,395,000. It's a lovely house, to be sure: Original beamed ceilings, wainscotting, and parquet floors all look to be in excellent shape. Regardless of quality, though, is this price remotely possible? One house two blocks away at 955 East 18th Street, by comparison, sold for $955,000 last summer. Granted it's probably not as nice but still...it makes you think.
795 East 19th Street [Brooklyn Properties] GMAP P*Shark

October 1, 2007

Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park Designation Two Weeks Away

As The Times reported this weekend, the Landmarks Preservation Commission will vote on whether to designate a 12-block area that includes portions of both Fiske Terrace and Midwood Park. (The proposed district is bounded by Foster and Ocean Avenues, Avenue H and the subway tracks of the B and Q trains.) While not containing the same level of eye-popping mansions that can be found in neighboring parts of Victorian Flatbush, proposed district's housing stock—which was largely mass-produced by two developers—is remarkably well preserved and serves as a fine example of middle-class living at the turn-of-the-century. Here's what the Historic Districts Council has written about the area:

Midwood Park was constructed by developer John Corbin in the first decade of the 20th-century on what had previously been farmland. The houses were built using Corbin’s method of standardized construction. Buyers could choose from thirty distinct models, but uniform construction techniques, materials and assembly methods were employed to minimize cost and boost efficiency. The wood-shingled houses are relatively grand: set back from the street on large lawns, they have open porches and rich interior detailing in the style of the time. The streets have a landscaped median and are lined with mature trees. The neighborhood must have represented a striking alternative to city living.

Midwood Park has undergone few inappropriate alterations. It remains a unified, coherent and harmonious suburban neighborhood in an urban context. The Midwood Park Homeowners Association is advocating in consultation with the Historic Districts Council for historic district designation for the neighborhood.

The adjacent Fiske Terrace features more elegant houses but retains an intimate sense of place through its historical integrity. In 1905, T. B. Ackerson Company purchased a densely wooded tract of land and immediately cleared it, laid out streets and installed underground water, sewer, gas and electric lines. Eighteen months later, the former Fiske estate had been transformed by some 150 custom-built, detached, three-story suburban houses with heavy oak ornamental mantels, staircases, beamed ceilings and built-in bookcases, ornately bordered parquet floors and elaborate cabinetry. A landscaped median and hundreds of street trees planted at the time of development continue to contribute to the idyllic feeling of the neighborhood.

While it ain't over 'til it's over, it's hard to imagine that LPC won't sign off the designation.
Next Historic District: Fiske Terrace/Midwood Park? [NY Times]
Victorian Flatbush Headed to New Landmark Status? [Flatbush Life]
Neighborhood at risk: Midwood Park/Fiske Terrace [HDC]
Proposed District Map [LPC]