Cobble Hill Row House Facing the Park Asks $8.3 Million

The view from the stoop is the selling point. At 247 Clinton Street, a 19th-century brick row house sits kitty-corner to Cobble Hill Park, and the asking price reflects the address: $8.3 million, according to a listing held by Compass broker Paul Murphy.

The house is a two-family inside the Cobble Hill Historic District, more than 22 feet wide, and one of a row likely built around 1849. The district’s designation report credits John Greacen, a local resident who lived on Warren Street and, with his son, developed other blocks in the neighborhood. Some of those blocks are purely Greek Revival; this row captures the moment that style was giving way to the Italianate. An 1855 map shows the group already in place, and an 1886 map shows No. 247 with a wood-frame bump-out added at the rear. Its stoop has been altered, but the brick facade, modest lintels and cornice remain, and because the house abuts a shared driveway, its side and rear are visible from the street. The property also comes with a parking spot, a rare perk in this part of Brooklyn.

The house has not changed hands in decades and is organized as a garden-level rental beneath an owner’s triplex. The one-bedroom garden unit has wood floors, a mantel, built-in shelving and a galley kitchen. It was a Brownstoner Rental of the Day in 2018, and few details appear to have changed since.

The triplex is where the character lives. The parlor level has double parlors with wall moldings, picture rails, wood floors and hand-formed ceiling medallions, under windows that run nearly floor to ceiling. The front parlor holds one of the home’s two wood-burning stoves; the rear parlor has a columned mantel. Pocket doors lead to an eat-in kitchen with a terra-cotta tile floor, a galley kitchen with white cabinets at one end, dining space at the other and doors to a rear deck.

The staircase keeps its original newel post and curved rail on the way up to two bedrooms. The rear bedroom opens onto an enclosed porch that was evidently once a sleeping porch. Ringed with windows and finished with wainscoting and a bead board ceiling, it now serves as a bathroom with a claw-foot tub and the second wood stove, plus a glass door to a terrace over the leafy back yard.

The third floor can work as a full-floor suite, with front and rear bedrooms joined by a dressing room, another full bath, a small study and a laundry room. Outside, a brick patio has room for seating, bordered by planting beds of trees, shrubs and perennials.

For this weekend of the Halloween run-up, the location has a seasonal bonus. Cobble Hill Park, across the corner, hosts the neighborhood’s popular parade for young revelers.