Real Estate

Cobble Hill Greek Revival With Impeccable Details, Sun Room and Garden Asks $5.5 Million

The single-family townhouse has two wood-burning fireplaces, a pier mirror, six mantels and scenic wallpaper in the dining room.

by Stephen Zacks

03/06/2019 5 minute 0

Here’s a classic, just about flawless-seeming Greek Revival in Cobble Hill built in the decades just before the Civil War, according to the historic district designation report. Among the impeccable details of 225 Kane Street are two wood-burning fireplaces, one in the front parlor with a white marble mantel, the other in the garden floor dining room with a classic Greek Revival black marble mantel. That front parlor glorifies nothing as much as the elaborate foliate cornice and ear moldings — also both classic Greek Revival details — set off here by bright chartreuse walls and ceilings.

The parlor also has a pier mirror, not pictured but mentioned in the listing by Jennifer H. Cooke for Brown Harris Stevens, which is imaginatively put over in the manner of a 19th century novel, mentioning large parties, intimate book readings, small group gatherings, aged single malts in front of the wood-burning fireplace, and lives well-lived. Romantic notions aside, this place is indeed quite an affair, with its 25-foot width, four stories, six bedrooms (including two small ones), 11-foot-high ceilings and pocket doors. It may also have built-in seating in the rear parlor if we surmise accurately from the floor plans.

But the garden floor is next level with its scenic wallpaper — in vogue when this house was built — and a passageway to the kitchen similar to a butler’s pantry that contains a built-in cupboard. The eat-in kitchen is all new but has a vintage flavor with green cupboards, white subway tile, pale stone counters, open cupboards, commercial fridge and what may be a commercial deep fryer built into the counter next to the 1930s white enamel stove. (The combo of the two greens of the wall and cupboards is reminiscent of Martha Stewart, who we doubt could design a better kitchen herself.)

Two sets of French doors lead out to a magnificent sunroom with a brick floor and an impressive skylight, which could serve as a greenhouse as well as a sitting room. Then there’s the gorgeously landscaped backyard. Quite an affair.

The period stone mantels and other original details continue upstairs, where there are six bedrooms, two bathrooms — none of the house’s 2.5 bathrooms are pictured — and numerous closets. If there is central air, it is not mentioned.

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225 Kane Street is in the Cobble Hill Historic District, and the designation report notes that Kane Street was previously Harrison Street and before that Butler Street. By 1840 there were 45 houses and 112 residents listed in the district, and the 15 dwellings along the north side of what is now Kane Street were constructed in the 1840s and 1850s. No. 225 is described as transitional in style, with shallow pedimented lintels characteristic of the late Greek Revival tradition but the Italianate ironwork of the balconies and stoop incorporating a palm tree motif popular in the neighborhood.

It’s been in the same hands since 1997, and now the owners are looking for $5.5 million. They’re showing it in an open house this weekend on Sunday, March 10 from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Worth it for the glorious details?

[Listing: 225 Kane Street | Broker: Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP