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Sun 05.17.2009

The 50th Annual Park Slope House Tour

Buy your tickets on line now! The House Tour once helped save a deteriorating neighborhood. Now it raises thousands of dollars for grants to organizations that help make this one of the nation's great places to live.

When: 12:00 PM - 5:30 PM SUNDAY, MAY 17

Where: Starting Point: Poly Prep Lower School
Prospect Park West and 1st Street 
  

Mark the date on your calendars for this year's House Tour, out 50th! This self-guided walking and shuttle-service tour is the Park Slope Civic Council’s main fund raising event. Money raised by the Tour are returned to the community as grants to local schools, charities, cultural institutions and other organizations.

This year, to celebrate this important anniversary, homes in all areas of Park Slope will be on view, with vans providing continuous shuttle service to specific drop-off/pick up points. Before hopping on a van, you are invited to take a short tour of the Poly Prep Lower School, our starting point, to view how beautifully this 1892 mansion and its new addition were integrated.

Special feature:
“The Architecture of Park Slope”
A narrated slide show by Francis Morrone, an architectural historian, 28-year Park Slope resident, and long-time art and architecture critic for the New York Sun. His books include "An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn" and "The Park Slope Neighborhood & Architectural History Guide," published by the Brooklyn Historical Society. Rotunda of Congregation Beth Elohim, 8th Avenue at Garfield Place, 6pm. House tour tickets required. Seating is limited.

Advance House Tour tickets will be sold:

  • Online, available now. (Tickets purchased online can be picked up the day of the tour, along with tour brochures, at our starting point, Poly Prep Lower School.)
  • Beginning May 1 at these merchants and realtors:

Aguayo & Huebener, 138 7th Avenue (Garfield and Carroll)
Astoria Federal Savings, 110 7th Avenue at President St.
tb shaw realty associates, 197 7th Avenue (2nd and 3rd Streets)
Brenton Realty, 322 5th Avenue (2nd and 3rd Streets)
Brown Harris Stevens, 100 7th Avenue at Union St.
Dixon’s Bicycle Shop, 792 Union Street (6th and 7th Avenues)
Dizzy’s Diner, 8th Avenue and 9th Street
Ideal Properties Group LLC, 78 7th Avenue at Berkeley
Warren Lewis Realty, 123A 7th Avenue, near Carroll Street
Windsor Café, 220 Prospect Park West at 16th Street
Zuzu's Petals, 374 5th Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets

Highlights:

This grand 1881-2 Neo Grec home features fine woodwork, stained glass and a stunning dining room with casement windows.  A 13-foot-tall giraffe from Zimbabwe presides over the hallway, and Toulouse-Lautrec lithographs hang in the parlor.  The lovely garden contains a collection of architectural elements from Chicago’s Gold Coast mansions which were demolished in the name of “Urban Renewal” during the late 1950s and early 1960s.  Tucked away in a far corner is the koi pool, a destination for contemplation.

This 1890-91 Queen Anne brownstone, a former rooming house, has been transformed into a contemporary family home, full of light, with a handsome, skylit kitchen.  Three-dimensional artwork by Perez Melero is on view.

The owners of this 1886 Neo Grec have created a dramatic, modern interior including a three-story skylight with openings on all floors.  Light fills the huge kitchen, and a loom and barber’s chair reside in the living room.  

Stenciling, wallpaper decoupage, and favorite motifs of the late 19th century Aesthetic Movement - peacocks and sunflowers - abound in this 1883 Neo Grec, a former rooming house.  The tiles surrounding the dining room fireplace feature scenes from Tennyson’s Idylls of the King.

Birds-eye maple woodwork, lovely mantelpieces and a central staircase are hallmarks of this 1898-99 Neoclassical home.  Cherubs peer down from the parlor ceiling, and mermaids frolic on the bathroom wall.

Stunning wallpaper decoupage and lincrusta wallpaper are highlights of this grand 1878 Victorian Villa.  The handsome kitchen features an inviting window seat and glass tile from upstate New York.  Chinese figures preside over the dining room.

A major renovation of a dilapidated 1906 Neo-Georgian resulted in this serenely lovely home with a mahogany-paneled dining room.  In the sleek kitchen, custom-designed open display shelves boast a 900-piece collection of Fiestaware.  The daughter’s charming bedroom, with its endearing collection of teddy bears and dolls, feels like a tree house with sunny backyard views.  

A major renovation of a run-down 1880s frame house has resulted in a beautiful home full of surprises, mostly acquired during the couple’s travels.  African statues, a copper vase from Mexico, Cambodian textiles and a magnificent Venetian chandelier are on view.  A cast iron stove sits in the living room, and a large, lacquered portrait of a female royal from Vietnam presides over the bar.  Adjacent to the handsome kitchen is a garden with a koi pond.

This 1874-75 Italianate brownstone, as featured on the front page of the November 9th issue of the Sunday New York Times real estate section, underwent a brick-to-brick modern renovation in 2007.  This created a dramatic, contemporary triplex with an oversized skylight providing abundant daylight throughout the house.

Many, many thanks to the sponsors who help make this year's tour possible:

Additional information: download