Mon, Oct 10, 2016
A stone mansion in New York City known as the Gingerbread House is on the market for interested overseas investors.
Set upon a nearly 6,000 sq ft in the Bay Ridge section of Brooklyn and built in 1917, the iconic arts and crafts-style home was designed by the late architect James Sarsfield for shipping mogul Howard Jones.
On and off the market since 2009, the property at 8220 Narrows Avenue is newly listed by Keller Williams NYC for $10.99 million.
Nearly 100 years old, the home is one of the first landmarked properties in Bay Ridge.
The six-bedroom mansion offers a total of 5,764 sq ft of space. The first floor has a great room, dining room with fireplace and music conservatory, all with cherry and mahogany flooring and hand-sculpted wood reliefs.
The music conservatory hosts a great stone hearth, the essential core of its architectural style, accented by carved stone columns and sculpted stone reliefs.
The home’s exterior footprint covers an area of 20,000 sq ft and includes a quarter acre parade ground green space. Pocket gardens surround the property.
The terra cotta tiled kitchen with separate staff service area, leads to an outdoor dining patio that connects to terraced patios. A ground floor patio, surrounded by a stone wall with water feature and a stone archway connects to the three car garage.
The home’s architecture displays clarity of form and structure through the use of a variety of materials, asymmetry, traditional construction techniques and craftsmanship, all of which define the arts and crafts movement, according to the agent.
Whether you are an author, actor, performance artist, philosopher, industry titan or innovator, the sculpted wood reliefs, stained glass, hand carved stone fireplaces, mantles and columns will transport you across continents and centuries, the agent says.
The interior, expansive and uplifting, has been “curated to perfection”. Stained glass illustrative of history, fantasy and fairy tales abound. Interior stonework reflects natural settings and pastoral images emblematic of the arts and crafts movement.
The fountain room connects the great room to tiered exterior terraces where the owner’s lemon trees may grow or chamber musicians may perform.
The whimsical property has had only four owners in 100 years and its current owners are a couple who are two New York society figures.