Real Estate

Flatbush Estate-Condition Limestone With Built-ins, Mantel on Greenest Block Asks $1.1 Million

This early 20th century Flatbush row house appears to have a fair amount of original detail intact, including a mantel, bas-relief panels set into wainscoting, a coffered ceiling and pocket doors.

by Susan De Vries

11/16/2020 4 minute 0

There aren’t many photos to judge this one by, but this early 20th century Flatbush row house appears to have a fair amount of original detail intact, albeit in estate condition. There are pocket doors, wainscoting, stained glass and built-ins. With an address of 317 East 25th Street, it’s located on a block that may soon be Brooklyn’s newest historic district.

The proposed East 25th Street Historic District, comprising much of the block between Clarendon Road and Avenue D, was was the subject of an LPC hearing this fall and a vote is scheduled to take place Tuesday. The Henry Meyer Building Company purchased the land on the block in 1909 and began construction on “easy-kept-in-order” houses with electric lights, hot water heat, hardwood trim, bookcases in the library, electric light, showers and an extra toilet in the cellar.

While some are constructed of limestone and some of brownstone, they were all designed in the Renaissance Revival style with rounded or angled full height bays and minimal classic details. No. 317 has a limestone front with a rounded bay, a bracketed cornice and a door surround with pilasters and foliate ornament.

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While built as a single-family, No. 317 was converted to a two-family, although the floor plans are as short on details as the photos. There’s a unit per floor, and the lower unit seems to be a duplex with the only bathroom in the English basement, which PropertyShark claims is below grade.

That unit may have an inconvenient bathroom, but it does have plenty of original details, and the house could easily be used as a single-family. There’s a dining room with bas-relief panels set into the wainscoting, a coffered ceiling, built-in cabinets and pocket doors with stained glass. There are more built-ins, this time on either side of a columned wood mantel, in the former library (aka the center parlor or stair hall). They’ve got leaded glass fronts, while the mantel has original tile and a brass insert.

There’s a kitchen at the rear of the main level and another directly above in the top unit, but neither are pictured. A shot of the basement-level bath shows some mid century tile and blue fixtures but, going by the toilet perched in front of the sink, the bathroom may not be in working order.

There’s no photo of the rear garden but there is a glimpse of the landscaped front. This is a block that takes its gardening seriously; it’s been awarded prizes in the Greenest Block in Brooklyn competition multiple times.

In the same family for decades, the house is listed for $1.1 million by Deborah Brennan of RE/MAX Elite. What are your thoughts?

[Listing: 317 East 25th Street | Broker: RE/MAX Elite] GMAP