House of the Day: 286 Hicks Street
This brick townhouse at 286 Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights has been on the market for about six weeks with an asking price of $3,200,000. Other than it being a little on the narrow side (17.5 feet), there’s really nothing to quibble with on this one: Beautiful interiors, charming yard, great location. The three-over-one two-family…
This brick townhouse at 286 Hicks Street in Brooklyn Heights has been on the market for about six weeks with an asking price of $3,200,000. Other than it being a little on the narrow side (17.5 feet), there’s really nothing to quibble with on this one: Beautiful interiors, charming yard, great location. The three-over-one two-family is bound to have lots of interest. The only question is whether they’ll be willing to pay the ask!
286 Hicks Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
NorthHeights is right about that carriage house that sold at auction. It’s three doors north of 286 Hicks. I remember when it was up for auction that someone on Brownstoner mentioned that the carriage house had something like 3800 square feet and that there was additional FAR allowing around 1000 sf additional. Of course, this is a Landmark district, so any addition would be limited by sight-line considerations from the street. I doubt that it would be a “bulky” building as suggested by one poster above. There’s no way that a bulky building would be allowed by Landmarks.
The facade and interiors are unmistakably 19th century. The mantels date to the 1840s or 1850s. They could have been added later, but more likely they are original.
The DOB often has dates that have nothing to do with the actual age of the house. Many of the original records are lost or burned. 1899 and 1930 are two dates that show up often on DOB records, but they don’t mean anything.
I do not know “for certain” that this house was built in the 1850s, but I’m not guessing either – I looked it up in Clay Lancaster’s Old Brooklyn Heights. He’s not right all of the time, but most of the time. According to the book, the row of 4 houses of which this one is the northernmost, all appeared in various 1850s city directories. His survey formed the basis of that color-coded map to which you refer.
Also, the carriage house that was bought at auction is a few doors down, not next door. I’d expect construction but I doubt any significant additions – it’s already quite large, just not vertical.
By mopar on July 1, 2010 7:03 PM
There is absolutely no way this house was built in the 1930s, don’t be ridiculous.
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Here me out on this – on the face of it, seems unlikely, but it is a possibility.
I wouldn’t have guessed it to begin with; but not only does P-Shark list its built date as 1930, but so does Emporis, Blockshopper, et al. Which tells us what? Not much, they probably all get their data from the same DoB source, so if that is wrong, they are all repeating the error.
Consider this: when the BHA was seeking Historic District/Landmark status beginning in the late 50s, they surveyed every building. There was a total of just under 1,300 buildings which occupied the 50 blocks that were landmarked in 1965; of those, a little over half were pre-ACW, and over 1,000 were 19th century. But over 200 were built after 1900.
Think about that. One out of every six houses within the historic district is post-1900. Now I don’t have a copy of that color coded map the Brooklyn Historical Society displayed a few years ago, but I do remember that A LOT of those post-1900 buildings were in the southern Heights, within a block or two of Atlantic.
There are plenty of 1840s houses down that way; two of them, 40 Joraleum and 33 Willow Place, sold within the last few months. But it is POSSIBLE that this house was built in 1930…and it would not be surprising if such a project would have been designed to blend in with its neighbors. For examples of that, see the Garden and Sidney Place houses that were built on either side of WWI.
We would have to research it more to know definitively.
How curious. I think the kitchen is charming. The house seems as fancy as any other built in the 1840s or 1850s or so with its marble fireplaces. The parlor has picture rail molding but I guess no heavy plaster decoration on the ceiling.
There is absolutely no way this house was built in the 1930s, don’t be ridiculous.
I’m not commenting on the price, I have no idea.
Lest we forget: The cute little carriage house just got bought at the auction and will be undergoing some massive renovations for the near future — I’d expect a bulkier building next door.
I lived close to Clark on Hicks and our house and our neighbors were built in 1847.
bkhts2 – tyvm, I do remember that ongoing project (there was some pissing contest between MTA and ConEd over damage to the partial work completed on the shell…the explosion WAS related to the ongoing work, but you are correct, the reno was happening before and after said explosion…pretty sure if you search BHB or the Brooklyn Eagle there have been mucho stories about it).
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By NorthHeights on July 1, 2010 4:43 PM
This house was probably built in the 1850s, so yes, it’s pre-Civil War.
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Do you know that for certain? Or just guessing? Because that is not what P-Shark represents, and don’t they just feed in data from what the DoB records show?
Logically I would expect this to be late 1840s, consistent with most of its neighbors…but on the other hand there are buildings on Garden Place (1 block over) that are from the 1910s and 1920s, so the 1930 built date may be correct.
This house was probably built in the 1850s, so yes, it’s pre-Civil War. However, as mentioned, the cornice has been removed, so it doesn’t have as much curb appeal as a couple of its neighbors to the south (left – see google streeview). Also looks likes the brick was painted red – an odd thing to do to red/orange brick!
If the owner is going to keep the garden floor as rental, then the house cries out for a small garden/parlor floor extension to relocate the kitchen to the rear of the parlor level, and use the front parlor as a living room as intended. The marble mantel in the kitchen looks silly, and who wants their kitchen looking out on the street? Alternatively, this could be converted back to single family with the kitchen and dining room nicely relocated to an original spot on the garden floor.
This isn’t near Love Lane. This is between Joralemon and State. Great location for park access and close to Borough Hall subways.
As for price, I think Maly is pretty spot on for the neighborhood and what this house needs for most buyers who are actually capable of paying in this range.