167-year-old townhouse asking $6.5M tops Brooklyn luxury market

Historic townhouses in Brooklyn Heights and Clinton Hill topped the Brooklyn luxury market last week.

The house at 21 Schermerhorn Street, built in 1855, was the most expensive property to go into contract last week with an asking price of $6.5 million, according to a weekly Compass report of homes listed for $2 million or more.

The 25-foot-wide townhouse spans 5,500 square feet and has seven bedrooms and 3.5 bathrooms. It has original plaster work, floor-to-ceiling windows, parquet floors and an eat-in kitchen. It also has a primary suite with a walk-in closet and spa-like bath. The landscaped yard comes with an irrigation system.

21 Schermerhorn Street (Street Easy)

It’s the second week in a row a historic townhouse led the Brooklyn signed-contracts list. Last week the most expensive was a townhouse built in 1847 that once belonged to Henry Wells, who founded companies that would go on to become American Express and Wells Fargo. (The latter firm’s other founder was William Fargo.)

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The second most expensive home that went into contract last week was 144 Saint James Place in Clinton Hill, which was asking $5.3 million.Built in the 1860s, the townhouse is 22 feet wide and spans 4,400 square feet. It has five bedrooms and 6.5 bathrooms.

Its features include high ceilings, an original pier mirror, a marble fireplace, an open kitchen with updated cabinetry and a custom metal deck that overlooks the garden and patio. It also has new plumbing and electric.

144 St James Place (Compass)

With July 4 wiping out a workday and the spring selling season over, only 17 luxury homes went into contract last week — 11 townhouses and six condo units — down from 30 the week prior. It was the first week that fewer than 20 luxury homes went into contract since the last week of May.

The median asking price of the 17 homes was $3.2 million and the average price per square foot was $1,383. Their asking prices were a combined $61.6 million — a 1 percent discount from their initial listing — and they spent an average of 53 days on the market.