Why not donate to the Brooklyn Museum and get the right-off? This brownstone really should be a museum, and a highlight of Park Slope among others. So regret that I sold my wonderful coop at 1 PPW!!!
The Brooklyn Museum is no longer into architecture and interiors.
Oh, it has the old Dutch rooms and the Rockefeller room and the dining room from Edenton, North Carolina; but years ago I strolled through that area and found in one of the rooms a glass vase of glass dildos (some "art" installation, evidently), and the Edenton dining room presided over by a papier-mâché raptor dropping papier-mache guano over its table, chairs, and sconces -- also an "art" installation and, I guess, a commentary on its plantation aspect. As if visitors can't appreciate what's actually on display. As if guano is art and not political spewing.
Outdoor architectural fragments have been allowed to rot on wooden pallets behind the parking lot.
I wouldn't put much faith in the Brooklyn Museum. With its walls stripped of priceless art and many glass cases disappeared (where did all that stuff go?), its incomparable costume collection given to the Metropolitan Museum, its learned and experienced curators fired years ago, this museum, that was the pride of Brooklyn, is way too busy turning itself into a community center.
Clem Labine not only founded Old House Journal, but also the magazines Traditional Building and Period Homes--where he still serves as editor emeritus. (http://www.oldhousejournal.com http://www.traditionalbuilding.com http://www.period-homes.com)
I have visited this home on many occasions, and so glad to see the Times writing about it. Let's hope the next residents are as devoted to maintaining the historical beauty of this Victorian brownstone as Mr. Labine has been.
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While the house looks stunning, I predict that it would take a while to find a buyer. Just check out 247 Hancock street, now, I understand Bed Stuy is not Park Slope and 6 mln is not 4 mln but the Hancock street house is truly unique both in size, the provenance, and history. It has also been lovingly restored, yet, it has lingered on the market, still unsold. Sometimes, when things are truly unique, they are not as hot as things that fit the mold better.
In the mid to late 1980's I rented a 1BR w/ two non-working fireplaces, inlaid floors, high ceilings on 8th and President for $412 per month. My girlfriend's parents on St. John's Place (between 7/8) paid $17K for the building (w/ the roof caving in). You could find a parking place in those days! Times have changed but I don't miss the #2 train into Manhattan.
Have a relative who bought a similar house in Park Slope in the early 60s and the extended family helped to restore it. All were children of immigrants Irish and Italian. It was a magical experience to be in the house - like stepping back in time. The kitchen was on the lowest floor with a fireplace as well as the dining room which had fabulous wooden shutters. Paint had to be removed from the moulding and the sliding wooden doors on the parlor floor. I remember the height of the rooms including the bedrooms with their gorgeous tall windows.
It took guts to be in that neighborhood at that time as it was not safe and kids went to private school.
3
Ikea, eat your heart out!!
9
$4mil? On Berkeley Place? This guy should shoot his realtor. He could easily get2x that amount. Stunning detail by some who knows what’s what construction wise? I’d pay $8.
9
Brownstones such an allure for cities like NYC , Boston.....(y)
1
where did he get the $25,000 from? rich parents?
Until he rids the clutter no one will offer or offer the correct amount of this home which looks like a junk shop. The brownstone is wonderful but he has too much stuff in every corner, shelf, etc. One cannot see the rooms. One cannot go wrong with a NY boro investment in real estate. SO much for all of those tight wads who rented for decades; they could have become multi millionaires.
1
Yeah, you'd probably just paint it all white. Or maybe oyster, which I understand is the "new white". Why are you even on this page?
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Should be a nice backyard which was omitted in the photographs. Only question is whether the new owner will keep the place intact as a single family residence, or turn it back into apartments to collect rent.
4
The splendor of this house is in such contrast to my living conditions around the time Mr. Labine started: In the early 1970s I rented an apartment in a brownstone not far from this one, on Lincoln Place. My landlord was a colleague who had "renovated" the building into a series of apartments, very much on the cheap. The floor of my parlor-level apartment was the raw floorboards; when I swept, the dirt fell through on the residents of the ground floor apartment. Several apartments had no kitchen, but shared one on the second floor. So at least I got to know my neighbors! I left there to move across Grand Army Plaza to the normalcy of a post-war apartment building on Eastern Parkway.
I can only hope that someone bought my former home and did as magnificent job with it as this. I'm not sure I could live with all that Victoriana, but it is wonderful to see.
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I fell in love with Brownstones, After reading Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe novels. I grew up traveling in europe and have been all over the place in the USA but brownstones were always the go to story device of my youth.
I was 3 when he bought his house.
I used to write a lot of short stories with Houses like this in them. To many of them to count that I'd love to live in.
2
As a long-time enthusiast of late 19C architecture, decoration and furniture, I consider this one of the most beautiful houses ever offered for sale via the NYT website. I recommend viewing the listing broker's pictures for a better sense of how the house really looks. It is clearly a labor of love, but also one of well-informed choices, especially of local artists, artisans, plumbers, and construction workers.
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It's too bad it can't be purchased by some wealthy benefactor and preserved as a museum. It's amazing, but I don't see how anyone could live with all that stuff (at least without regular cleaning staff).
12
Have lived in "Edwardian" era building not far away. Charm? Sure, but try keeping it all clean, and plan on needing to constantly refurbish one or another building system. Telling that it took them 50+ years to "finish."
Me, I won't own anything that was not built year 2000 or later.
8
I recently wrote an article for la voce www.lavocedinewyork.com regarding the changes in Brooklyn, over the years; specifically Park Slope, one of Bklyns most requested neighborhoods. In the early '70s my aunt tried to sell her beautiful home on one of Park Slopes most desirable streets. After many unsuccessful months and much frustration, she finally 'gave it away' for under $40.000. In todays world, easily 4M. The slings and arrows of the real estate market.
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@laura wagner: But on the other hand, my late sister's 2 family row house, in Windsor Terrace, for which she paid $40K in 1973, was sold a year ago for $1.5+ million. And, it was not a restored Victorian masterpiece like Mr. Labine's home. His is well worth the asking price! BTW, I was born and bred in that neighborhood, my family having arrived from Calabria in 1902....my grandfather, with $16 in his pocket and no friends or relatives to welcome him. I still have a lot of family there.......
2
Wonderful! I have friends who rent a garden/parlor level duplex in Sunset Park (which is the Brooklyn neighborhood just south of Park Slope) and they have decorated the lower-ceilinged garden level in the Victorian style, with antiques as well as inspired new purchases. The airy parlor floor is painted all white and while the bones of the brownstone are evident there as well, their decor is strictly modern. To have a duplex (or entire brownstone!) and indulge your disparate tastes, what a luxury. . . I do love this one, though.
1
My parents had a similar opportunity but they didn't feel comfortable kicking out the single room occupancy tenants. It might have been a good thing, many of those rehabs resulted in divorce.
It just seems like the 1960's and 1970's were a better time in NYC and the United States. There was a sense of opportunity. A belief you could get ahead. Today in NYC with one bedroom apartments in Brooklyn selling for a million dollars, many people just give up and leave for cheaper pastures.
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After renting a Fort Greene apartment for 13 years my parents were looking to buy a home in 1959. My father checked out a brownstone in Park Slope, maybe it was on Carroll Street. IIRC the asking price was below $20k. The house was in good shape but there were a few rooming houses, as SROs were called then, on the block. My mother exercised her veto powers and crossed the house off their list. They ended buying a 2-family house in Kensington which worked out well for our family for 30 years. Oh but if they had bought that old brownstone...........
11
Beautiful home and a wonderful vision, but don't you think a bit more could be said about the obviously gifted " local artists and artisans" that "helped him ?" The stenciled ceilings, friezes and moldings were painted by someone that is scanning this article for recognition I am sure.
46
Yes! As a paint "artisan" myself, I read the article hoping the names of these artists would be mentioned. They did a superb job and deserve recognition. Too often we are overlooked even when our contribution is profoundly evident. They did a fabulous job!
11
Just gorgeous and a Victorian fantasyland but I'd find it hard to live with such a density of decoration. Let's hope the buyer will keep this labor of love intact.
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"The 1883 house at 199 Berkeley Place had been turned into a single-room occupancy rental building, but over the past five decades, Mr. Labine has fully restored the four-story structure, turning it into a 19th-century ornamental wonderland."
Whoa! Is no one going to opine that Brooklyn lost several low-cost apartment units when Mr. Labine purchased the house and brought it back to its original glory?
7
That still goes on. I've read a few stories in this very section about wealthy New Yorkers buying up a multi-family building, booting out the tenants, and converting the place to a 1-family house. Expensive but doable. At least 2-faamily homes in my neighborhood have been converted to 1-family homes. Usually by a new buyer with a large family or buy someone who just wants more space.
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I was being sarcastic, NYC Taxpayer. As usual, sarcasm has his limits, which is why I seldom use it. What I meant to say was: Thank goodness that old house was brought back to its proper role.
1
Amazing and wonderful!
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What a beautiful home!
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didn't he pitch for the Dodgers?
3
That was my first reaction, too. The pitcher died in 2007. Odd that there is a second Clem Labine from Brooklyn. (And the Times should have noted the more famous Clem Labine in this piece. But it is likely that no one recognized the name.)
5
That Clem Labine died in 2007.
1
I actually met THIS Clem Labine in 1980 when as a newlywed my wife and I went on a Brownstone Tour that he was involved in. That was my first question to him (I'm old enough to remember the other one). He chuckled and said he gets asked that question only about 15 times a day. I guess not so much any more, we are far removed from the days of the Brooklyn Dodgers. Anyway, it was good to catch up on the Brownstone Clem Labine, glad to see he's still around and doing well.
2
This is not dark and dingy Victorian. This is lovely because of the warm colors that were used. I hope whoever buys it takes care of it.
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What a treasure! But I fear that whoever buys it will gut it. These glorious Aesthetic Period-inspired rooms deserve to be moved to a museum.
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I have been aware of Mr. Labine and his publications for many years. I heartily applaud his painstaking work and stellar taste--combined to save and venerate this building. I also have been amused by the fact that he shares a name with another Brooklyn hero--a Dodger pitcher of some note. While that Clem Labine didn't give up a lot of home runs, this one has certainly hit it out of the park here. Mazel tov.
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Didn't Clem Labine start the magazine, "The Old House Journal? Seems relevant. I remember visitng the magazine offices in the eighties, it was all run out of what seemed like his house at the time, in Park Slope. Nice magazine..
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Read the article....
4
Yes, he did. They stated it in the eighth paragraph.
3
Yes. It's actually mentioned in the article.
3
If I had an extra four million handy, I would buy this house in a second and not touch a thing. I just hope whoever does buy it doesn't rip out all the beautifully done, period-appropriate renovations.
51
Delightful. Perhaps not how I would choose to spend my money, but I am sure someone will love it. The care and attention to detail in the restoration is both obvious and inviting.
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