Bed Stuy Mansion to Ask $6 Million
It’s one of Bed Stuy’s most prominent and notable buildings, a true mansion built by a wealthy inventor, and it’s going on the market in September. The owner of 247 Hancock Street, Claudia Moran, a retired advertising exec, moved here in the ’80s from Chelsea and can tell story after story about the building. it…
It’s one of Bed Stuy’s most prominent and notable buildings, a true mansion built by a wealthy inventor, and it’s going on the market in September. The owner of 247 Hancock Street, Claudia Moran, a retired advertising exec, moved here in the ’80s from Chelsea and can tell story after story about the building.
it was an illegal SRO when she bought it with a down payment of $7,500. It took 18 months to close. She has restored it inside and out. Although she is 72 (she doesn’t look a day over 50), she maintains the extensive garden with English roses and a koi pond herself.
Sharon Stone shot a movie there, it has been the site of many fashion shoots and weddings, and President Cleveland once stopped by. Known as the Moran Victorian Mansion and the John C. Kelley House, after the water-meter mogul who built it, it is occasionally rented out for events and photo shoots. It’s a single family house with two kitchens and the top floor is currently rented although it will be delivered vacant. The owner said she plans to retire to her native Jamaica.
The house is 40 feet wide by 47 feet deep and sits on a 81-by-100 square foot lot. Sadly, this block and this building are not yet landmarked, but they should be. Montrose Morris’ own house was across the street and many of his buildings are still here. He designed this house also, in the mid to late 1880s. The Neo-Renaissance architecture with Romanesque Revival features was notably in advance of its time.
The listing will go up in early September, real estate agent Ban Leow of Halstead, who has known the owner for years, told us. The ask: $6,000,000.
Click through to the jump for a more recent photo.
Building of the Day: 247 Hancock Street [Brownstoner]
The Queen of Hancock Street [Brownstoner]
Photo by Christopher Bride for PropertyShark
Photo by Ban Leow
I love walking by this building. Sometimes go out of my way to walk down the street – from that angle, single or multiple family doesn’t bother me at all. I do absolutely respect what has been done over the years but think that if someone is going to shell out anywhere close to $6M for this place, they’re not about to turn it into the SRO of years gone by. A condo in a magnificent mansion sounds good to me and isn’t ruining anything that has been done.
4 new condos may not inventory make, but to a few families that aren’t in a position to buy a whole brownstone, this could be great. And if it’s part of a larger trend…
Get real. If it ended up as a one family that cost six million dollars, it would be a trophy property for some investor who doesn’t know any better. It would not be lived in. The inventor would not shop locally, or send their kids to public school.
It might not be a much prettier truth by any perspecrives, but the best a house at this price and on this neighborhood can hope for now is to be chopped up into sad, depressing condos that cost about 700k for 10 square feet each. At least the open kitchen and giant bathroom trends are dyong, so they might be livable.
Four or five of those, couples with incomes enough to afford that but not brooklyn waldorf, and that would probably “help” the neighborhood. Now that basically that’s where this neighborhood is at–being a choice between being full of oligarchs or being park slope c. 2003.
This house is indeed special. No need to slice and dice this gem – it should be purchased to be a jewel to attract others to the profound beauty of the neighborhood. A clarion call, if you will. I remember when Barbara Corcoran, herself, purchased a huge limestone on Stuyvesant to put her stamp of commitment on Bed Stuy. While it took several years for that to seem relevant, this one will have an instant effect if shared as it should be – the way Miss Claudia did it, but taking it further and making it a more professional and consistent endeavor. The block is one of the best in Brooklyn with a variety of jaw-dropping manses on it: some arguably as attractive, though not as large as this one. As a single family home, it will rival the fictional abode of the Tannenbaums, and provide a backdrop for a truly creative family to live a dream, like no other. I’ve been gobsmacked before in my wrongness when assessing real estate in Bed Stuy and I’m prepared to be again. Enjoy your next chapter, Miss Claudia – you are an elegant enchantress with vision – such a rarity these days – every bit the beautiful character your home is.
From my quick look at the DOB records it is actually a legal 4 family, the plans filed to convert to a one have not been finalized.
It’s 2 or 3 more units than a single enormous house. http://www.despair.com/irresponsibility.html
I don’t like seeing houses chopped up any more than you do, Montrose. But there’s a tipping point, before we get to the tipping point where really rich people want to have giant houses, where places like this get chopped up into condos. Apologies for the somewhat unintelligible post above on my phone–but my point was not that I want this to happen–only that I predict it will happen.
Honestly, I am starting to think the best thing for preserving historical detail is to have it be in a place that never appreciates all that much.
That would amazing, but I think at this price point that might not be possible anymore 🙁
(someone buying NOW – at that price – no judgement on the current owner who sounds nice)
someone buying this and using as a single family is gross. we need more housing units. this is a good opportunity to do so without giving developers tax break BJs for building disgusting new construction.