A brochure for 35 Prospect Park West (click image for larger version)
From the February issue: When a 3,500-square-foot penthouse duplex at 35 Prospect Park West came on the market in the summer of
2007, the Corcoran Group trumpeted it as “amazing, like no
other.” The five-bedroom Park Slope co-op, with its “glorious
terrace” and “most beautiful sunsets,” sold for $5.1 million
the following August. But back when the 1929-era building
was still open to renters, grandiosity didn’t quite fit.
An early advertisement for the Emery Roth-designed
building lured prospective residents with prices “below
those you might expect to find in such a fine structure and
pleasing environment.” The ad, from a new Columbia University collection of more than 9,200 real estate brochures
dating from the 1930s to the 1970s, echoes a familiar refrain in Brooklyn real estate in the eras before the borough
was trendy.