Picturesque Brooklyn Heights Carriage House on Grace Court Alley With Garage Asks $4.95 Million

This picturesque Brooklyn Heights stable turned single-family home has undeniable curbside charm.

by Susan De Vries

10/27/2021 4 minute 0

This picturesque Brooklyn Heights stable turned single-family home has undeniable curbside charm. No humble building was designed for the horses that were bedding down here: The brick facade of 2 Grace Court Alley is adorned with a gabled roofline, brick detailing and bold quoining. Any original interior details, like horse stalls, were lost long ago but there is instead a four-bedroom, three-bath home that also has room for one horseless carriage.

While the listing dates the building to the 1840s or so, the style points to a date at the later end of the 19th century. Historic maps certainly show an alley in place in 1850 and slowly filling up with brick buildings by 1855. Maps of the 1880s show the alley almost completely built up with stables. Building records indicate a number of horse abodes on the alley were built or altered in the 1880s and ’90s for owners with residences on fashionable Remsen Street, and 2 Grace Court likely dates to this time.

An intriguing advertisement from 1919 shows 2 Grace Court Alley in its original impressive form, encompassing what is now 4 Grace Court Alley and wrapping around the block to include what is now 251-253 Hicks Street. The stable had been altered the year before for use as a garage, with room for five cars and an apartment above. By the time of the historic tax photo, the exterior of 251-253 Hicks Street had been altered into a neo-Federal dwelling, although the quoining at the corners and around the former stable entrance on the Grace Court Alley facade remain as links to its original design.

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On the interior, 2 Grace Court Alley is set up with a single-car garage up front along with a bed and full bath. The kitchen, living and dining rooms take up the rear of the first floor. Upstairs are three bedrooms and two full baths. The roughly 2,500-square-foot property squeezes in a lot of rooms; a new owner might want to tweak some details.

The living room has wood floors and a wood-burning fireplace with an early 19th century-inspired mantel. A slight step up leads to the skylight-lit dining room (or solarium), which has a wall of mirrors and a tile floor. Mechanicals, which include air conditioning, are in a room off the solarium.

The tile is repeated in the kitchen, which is a bit dated in style but is an ample size with room for an island.

Upstairs, the largest bedroom has another wood burning fireplace, a dressing area and en suite bath. The other full bath is shared by the two smaller bedrooms, which both have wood floors and closets.

While there is the single-car garage, which the listing claims can accommodate a lift for those who want to try to park two vehicles inside, there isn’t any outdoor space.

Listed with Michael Rambo of Keller Williams Realty, it is priced at $4.95 million. What do you think of it?

[Listing: 2 Grace Court Alley | Broker: Keller Williams] GMAP