Real Estate

Sprawling Flatbush Edwardian With Porch, Garage, Working Gas Fireplaces Asks $2.25 Million

Located in the Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park Historic District, this 1908 home combines elements of the Colonial Revival and Arts and Crafts styles.

by Stephen Zacks

10/14/2019 0

This standalone single-family home in Midwood Park designed by Benjamin Dreisler as a part of the 1908 John R. Corbin Company development has a distinctive street presence, a two-car garage, and many special details not commonly seen in Brooklyn.

Located in the Fiske Terrace-Midwood Park Historic District, 699 East 18th Street was built in the Colonial Revival style and gets its rhythmic street presence from a notably symmetrical arrangement of contrasting pointed and rounded vertical and horizontal volumes. Diamond-patterned accents on each gable emphasize the stack of pointy elements. These contrast with the hipped roof and a pair of gently rounded bay windows on the second floor. Surfaces are divided into three: a red roof, blue-gray shingled body, and rough-cut stone base. The trim and wrap-around porch with short Tuscan columns stand out in white paint.

The interior has some definite hints of Arts and Crafts along with Colonial Revival. The house has a well-lived in feel, with colorful accent walls and trim, yet the original details are all there as well, at times painted over. With seven bedrooms and four bathrooms over three floors plus a cellar, there is no lack of space. The ground floor is suitably sprawling, with two parlors, a dining room and a kitchen arranged around a rare-in-Brooklyn center hall plan.

Groupings of Neo-Classical columns create a strong first impression from the vestibule and give the home a distinctive character. On the left of the entry is a formal parlor, now used as a dining room; to the right is another parlor, or what might have been considered the “stair hall” when the house was built. The former seems to have all its original features except perhaps a pier mirror or mantel on the now-bare chimney breast.

The parlor to the right has an impressive set of details, including a coffered ceiling, high wainscot, parquet with an inlaid border, and bold brick fireplace. In the distance, set off by columns, are glimpses of the staircase, a small windowed passage, and the house’s original dining room, now repurposed as a “living room,” according to the floor plan.

This too has impressive original details, including stained glass, another coffered ceiling, wainscoting, built-in bookcases, and another bold fireplace. In wood with colorful green tile, the mantel blends the neo-Classical and Arts and Crafts styles.

Both of the fireplaces are gas and are working, and the parquet floors appear to be in good condition.

The large eat-in kitchen with an adjoining pantry is mostly white and has been gently updated with an island and marble-patterned tile or linoleum floors. It has a farmhouse sink, a large white stove, some accent borders of powder blue tile laid on the diagonal, and white tile backsplashes.

Upstairs are seven bedrooms that have lots of character, including four on the second floor sprinkled with bay windows and three more on the third floor behind the slanted rooftop. The front-facing top floor bedroom has built-in bookshelves and is set up as a study with a lounge.

The bathrooms mix updates with original features and look to be in good condition. One has a clawfoot tub and pedestal sink, the other a pink bathtub, subway tile walls, and a stained glass window.

In the cellar is an office, laundry room, recreation room with a sink and a tiled room with a sink and three windows identified as a “greenhouse” on the floor plan. The sizable yard rings the house and includes a deck. The two-car garage comes with a private driveway big enough for two more cars.

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

A 1908 ad for the development in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle mentions a model house–electrified by the Edison Electric Light Co.–located just down the street at 670 East 18th Street.

The house was listed for sale earlier this year for $2.599 million by Fillmore. Now it’s with Zahra Joudi and Elizabeth Pizzulli of Compass and is asking $2.25 million. Think it will fly?

[Listing: 699 East 18th Street | Broker: Compass] GMAP