Real Estate

Distinguished Prospect Park South Mansion With Ballroom Asks $2.988 Million

Brooklyn homes don’t come any grander than this one. If Louis XIV was looking for a property in Brooklyn right now he’d no doubt zero in on this place, one of the most distinguished houses on one of the borough’s most distinguished blocks, at 1305 Albemarle Road in Prospect Park South.

Brooklyn Homes for Sale in Prospect Park South at 1305 Albemarle Road

by Chris Erikson

07/25/2016 3 minute 0

Massive and opulent, it’s a 10-bedroom Colonial Revival mansion that our own Suzanne Spellen called “large, impressive and unusual,” and “one of the most noticed and photographed houses in Prospect Park South.” The exterior that draws shutterbugs features a portico with four 30-foot Ionic columns, upper and lower porches, and a wrought iron balcony.

The house has been filmed as well as photographed, by the way: It’s Alan Dershowitz’s home in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune.

Dubbed the “Gale House” after original owner George E. Gale, who had it built in 1905, the house has more distinctive and offbeat details than we can count, from its mahogany paneled dining room and its elaborate mantels to its spider-webbed windows, coffered ceilings and leaded glass cabinets.

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There’s enough square footage in here for a small hiking party to get lost in, with a grand foyer with 11-foot ceilings, 10 bedrooms, six bathrooms, a library, a billiard room, front and rear balconies, and a massive grand ballroom with a wet bar.

There are indoor and outdoor hot tubs, a wine cellar, multiple patios, a backyard with an underground sprinkler system and a two-car garage. It’s all a little dizzying.

There’s even a distinguished neighbor: actress Michelle Williams, who’s rehabbing an 18-room house down the street.

The interiors pictured look to be in fabulous shape — the exterior is a different story though. Look closely at the exterior photo and you can see the decay and peeling paint; presumably we’re talking about a significant restoration job, and who knows what other updating work awaits.

Listed by Ryan Serhant (of Million Dollar Listing fame) and Rachel Simons of Nest Seekers, the house is asking $2.988 million. (That’s $488,000 more than Williams paid, if anyone’s counting).

Of course the buyer will have to put in significant money on top of the sale price, but what a property. Impressed?

[Listing: 1305 Albemarle Road | Broker: Nest Seekers] GMAP