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In Noted Row, Bed Stuy House With Mantels, Renovated Kitchen, Sunroom Asks $2.35 Million

March 22, 2023

One of a stretch of intriguing English Arts and Crafts style houses by Brooklyn architect William B. Tubby, this 1890s Bed Stuy row house has a renovated interior with a garden rental and a triplex above.

At 394 Lafayette Avenue, it is near the Bed Study and Clinton Hill borders and within walking distance from the Pratt Institute. The houses, which stretch from 384 to 396 Lafayette Avenue, have a connection to Pratt founder Charles Pratt. While the wealthy Pratt was in the oil business, he also dabbled in housing with his Morris Building Company. The company built a number of speculative houses, including this row. Plans were filed in 1892 for 10 brick and stone houses with three stories over a basement, with one of the 10 wrapping around to Classon Avenue. As Brownstoner columnist Suzanne Spellen described it, Tubby took elements of the English Arts & Crafts and translated them to Brooklyn row houses “designed to look twice their width by a clever use of rooflines and mirror imaging.”

No. 394 is indeed narrow; the basement is 14 feet wide. But the clever floor plan maximizes the full width of the rooms and, unusually, staggers the width of the footprint of each level.

The triplex manages to fit a living room and kitchen with sunroom on the parlor level, a bedroom and office above and, on the top floor, a suite with access to a petite terrace. The one-bedroom garden rental has in-unit laundry and access to the rear yard.

The renovated interior isn’t awash in period details, but an old listing shows many of those still in place before the renovation appear to have been retained. This includes a mantle in the parlor, updated with a modern tile surround, and the central stair. The rear parlor was turned into a modern kitchen with dark lower cabinets and white uppers, white subway tiles, and colorful “Fruit Doves” wallpaper by Flat Vernacular.

Finishing off the parlor level, a powder room with in-unit laundry was inserted into a former closet. A door and steps down lead to a mudroom transformed into a sunroom with a heated floor of encaustic tiles that match the parlor mantle surround.

The two full baths were relocated. A new en suite bath for the top floor has a claw foot tub, a large step-in shower, pedestal sink, and a black and white basketweave tile floor.

The brief listing doesn’t mention any mechanical upgrades or the condition of the rear yard.

The house last sold in 2015 for $1.068 million. Listed with Keith Arthur and Dan Bentov of Compass, it is priced at $2.35 million. What do you think?

[Listing: 394 Lafayette Avenue | Broker: Compass] GMAP