The Oscar-winning actress and her husband, Paul Bettany, bought the detail-laden limestone mansion overlooking Prospect Park in 2003 for $3.7 million; the 6,500-square-foot townhouse changed hands two more times since then: the couple sold it for $8.5 million to a Google exec who divested of it in 2015 for $12.4 million (a neighborhood record a the time). It’s on the market once again asking $14.5 million. Filled with historic detail and dressed to the nines, the elegant home is exactly what you’d expect to find behind the elegant facade of a Park Slope limestone. Built in 1899 and designed by renowned architect Montrose W. Morris, the 25-foot-wide five-story home at 17 Prospect Park West is a showcase of stained glass windows, mahogany columns and herringbone floors, with five working gas fireplaces, a 600-bottle wine cellar and a verdant gated yard.
Brooklyn townhouses
Cool Listings, Interiors, Windsor Terrace
This Brooklyn townhouse is unique in that it comes with a south-facing front porch. It’s large enough to place some chairs and a small table and looks down over the front garden. And out back, there’s a charming backyard with custom wood fencing and lighting, specially designed by a landscape architect to bloom flowers from spring into fall. All this excellent outdoor space–just as the weather starts to heat up–comes from the Windsor Terrace home at 225 Windsor Place. The interior isn’t bad either, as it boasts a modern, renovated kitchen alongside some restored historic details. After last selling in 2008 for $1.497 million, the home is now asking $2.25 million.
Cool Listings, Interiors, Park Slope
This Park Slope duplex is located just one block from Prospect Park and Grand Army Plaza, and chock full of prewar details inside. Taking up two floors of a historic brownstone at 85 8th Avenue, the rooms are lined with detailed stained glass, the original moldings, hardwood floors with an incredible walnut inlay, and painted brick walls. In the wintertime there’s a working fireplace, and for the summer there’s a private deck. For such a dreamy Park Slope offering, something that’s sure to make old house lovers swoon, it’ll cost $1.095 million.
Cool Listings, Interiors, Red Hook
This three-family brick townhouse comes from Brooklyn’s waterfront neighborhood of Red Hook. The area is known for its striking views of the Lower Manhattan skyline, and the listing promises those same views from the top floor of this home, located at 371 Van Brunt Street. Add in tin ceilings and fireplaces throughout the lower levels, and the historic property, now on the market for $2.5M, is sure to charm.
Cobble Hill, Cool Listings, Interiors
This may be a traditional Brooklyn brownstone on the outside, but the duplex rental occupying its parlor and garden floors looks as modern as it gets. The home, located at 284 Warren Street in Cobble Hill, underwent a gut renovation in 2007 and has been occupied by the same owner ever since. They’re now renting out the bottom two floors for $8,500 a month, and any new renter is going to like one thing in particular, especially with summer coming up–a double-height wall of glass that frames the private, stone-paved backyard.
Cool Listings, Interiors, Williamsburg
This multi-family townhouse in Williamsburg, at 455 Grand Street, offers a buyer plenty of opportunities to get creative. It is currently configured with a ground floor commercial space, a basement recording studio, an owners loft, and rental apartments above. The listing suggests it could be transformed into a massive single-family property, or the zoning even allows you to build an extra floor. The current home, however, is full of cool details, like glass walls, lots of exposed brick and a floating staircase that leads you to a sleeping loft.
Cool Listings, Gowanus, Interiors
Valentine’s Day may have just passed but the backyard of this Gowanus townhouse looks romantic for any day of the year. Decked out with greenery, tea lights and a mini guest house, it’s a nice perk to the historic brick three-bedroom, two-bathroom triplex townhouse at 112 14th Street. The $1.495 million pad is plenty charming inside, too, with exposed brick walls, four fireplaces and high ceilings throughout.
Bed Stuy, Cool Listings, Interiors
588 Madison Street is a French Neo-Grec brownstone built in 1889 by the architect William Godfrey. While the single-family, Bed-Stuy home is steeped in history, a recent owner has brought it stylishly into modern day. The owner/developer, a principle at the design firm KGBL, specializes in designing high-end furniture. Here, they played off the existing historic details to add some unique, modern touches. And the mashup of historic and modern is asking nearly $3 million.
Cool Listings, Historic Homes, Park Slope
In the coveted environs of north Park Slope, steps from Prospect Park on a pretty tree-lined and landmarked block, this Brooklyn townhouse beauty at 594 Second Street has all the historic details homeowners here work so diligently to preserve, yet with every modern comfort in place. Understated luxuries–like tall french doors that open out to a landscaped garden, two decks, three wood-burning fireplaces, a sauna, an upstairs family room and a laundry room make this historic house a home–albeit an expensive one. Starting in July, you can rent this regal residence for an equally regal $17,500 a month (furnished or unfurnished).