American Express tycoon’s 174-year-old townhouse tops BK luxury market

A Brooklyn Heights townhouse topped the borough’s luxury market 174 years after it was built.

The priciest of the 30 contracts signed last week was 158 Clinton Street, which asked $6.6 million, according to Compass’ weekly report of homes asking $2 million or more.

The house, built in 1847, was home to Henry Wells, a businessman who founded the precursors to Wells Fargo and American Express. Much of the 4,200-square-foot home’s original detail has been preserved, including an etching of Wells’ name he scratched into a third floor window in 1861.

The four-story, 25.5-foot-wide house has five bedrooms and four full bathrooms. It has 12-foot ceilings, oversized windows, marble mantels, a wood burning fireplace, hand nailed hardwood floors and the grand oval staircase has a circular skylight above it. A separate garden floor unit has two bedrooms and access to an unfinished basement.

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37 Strong Place (StreetEasy)

The second most expensive home to enter contract last week was 37 Strong Place in Cobble Hill, asking $5.8 million.

The 3,250-square-foot townhouse has four bedrooms and three bathrooms. It also has a wood-burning fireplace, maple flooring and floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a terrace that gives onto the backyard.

The thirty luxury homes that went into contract last week included 15 townhouses, 14 condos and one co-op. The total was up from 26 reported the week before.

The median asking price was just under $2.9 million and the combined asking prices of the homes was $97.8 million. The average price per square foot was $1,322. Homes spent an average of 107 days on the market and on average did not receive a discount.