Real Estate

Petite Rent Stabilized Studio in Clinton Avenue Italianate Manse Asks $2,120 a Month

It isn’t exactly overflowing with space, but the small unit does offer a perch on the top floor of one of the grand 19th century houses that line the leafy avenue in the Clinton Hill Historic District.

by Susan De Vries

01/14/2021 0

A rent-stabilized apartment on the top floor of a Clinton Avenue manse seems like an unusual find. It is a studio that isn’t exactly overflowing with space, but the petite unit does offer a perch on the top floor of 415 Clinton Avenue, one of the grand 19th century houses that line the leafy avenue in the Clinton Hill Historic District.

The brick Italianate dates to the 1860s but got some stylistic upgrades from a later owner, including the picturesque porch. There’s some colorful history behind the house, including a silverware heist detailed by Brownstoner’s Suzanne Spellen. By the 1920s the formerly single-family house was operating as an event space, hosting weddings and events for groups like the Illuminati Club (a women’s cultural organization) before becoming home to the Universalist Church of Our Father. The circa 1940 tax photo shows a white cross installed above the porch.

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When it was a single family home, the top floor likely housed the servants quarters. The 1900 census shows there were four women, mostly of Irish descent, working for the resident family. Now that space includes this studio with a kitchen niche. There are white walls and wood floors in the living space along with a low partition to provide a little privacy for a bed to be tucked next to the three windows in the space.

The kitchen has a sunny yellow countertop, white cabinets and full-size appliances, including a dishwasher. The bath has a blue and white theme with a checkerboard tile floor and white fixtures.

There is laundry in the basement and an on-site super. The listing notes that there is a 15 percent broker fee for the rent-stabilized unit in this walk-up building. Rent is set at $2,120 a month and it is listed with Nadine Adamson and Kelsey Hall of Brown Harris Stevens. Worth the ask?

[Listing: 415 Clinton Avenue #9 | Broker: Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP