Real Estate

Park Slope Limestone With Aquarium, Library, Six Fireplaces, Dramatic Staircase Asks $6 Million

This neo-Renaissance limestone row house got high-end renovation and restoration in 2011 from Delson or Sherman Architects.

by Stephen Zacks

12/23/2019 0

Given a high-end renovation and restoration in 2011, this neo-Renaissance limestone row house is testing the market for a single-family home with impressive original details and modern updates in the Park Slope Historic District.

Historic notes include extensive unpainted woodwork, a dramatic original staircase, stained glass and six mantels with working gas fireplaces. Designed by well-known Brooklyn firm Delson or Sherman Architects, the updates at 556 1st Street are equally snazzy and include a new kitchen and bathrooms, cedar closets and an extensively revamped English basement level.

The latter now has a media room with a built-in aquarium, an office, guest quarters, a wet bar and radiant floor heat throughout. On the opposite end of the house on the top floor is a laundry room, walk-in closet, and dedicated library with rolling ladder and space for 2,000 volumes on its built-in shelves.

The architects also added all new mechanicals with zoned central air, Marvin and Optimum windows, and a new roof.

The public rooms are grouped together on the parlor level, and the house’s center stair winds around a dramatic chandelier that cascades through several stories. The front parlor was opened up in a previous renovation, and both the parlor and dining room have attractive original inlaid floors, unpainted paneled wainscoting, and working fireplaces with tile surrounds and neo-Classical columns.

The photos show additional details such as decorative plaster molding and pocket doors. The staircase has particularly attractive Queen Anne-style barley twist spindles and newel posts with fluting and carving.

The kitchen has a modern-organic feel with minimalist bamboo cabinets, soapstone counters and white tile backsplash. The stainless steel appliances include a Thermador oven and Sub-Zero Refrigerator.

The top two floors include four large bedrooms with fireplaces and other original details, the intact original passthroughs with marble sinks, numerous closets and updated bathrooms.

One of the bathrooms pictured has marble tile walls and glass shower surround. The other has white tile walls and a tub. Both have magnificent stained glass windows.

Outdoor spaces include a brick-walled roof terrace paved with slate over the extension and a landscaped backyard with built-in seating, bluestone patio and horizontal fence.

All in all, it’s a classic townhouse with tip-top modern updates. We covered the story of the renovation in an Insider column in 2015.

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556 1st Street is located on a park block in the north Slope, part of a full-block row built in 1909 by Louis Bonert and designed by architects Eisenla and Carlson, according to the designation report. The architects also designed Renaissance Revival townhouses in Bay Ridge and apartment buildings in Sunset Park, as Brownstoner columnist Suzanne Spellen has detailed. Like others on the block, this one has a dogleg stoop and is four stories including the English basement, with a curved bay that extends the entire height of the house. The doorway is flanked by columns, with a floriate entablature above the door and carved panels above the windows. The bracketed and dentiled neo-Classical cornice is made of sheet metal, according to the report.

Last sold in 2009 for $3.525 million, it’s now on the market asking $6 million in a listing from Terry Naini of Brown Harris Stevens. Is the price right for today’s market?

[Listing: 556 1st Street | Broker: Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP