Real Estate

Crown Heights Brick House Loaded With Prewar Details, Two-Car Garage, Porch Asks $1.599 Million

This early 20th century tapestry brick townhouse appears to be in remarkably good original condition and has three bedrooms, two baths and built-ins.

by Stephen Zacks

07/01/2019 0

This early 20th century tapestry brick townhouse in Crown Heights is brimming with original detail in remarkably good original condition, such as a dining room whose textured wall panels still have their original faux leather finish. The 1970s kitchen and mid-20th-century bathroom could perhaps benefit from strategic updates but overall it appears to be in good condition and comes with a two-car garage, backyard, deck and porch.

It’s a single-family at 172 Crown Street with a cute red door, canopy, front porch, and two-pronged parapet. The house and its neighbors on either side of this stretch of Crown Street were constructed between 1915 and 1916 by Realty Associates and were advertised as “Easy Housekeeping Homes,” for families who desired the “comforts of an entire house without the absolute necessity of servant help,” as one ad of the time put it.

Original charms included walnut woodwork, gas-log fireplaces, and “artistically tinted tiled mantels,” according to another ad of the time. While some of the woodwork has been painted and the creamy fireplace tile covered in red brick, the parlor still has its bright street-facing picture window, neo-Colonial fireplace, French doors, and parquet with inlaid borders.

The room may have once had neo-Colonial columns separating it from the entrance and now has built-in bookcases flanking the fireplace. The dining room has impressive faux leather-finished Anaglypta paneling, a coffered ceiling, and built-in china cabinets surrounding a window seat.

A swinging door leads to a side galley-style kitchen, which has a tiled floor and circa 1970s wood cabinetry. Beyond the kitchen is a deck, garden and two-car garage.

A paneled stair leads to the three bedrooms, including a master bedroom with broad picture windows overlooking the street. The bedrooms look much as they must have when built, with parquet floors and picture rail molding.

There are four built-in closets and a sink in a pass-through between the two larger bedrooms. The upstairs also has a mid-century pink bathroom (it could lose the 1970s-era sink), and the other bathroom is in the basement.

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Located in south Crown Heights near Medgar Evers, Prospect Park. the Brooklyn Botanic Garden and the Spice Factory development site, 172 Crown Street last sold in 2015 for $1.25 million. Surprisingly, and happily, the new owners seem to have made relatively few changes, beyond taking up the wall-to-wall carpet visible in the previous listing, which also shows the pass-through.

Listed by Erica Sullivan of Erica Sullivan Properties, the property is having an open house from 6 to 7 p.m. on Wednesday, July 3. The asking price is now $1.599 million, an uptick of more than 25 percent. Will it fly?

[Listing: 172 Crown Street | Broker: Erica Sullivan Properties] GMAP