House of the Day: 1375 Dean Street

Calling all history buffs! After narrowly escaping destruction when LPC designated it an individual landmark in record time last October, the Civil War-era woodframe house at 1375 Dean Street is in need of some serious love. Recognized by LPC as “one of last vestiges of the suburban past in the northwestern section of Brooklyn’s Crown Heights neighborhood,” the George B. and Susan Elkins House, as it is known, is back on the market for $875,000 $799,000, a year after the stymied developer paid $800,000 for it. There aren’t enough interior photos to get a good enough feel to comment accurately on the $875,000 asking price, but we suspect this is going to have to be a labor of love not of profit anyway. The one-family wood-frame house is 40 feet wide and sits on a lot that’s 50-by-114 feet. There’s some original detail left (“The house has retained many of its historic features and characteristics, and remains a unique surviving example of a type of house that is believed to have all but vanished from northwestern Crown Heights,” according to LPC) and what a great front porch and yard combo this could be! Not only is the house an individual landmark, but it’s within the Crown Heights North Historic District boundaries, so whoever buys this place will have to work closely with the Landmarks Preservation Commission on the exterior. Maybe Adrian Grenier‘s looking for another project.
1375 Dean Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
Landmark Status for Elkins House [LPC]