Cozy One-Bedroom With Mantel, Window Seat in Eclectic-Romanesque Heights Building Asks $545K

It’s on the third floor of an unusual late Victorian apartment building that was given a neo-Colonial makeover in 1942.

by Stephen Zacks

12/11/2018 0

This petite one-bedroom — maybe 500 square feet at best — is situated in an unusual Romanesque Revival, late Victorian apartment building with a rusticated brownstone base, brick, and rounded cast iron bays with arched tops. Then there’s the odd front door that looks like it was made for Bilbo Baggins by Michael Graves, probably a 1940s neo-Colonial replacement.

149 Willow Street is within the Brooklyn Heights Historic District, and according to the Landmarks map was designed by J. S. Glover and built in 1889. The Landmarks Preservation Commission identifies it as “Eclectic-Romanesque.” That’s an understatement.

The building was remodeled in 1942 by Oscar I. Silverstone to increase the number of units in the building, which explains the square footage of this place. (There are now 20 apartments.) The Avery Library’s New York Real Estate Brochure Collection heavily suggests the fanciful front door could have been his intervention. You can’t quite see what the previous situation was with the door from historical photos.

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The kitchen and bathroom are not pictured in the listing, which — along with a glimpse of ’80s laminate cupboards in the living room — suggests there may be work to do. Despite the co-op’s size, some of the nicer features are the stained glass panels at the top of the bays, decorative fireplace, window seat, refinished wood floors, several closets, and windows in the kitchen and bathrooms. The building has an elevator, and there is laundry and open storage in the basement.

It’s being shown this evening from 5:30 to 7 p.m. by Sherri Polin of Corcoran. It’s asking $545,000, and the monthly maintenance is $655. Think it has potential?

[Listing: 149 Willow Street, APT 3B | Broker: Corcoran] GMAP