Heights Up Close: 210-220 Columbia Heights

By the 1850s and 1860s, when Italianate brownstones were springing up around the city, Brooklyn Heights was already so densely built that there were limited opportunities for this style of brownstone. One prime patch of land was available, however, on Columbia Heights. With views of the Manhattan skyline and back yards leading out onto the Promenade, the stretch of six brownstones at 210-220 Columbia Heights are the best example of the Italianate brownstone in the neighborhood.

In his book “An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn,” Francis Morrone praises their design and unity:

Though not built all at once, these six houses form a remarkably harmonious streetscape with a stately rhythm of heavily molded window enframements, segmental-arched and square-headed windows, columned doorways with heavy entablatures carried on large foliated brackets, and chunky iron stoop railings.

Number 212, top two pictures above, was built in 1860 and is particulary noteworthy for the scrolled brackets that support the doorway hood. This is the same house that grabbed headlines back in February when it was purchased for an eye-popping $8.5 million, a small step up from its previous selling price of $55,000 in 1972. The doorway at Number 210 (bottom right photo) is also particularly notable.GMAP

Morrone’s Books [Francis Morrone] AMAZON
Bricks and Brownstone [CharlesLockwood.com] AMAZON
Promenade Brownstone Sets Record at $8.5 Million [Brownstoner]