Wednesday, June 17, 2009

September 4, 2007

House of the Day: 18 Winthrop Street

18winthropstreet.jpgToday's house at 18 Winthrop Street isn't the most stunning house in Prospect Lefferts Gardens but it's no slouch either. The 1905 one-family brick house has a pleasing symmetry to it but the steps and elevated brick porch area look a little odd to us. Anyone know if they are original? The one interior provided in the listing shows off some swanky parquet floors and gorgeous stairway. The house has the added benefit of sitting on a 132-foot-deep lot. The nicest houses in this area are now in the $1.3 to $1.5 million range so the $849,000 asking price on this place may be a nice way in for those on slightly lesser budgets.
18 Winthrop Street [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP P*Shark

Comments

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Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 2:40 PM

I made a comment before the 'test' and it never showed up, hmmmm

Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 2:53 PM

Nice house, but I would not even consider living that close to Flatubush on any PLG block except maybe for Midwood. Certainly not on Rutland or anything south of it. I've spent enough time in the area to know that those corners get really, really noisy in the summer. And even without the radio-playing people hanging out all night, who wants to live that close to a major highway? If the house were further down the block...

Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 3:05 PM

Its also the ghetto w lots and lots of section 8. PLG is only attractive at prices lower then this.

Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 4:04 PM

how wrong you are
I actually live there, south of Midwood and very close to Flatbush. I like it fine people...just fine. i think 4th Avenue is alot worse with noise than Flatbush! All that construction and 4 lanes
Now THAT is a Highway

Posted by: tomgee at September 4, 2007 6:46 PM

I really like PLG and am looking for a house there, as well as some other areas. But I agree about not wanting to be that close to Flatbush. I've gone by many nights and seen crowds of people hanging out on the corner of Rutland and Fenimore, playing loud music. And while PLG is not a "ghetto," those apartment buildings are indeed mostly section 8 housing. You can hear the music blasting from apartments and you can see the drug deals happening on the stoop. I am sure that "tomgee" is happy there, and I'm sure others are too. But that is not something I want to live that close to. A block away is OK, or even a good ten houses, but not right next door.

Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 9:19 PM

Do any of you have any first hand experience at all with this neighborhood? You'd have to have a death wish to want to live in this place. This place is a dump, but even if it weren't a dump it sure as heck is worth dying over. It's weird how common sense disappears as soon as people start thinking about real estate. Many people stop thinking about their families and about those who care for them and instead deceive themselves into believing that an outhouse like this can somehow be turned into a home. Well, it can't. Maybe it could be a good crack house, but a lot of improvement would be needed even for that.

Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 9:46 PM

I don't think the house is a dump. It's actually quite nice. The neighborhood is a dump and I'd never live in PLG myself, but that's different.

Posted by: guest at September 4, 2007 9:51 PM

guest 9:46 PM,

Unlike you I have many years of experience living in PLG, raised a family there and have been very happy [as regular readers know]. However, I guess I have to defer to YOUR expertise as to what would make a good crack house because that's what you must have been smoking when you made your assinine comment.

Mr. B asks about the steps and elevated brick porch area. IIRC the row of houses like this one and the similar row on the south side of Parkside do have an elevated porch area. I can't tell from the picture if this one has been altered. I just returned from a long vacation and didn't have a chance to look at 18 Winthrop today, but I'll take a look tomorrow and report back.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at September 4, 2007 10:13 PM

My Gosh, how do you people know that these places are mostly section 8?

Many of the "apartment" buildings on Wintrop are coops.

It's summer time, people hang out on the street and play music. On the corner of Flatbush are many eateries so DUH you will see people there. I live on hawthorne between Flatbush and Bedford and I have never had a problem ONCE with anyone, have not been robbed not even noise.

guest at September 4, 2007 9:19 PM
a house was just listed on hawthorne between flatbush and bedford in the 20s...good luck

To all the HATERS, prrdominately Black don't mean whack... continue paying out your nose for a lil space in Park Slope

Posted by: guest at September 5, 2007 12:17 PM

I just checked out 18 Winthrow. IMO the steps and elevated brick porch area IS original, but has been painted on this house and the rest of the row.

Guest 12:17 is correct--some of the apartment bldgs. on this block are co-ops and FWIW all look well maintained.

Posted by: Bob Marvin at September 5, 2007 1:25 PM

I was refering to the apartment buildings on Flatbush south of Maple, all of which have many section 8 tenants (you can look that up, you know). This house is just a few in from a building with lots of section 8 tennants. As for the "eateries" on Flatbush--that was funny. Look, you can be happy there, that is great. But I do not want to live that close to drug deals and constant noise. As I said, I very much like PLG, so calling me a "hater" is plain dumb.

Posted by: guest at September 5, 2007 1:43 PM

guest at September 5, 2007 1:43 PM

I guess Section 8 folks should be quarantined lest they infest uppity folks like you.

Posted by: guest at September 5, 2007 2:20 PM

It's amazing how so many people still have black=drugs and poor=dangerous mentalities. I'm a single woman and I have never felt in threatened or uncomfortable in PLG. I think those who do need to look inside themselves for the source instead of pointing at other people's skin color or bank balances.

OTOH I'm glad these people are too scared to live in PLG. It'll help keep the prices down for the good folks.

Posted by: guest at September 6, 2007 9:20 AM

I have lived three stoops away from 18 Winthrop Street for 20 years. Long before there were any "brownstoner" blogs to tell me about a neighborhood.

I have raised two children and had a very happy life on this block many of you are too scared to visit.

I have a huge back yard that most people in Park Slope only dream about. And a mortgage that is affordable.

I hope you stay out of my neighborhood, we are very happy in our dump without you.

What I don't understand is why boggers feel they can be so rude about different lifestyles, is it because they are anonymous?

Posted by: guest at September 6, 2007 8:50 PM

Wait one tutting moment, I happen to pass this house while people were standing outside, it's owned by WHITE people, well certainly at least 4 WHITE people were outside there, one in the doorway in "house" clothes hmmm

So Mr. Brownstone man, do you only promote "White" people's homes?

Maria

Posted by: guest at September 9, 2007 8:30 PM

Saw the house. IMO it's overpriced by 200k. Water-stained parquet floors upstairs needed work badly, kitchen was an outdated wreck, english basement had no windows at all, just front and back doors. BHS really aggressively prices places in this neighborhood: the good ones sell at ask, true, but the crappy ones sit forever, and they did very little to make the place seem worth it. While a mint 2 story with english basement in the manor proper might be worth in the 900s, there's no justification for asking this much for a place that needs so much work.

Posted by: guest at September 10, 2007 11:01 AM

the most dangerous and noisy thing about plg is the swarms of eight and nine-year-olds on bicycles ---> many of them are cannibals and carry automatic weapons and pee where they are not supposed to

Posted by: guest at September 12, 2007 4:07 PM

the most dangerous and noisy thing about plg is the swarms of eight and nine-year-olds on bicycles ---> many of them are cannibals and carry automatic weapons and pee where they are not supposed to

Posted by: guest at September 12, 2007 4:07 PM

The same exact brick 1 family house sold on parkside last month for around 800k with a smaller backyard. Yes the floors in two bedrooms need sanding/polyeurethene and the new owner will have the opportunity to put in kitchen cabinets and appliances of their choosing in a large kitchen space that has ceramic tile floors and leads out to a lovely deck and huge yard or into a characterful dining room with original beamed ceilings and built in china cabinets. The english basement has 2 windows in the original bedroom/small bathroom which were meant for the house servant. The house is 100 years old: all the walls/floors are straight and the architectural details and integrity have withstood the test of time with the exception of 2 original stained glass windows that few of these brick houses on Winthrop and Parkside still have in the upstairs skylights. The house has a big storage room under the "odd looking elevated" porch (originaly the coal storage room), much more storage than most huge brownstones/limestones.

The neighborhood is the park, that's what you buy the house for: 1 block to the subway, 1 block to prospect park at the skating rink, short walks to many major cultural institutions including the Brooklyn museum, the botanical gardens, the Audobon center, the Zoo, the state of the art tennis/ball courts on Parkside and some of the most interesting childrens' play areas in prospect park (including imagination park). A short train ride to Coney Island and the aquarium. A lot of stores where you can buy lovely fresh fruits and vegetables/newspapers, a pharmacy, a supermarket, 2 local hardware stores, more carribean food delights than may seem necessary, but all yummy! All withing walking distance. A family smorgasborg of good living!

There were crack houses on the block about
10-15 years ago when most of "brownstone" Brooklyn was wrestling with this issue. Today you will find a group of cohesive homeowners, a neihborhood economic institution with a wonderful art gallery on it's top floor (CAMBA), and a mix of apartment renters/owners who look out for one another and eachothers' children and speak to one another daily.

Posted by: guest at September 15, 2007 10:02 AM

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