Real Estate

Park Slope Brownstone With Six Mantels, Coffered Ceiling, Stained Glass Asks $3.99 Million

This manse has some stunning original detail and a ton of space.

Brooklyn Homes for Sale in Park Slope at 596 2nd Street

by Chris Erikson

06/30/2017 3 minute 0

This landmarked Park Slope manse, on a park block at 596 2nd Street, has some stunning original detail and a ton of space. One of a row of 26 eclectic houses designed by the prolific Brooklyn architect Benjamin Driesler, it was built in 1903.

It’s also, the listing notes, on the same block where Barack Obama lived after he graduated from Columbia — not quite “George Washington Slept Here,” but a small presidential point of distinction.

The house is set up as a double duplex, a setup that’s not without its bugs. In the lower duplex it means there are bedrooms in what would better serve as living space, upstairs it means the reverse. Creating a single residence or a triplex over a rental might be a good way to go here, for the buyer who’s up for some reworking.

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As it is, there’s a different feel to the two duplexes — the upper one being brighter and airier, while the lower one has a more sedate, classic feel, with its plethora of original mahogany detail. There’s wainscoting, stained glass, pillars and scrollwork, leaded-glass cabinetry (including a whole wall of it in the stairway), a coffered wood ceiling in the rear parlor/dining room (currently used as a bedroom), and mirrored mantels. There are six gas fireplaces all told.

There’s an extension in the rear, so the lower duplex has quite a bit of space. It also has access to the smallish garden, the only outdoor space (which isn’t pictured).

Listed by Dane Sookram of Douglas Elliman, the house is asking $4 million. (Okay, $3,999,999, if you want to be exact.) What would you do with it?

[Listing: 596 2nd Street | Broker: Douglas Elliman] GMAP