House of the Day: 29 Maple Street
29 Maple Street isn’t as charming on the outside as a lot of other houses in Prospect Lefferts Gardens but the interior has a lot of charm. The private driveway is a serious bonus, as is the third exposure it creates on the side of the house which results in tons of sunlight. The house…

29 Maple Street isn’t as charming on the outside as a lot of other houses in Prospect Lefferts Gardens but the interior has a lot of charm. The private driveway is a serious bonus, as is the third exposure it creates on the side of the house which results in tons of sunlight. The house traded for $595,000 in 2004. Now it’s asking $899,000. Let’s go to the pricing widget…
29 Maple Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark
Bxgirl, you sure were missed while you were away in Florida. Thank the lord you are back! And, thank you for being a white woman who can sum up so many of the thoughts and feelings of this black woman and then be able share it in a way that others can actually hear it without running away. I think that’s called bridging the divide. Thanks much indeed.
Some of us remember the PLG wars here on brownstoner which resulted in a lot of great people no longer posting. I won’t go into it but every time someone mentioned PLG, the trolls came out of the woodwork along with the racists and the KKK members. This thread is a far cry from those and it’s a relief. PLG is lovely- I have friends over there and the architecture is amazing.
I’m sure 10 years ago there were less white people. It wouldn’t matter one way or another. Basically when people point out the racial make up of a neighborhood it’s a grading system. Not a nice one either. The problem with believing that white people are an indication that a neighborhood is “coming up” is that you ignore everything people have done to make that neighborhood a great place to live for themselves. CHN is a case in point. This neighborhood was up and coming before white people began moving in. I was one of a very few white people when I first moved here. Now the Great EVLL and I joke about there goes the neighborhood, and its all her fault for letting me move in 🙂
When I was in an interracial marriage we lived in the very white Brooklyn Heights. When we first moved over there the hostility just oozed out of people when we walked down the street. If we walked through Cobble Hill and Carroll gardens, we would get dirty looks and nasty comments. All from white people. we were made to feel uncomfortable and unwelcome. Eventually it did change but the nasty truth was that many white people looked at us as if I was a loser who couldn’t find a white man to marry me, (actually I turned down several in my time) and my ex was somehow “unusual” for his race. Race is an ugly subject- people are Jekyll and Hyde on race.
I have never been made to feel uncomfortable in CHN. I find that people are sometimes wary of me but smile and say hello and it’s like the sun comes out.
Yes, I’m not getting this argument. Isn’t it common knowledge that there are more whites now living near that area of Flatbush Ave. that there were 10 years ago?
No offense taken “gemini10’s” husband. I’m white and have lived in PLG from about the time you were born, 34 years ago. While there have always been white people in PLG, they ARE more evident on Flatbush Avenue now than even 10 years ago. Perhaps this is because the 20 somethings now renting in the neighborhood’s apartment buildings are out and about more than older homeowners (although,come to think of it, I was a “twenty something” back when I bought my house). I don’t think the percentage of white residents has increased all that much (although it HAS increased) but they are more visible, maybe for the reason I’ve suggested
Many people differentiate between PLG and parts of Flatbush further south. You do not seem to do so (i.e. listing “Argyle” together with PLG streets like Fenimore, Parkside, and Midwood). I can’t really complain, because my 26 year old son does the same thing 🙂
peace everyone this is gemini10’s husband, my comments to my wife were not made in a judgemental tone, but I have lived in brooklyn all my life born and raised here, I’m 34yrs old and when I was a young man in my teens you would be hard pressed to find a white person on flatbush ave from lefferts all the way up to flatbush junction. I have family on fenimore,parkside,arglye, midwood,etc and I have hung out there enough to know that many stretches in that neighborhood was not the place to get caught off guard even for black folks. Sorry, but back then, there just weren’t many white folks – yes there were a few, but not as many as I have seen now. I didnt mean to offend anyone who lives in that neighborhood currently or 10-20 years back(black or white) I was just stating the facts that I experienced. How many of you remember the Kenmore movie theatre on Church Ave where there was a shootout every other movie you went to… I’m just saying it was a rough place back in the days that’s all and if you spent alot of time there throughout flatbush you know what im talking about.
I also don’t think Gemini was being ignorant at all. I think she was merely stating an observation by her husband, that there were few white people around 10 years ago on the particular street where they were at the time the comment was made.
I know some of you hate Wikipedia (it’s not always perfect) this is a statement in there for PLG.
“Currently the neighborhood contains an ethnically diverse community with a largely Caribbean population.”
Yes, sure…we all know these neighborhoods are MORE diverse then they are sometimes given credit for, and aren’t 100% of anything, but there’s no reason to jump down someone’s throat because someone they know made an observation that there were few white people around, which was true 10 years ago, and true every time I’ve been there as well (maybe 20 times?)
“Its ignorant”
I know everyone makes typos, including myself…but I had to laugh at this one.
Brooklynista, while I don’t know PLG as well as I do other Brooklyn nabes, a year ago we almost bought a house on Lincoln Rd (and I forget what cross streets) which I believe is not too far away from this house. It was a free standing house on a huuuuge lot – something like 100’x120′, maybe even bigger; hubby will remember. The asking price for that house was very close to this ask, The house needed alot of work, but it was spectacular. I almost regret not buying it. The house just needed too much work for us.
I’ll be back in the nabe to explore it in further detail, I promise.
I still think $899 is too much for this house.
Ha! Nice one on Breezy Point, tomgee. I went fishing out there in the fall, and saw more McCain/Palin signs there than Main Street Wasilla.