Real Estate

Duplex in Fort Greene Italianate/Greek Revival With Marble Mantel, Big Yard Wants $5,500 a Month

As rentals go, this is a pretty spacious duplex with tall ceilings, two bedrooms, and two exits leading out to the huge backyard.

by Stephen Zacks

01/10/2019 3 minute 0

As rentals go, this is a pretty spacious duplex in a late Greek Revival-slash-early Italianate circa 1855 brick row house a half block from Fort Greene Park. It has tall ceilings and two garden level bedrooms, one with a Dutch door into the huge backyard, as well as stairs to the garden from the renovated parlor-level kitchen.

The building itself is in the Fort Greene Historic District at 244 Cumberland Street, one of a pair the designation report describes as early Italianate houses with simple Greek Revival doorway lintels. But there’s not much left on the interior to credit it as Italianate/Greek Revival apart perhaps from an ornate fireplace mantel with cast iron cover in the living room and a plaster medallion.

During the mid-19th century, New York townhouses tended to be made of red brick and added a full third floor with bracketed cornices in the place of a pitched roof with dormers. The entrance to this unit is actually on the garden level, which has lintels over the windows with a later 19th century sunburst design.

Save this listing on Brownstoner Real Estate to get price, availability and open house updates as they happen >>

The recently renovated kitchen has an extensive u-shaped stone countertop, there’s a half-bathroom on the floor, and the living room has nearly floor-to-ceiling mullioned windows facing the front.

Among the drawbacks, despite its generous amount of space, are the baseboard heating and two awkward columns in the living room (both visible in an old listing) left over from opening up the hallway. Maybe the occupants can disguise the columns with a screen.

The $5,500 rent sounds ambitious, but perhaps this is the going rate for two floors and a garden in Fort Greene. See for yourself at the open house on Sunday, January 13 from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., with the trio of Douglas (Doug) Bowen, Zia O’Hara, and Chia Wei (Jeremy) Chang on the job for Douglas Elliman. Worth the price?

[Listing: 244 Cumberland Street | Broker: Elliman] GMAP