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March 7, 2006
1305 Albemarle: Most Famous Digs?
Correct us if we're wrong, locals, but we'd guess that the 1905 classical-revival mansion at 1305 Albemarle Road is the most widely recognized house in Victorian Flatbush. (The house starred as Alan Dershowitz’s Boston home in the 1990 film Reversal of Fortune according to this site.) Wasn't this the house that was on the market for a long time last year for, like, $4 million? According to Property Shark, the same person has owned it since 2002. The second photo is a view looking East on Albemarle.
Comments
The big mansion which was on the market for a while at something like 4.3 million was NOT where the fictional Dershowitz and his fictional law student crew worked in Reversal of Fortune. The house that was used for that film is a more modest home just a little bit west on Albemarle. The big masion has, however, been used in many films.
Posted by: pk at March 7, 2006 10:58 AM
This is a beautiful house, but the exterior needs a lot of work. The ground floor was on the house tour last year. There's lots of impressive detail, but I have to say, some very suspicious restoration work, particularly with respect to the magnificent stone fireplace in the foyer, which has a frieze of (roman?) soldiers... looks like it's been touched up with that spray pebble looking paint. Really freaked me out. You couldn't go upstairs on the tour, although I know there is a huge ballroom on the top floor.
The largest house on Albemarle Terrace, and considered the most magnificent house by many, occupied the site of what is know the apartment house. There are pix of the original house floating around.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2006 10:59 AM
The mansion as well as a more modest mid-century house across the street were both used for Reversal of Fortune. They did not use the main entrance for the film, but the back entrance. I guess they didn't want the place in the movie to seem so grand.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2006 11:04 AM
Aha- I stand corrected.
Posted by: pk at March 7, 2006 11:43 AM
It's not Albemarle Terrace, but Albemarle Road. Albemarle Terrace is one of two cul-de-sacs (with Kenmore Terrace) of brick homes to the east of Ocean Avenue. Brownstoner, I look at your photos and I remember the reason why we moved to this neighborhood. But oh how we miss the hustle and bustle of Brownstone Brooklyn, hanging out on the stoop, etc.
Posted by: PPSer at March 7, 2006 1:07 PM
I call this the "spiderweb house" for its muntins (I think that's what they're called--window divider thingies)...it was used most recently for an upcoming Uma Thurman movie called "My Super Ex-Girlfriend," which filmed there a lot late last year. Wish I'd seen it on house tour--never been inside! So what was the deal with the $4 mill asking price--just fishing for a ceiling in PPS?
Posted by: Brenda at March 7, 2006 2:24 PM
I would think that the "most famous digs" in PPS would have to be either the "Sophie's Choice" house at 97 Rugby for its extensive exterior and interior shots in that movie... or the "Japanese Pagoda House" at 131 Buckingham Road for it's lifetime of gracing post cards and magazine articles. And unlike the house at the top, they're actually kept up by their owners!
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2006 3:02 PM
I'd love to see some photos of those other famous homes you guys mentioned...possibly a new feature here?
Posted by: Anon at March 7, 2006 3:06 PM
http://home.att.net/~ebasics/prospectparksouth.html
Brief discussion w/photos of the architectural history of PPS.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2006 3:43 PM
Albemarle Terrace was a typo... there was another thread recently re: ALbemarle Terrace.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2006 4:09 PM
Agree w/anon at 3:02 re: most famous local houses. This mansion had been on the market for something like 2 years for $1 million in the 90s--unheard of pricing then--and a guy bought it and tried renting it out for parties, photo shoots, etc. It is not well done on the inside--and the top floor is a warren of weird, tiny little rooms.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 7, 2006 4:46 PM
I'd also like to hear more about famous or infamous homes in Brooklyn. Does the Brooklyn historical society list homes where where famous authors, actors, politicians lived? Manhattan is so good at that.
Posted by: Chuck at March 8, 2006 1:00 AM
Mary Pickford's former home (with a barbeque pit in the basement) is the Tudor on the corner of Ditmas Avenue and Argyle in Ditmas Park West.
Charlie Chaplin lived in one of the two brick mansions on Ocean Avenue, near Ditmas Ave. in Ditmas Park.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 8, 2006 9:09 AM
This was back in the days when Vitagraph Studios was thriving in Midwood, near Avenue M. The studio is now home to an Orthodox school for girls.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 8, 2006 9:10 AM
Please double-check that Chaplin fact--not sure it's true.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 8, 2006 10:23 AM
The Mary Pickford house is on Rugby and Ditmas. I heard that it was built for her but she never actually lived in it. She supposedly opted to live on Ablemarle next door to Vincent Price....can't say it is fact but have heard that angle a few times.
Posted by: Anonymous at March 8, 2006 11:42 AM
Mary Pickford never lived in Ditmas Park West. The house was home to the Guterman family from the time it was built until the 1940s. Sorry to dispell the myth.
Posted by: Anonymous at January 8, 2007 11:27 AM
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