Crown Heights Limestone With Opulent Details Returns With $4.25 Million Ask

This grand Crown Heights limestone has hit the market again after renovations that have left its most impressive details in place. Mantels, built-ins, stained glass, wainscoting, and moldings still grace the parlor level of 859 St. Marks Avenue while the new work has turned the house into a legal two-family.

The Renaissance Revival limestone was featured as a Brownstoner House of the Day in 2021 and in 2009. It had a complicated history since construction plans were first filed in 1894.

Builder Henry B. Moore advertised the house and its neighbors in 1896 as “the handsomest houses ever built for sale” with each one having a grand billiard room, a cellar “large enough for a bowling alley,” a dressing room off every chamber, and the “choicest woods” used in finishing.

By the 1950s the house was a multiple dwelling, with a 1954 certificate of occupancy and I-card records showing one Class A apartment, eight furnished rooms, and an additional three living rooms. At the time it was on the market in 2021, a certificate of non-harassment was in process, according to the listing.

The house sold that year for $3.45 million, and subsequent filings show plans for plumbing and electrical work as well as the conversion to a legal two-family. While the current listing describes the property as having an owner’s unit on four floors and a rental unit on the top floor, the included floor plan shows three kitchens in place.

Most of the images in the listing appear virtually staged, but the opulent details still appear. The owner’s unit has the grand parlor floor, two floors of bedroom space, and a kitchen on the garden level.

On the parlor level, the details start in the entry with the intricate staircase, a built-in bench, and wainscoting. There is a massive columned fireplace in the middle parlor along with stained glass.

A coffered ceiling dominates the dining room and there is more stained glass and a corner fireplace with a pitched roof that mimics the one that once adorned the exterior of the house. The dining room also has access to a curved sunroom — a feature that is repeated on the floor above.

On the garden level, the kitchen appears in the floor plan but not the listing photos. The kitchen in the three-bedroom rental unit is pictured and has white cabinets and stainless steel appliances.

The listing notes that both units have central air and in-unit laundry. Solar panels were also installed.

Laura Rozos of Compass has the listing and the limestone is priced at $4.25 million. What do you think?

[Listing: 859 St. Marks Avenue | Broker: Compass] GMAP

[Photos via Compass]

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