76-lefferts-place-1-062515

The Lefferts Place Mews, a collection of old-school-looking townhomes that are actually condominium apartments, is coming along nicely at 76-88 Lefferts Place in Clinton Hill, we saw when we stopped by recently to snap some photos.

The brownstone and red brick façade has gone up, the windows are in, and workers were just starting on the cornice. The collection of four buildings with a total of 31 units launched sales in October, starting at $625,000, as we reported at the time.

The original developer sold to an LLC for $7,850,000 in 2013, according to public records, and the new developer is Jack Bain, according to permits. The architect of record, Schneider Associates of New Jersey, is not the designer, according to Curbed — that’s Design Studio Associates of Brooklyn, who appears on permits as the mere “filing representative.”

(Jack Bain, BTW, is not a well known developer in Brooklyn, but we have seen his name pop up on quite a few projects lately, including a new-construction single-family townhouse in Gowanus.)

Only 13 listings have gone on the market so far, and all are in contract. The designer has packed eight apartments into each building, including duplexes that share floors with other units. The buildings are very wide though, at 43 feet across.

The exteriors are reminiscent of late Victorian designs. There is a brownstone course on the garden level, and red brick above. The bays and their decorative brickwork and the cornices recall Renaissance Revival row houses, popular at the turn of the last century.

But no one would mistake these for the real thing (at least, we hope not). The details, the multi-paned windows and the stoops are obviously contemporary.

The development, which originally went by the address 96 Lefferts Place, is part of a new-townhouse trend sweeping the more gentrified parts of Brooklyn. For contrast, check out the building under construction next door in the photos below: It has a more typical contemporary Brooklyn apartment design.

Some might say the Lefferts Place Mews are faux historical pastiche, while others might say it’s good traditional yet contemporary design that fits in well with its neighbors.

In any event, these nods to the past are usually popular, as similar revivals of neo everything since at least the Victorian era have shown.

What do you think of the look so far?

76 Lefferts Place Coverage [Brownstoner]
Photos by Steve Sherman; rendering via Corcoran

76-lefferts-place-2-062515

76-lefferts-place-3-062515

76-lefferts-place-4-062515

76-lefferts-place-5-062515

Above and below at left, a more typical looking contemporary apartment building is under construction next door.

76-lefferts-place-6-062515

76-lefferts-place-rend-062515


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I would have to see it in person, but the brick looks higher quality than that being used at Greenwich Lane in the West Village! And those are going $3k per sqft.

    I love casement windows, but they look out of sorts with the Renaissance Revival style. Oh well, the buildilngs still look nice.

  2. Clearly not the real thing but at least their height and shape are harmoniously with their older neighbors and they look nice. Will look much nicer once the cornices are up. It’s a very cool concept, townhouse looking condos!!

1 2