Bed Stuy

Bed Stuy ‘Crooklyn’ House Turned B&B With Lush Period Details, Central Air Asks $4.5 Million

'crooklyn' house interior of 7 arlington place

by Susan De Vries

09/14/2022 0

It starred as the family home in Spike Lee’s semi-autobiographical 1994 film ‘Crooklyn’ and now, less than a decade after an impressive restoration and stint as a bed and breakfast, the 1880s Bed Stuy brownstone is on the market. It made some headlines when it sold, unrenovated, over the asking price for $1.7 million back in 2013. This time around the price tag is $4.5 million.

The listing for the single-family property doesn’t stint on photos, showing the rich original woodwork, wood mantels with colorful Minton-style tiles, wainscoting, coffered ceilings and original stair. The Renaissance Revival-style brownstone, one of a row of four, was designed by George P. Chappell, who had a long Brooklyn career designing buildings that were, according to Brownstoner columnist Suzanne Spellen, “vastly different from each other, and from what everyone else at the time was doing.”

It debuted as a bed and breakfast in 2015 after the new owner had painted woodwork stripped, added a modern kitchen on the garden level and decorated the spaces with a mix of modern and Victorian-inspired design touches.

The four-bedroom, 4.5-bath home includes a long parlor with wall moldings and picture rails highlighted in gold. The adjacent dining room has modern toile wallpaper and an elaborate built-in china cupboard.

On the garden level, the large eat-in kitchen has exposed beams, a radiant heated brick floor laid in a herringbone pattern, soapstone counters and an island clad in brass. An expanse of glass at the rear includes doors to the rear yard, shaded by a pear tree more than 100 years old, according to the listing.

Brick arches, rubble walls and original ceiling beams were retained in the cellar, which was styled as a moody speakeasy with the addition of a brass bar and blue built-ins. Radiant floor heat probably makes it a bit more comfortable than speakeasies of yore.

The four bedrooms spread over the top two floors all have wood mantels with colorful tile, making a total of seven in the house. Lincrusta wallpaper with touches of gold runs up the staircase to the second floor.

The top two floors each have two full bathrooms, and a new owner might want to add back some closet space. One of the bathrooms features period border tile along with a claw foot tub and hex tile floor.

A closet on the fourth floor holds the laundry and the floor also has the typical small half bedroom that could work as an office, child’s room or storage.

A roof deck isn’t shown but has its own irrigation system, according to the listing.

During the renovation, the house also got mechanical and electrical upgrades, central air, a new boiler and a home security system.

It’s listed with Josh Doyle of Compass. If it sells at or above ask, it won’t eclipse the Bed Stuy record of $6.275 million, but it does approach the cost of a grand Park Slope house — and might be about a million more than any single-family house on a single lot in Bed Stuy ever sold for. What do you think of it?

[Listing: 7 Arlington Place | Broker: Compass] GMAP