Results tagged “victorianflatbush”

The tour of Victorian Flatbush was nearly canceled this year, but Brownstoner points out that the show will go on. This Sunday you're invited to take a very close look at the neighborhood, which was developed over 100 years ago "to be a piece of suburban living just minutes from Manhattan." Your ticket will get inside 10 homes, but sadly, you'll have to go back to your own digs at the end of the day with some serious real estate envy. We can barely even look. Get more details here (tickets must be purchased by tomorrow).

Earlier this year we looked at the $1 Victorian Flatbush home; since then the area has earned a This Old House Top 12 Places to Buy title, and filled the role of "The Hamptons" on Gossip Girl. Could the neighborhood be Brooklyn's next diva? Take a look at some of the gorgeous houses in the very un-city like setting. [via Mercurialn's Flickr]

Brooklynometry has a heartwarming tale from the days of old New York. The story is of one anonymous Brooklynite's family home in Victorian Flatbush which was about to be lost during the Depression when a west coast well-wisher stepped in and purchased it for $1 (plus taxes). The catch was that she promised to leave it to the family in her will.

Thankfully she was an honest person, and she did just that, so the house is now back in the family. Between the early 40's when this deal took place, and the time of her death in the late 70s, she turned the house into a boarding house. Sailors, soldiers, merchant marines, businessmen, and even a few businesswomen (including my mother when she was in her early 20s) rented rooms there. It was run very strictly; no visitors allowed upstairs, and doors had to be left unlocked during the day so the homeowner could come in and clean up/make the beds. She also made breakfast for the roomers.

This woman was quite smart, she got a house for $1 and made a profit off of it! When she died in the 1970s, the family got ownership of the house again. This would so not happen these days.