Our new feature, Monday Mansion, examines the most interesting mega homes on the market in the far reaches of New York. Have a listing in mind that we're missing? Tell us about it. To the outer boroughs we go!
Dean Alvord, the developer who bought up 60 acres of farmland and created Prospect Park South in 1899, characterized his project as rus in urbe, or "the country in the city," and few homes embody that concept quite like 100 Rugby Place, currently on the market for $2.275 million. The two-and-a-half-story home was built in 1900 by Alvord and designed by his go-to architect John Petit, who designed many of the houses in the district including the much wackier Japanese House around the corner. In the Landmarks Commission's Prospect Park South Historic District Designation Report [PDF] from 1979, the house is described as, "an exceptional wooden structure modeled after a picture-esque rustic Swiss chalet." (The report goes on to explain the specifics and theory of its design in great detail—ex: "In order to create a rustic effect, the wooden boards that cover the facade have been laid in an unusual notched manner and not in the overlapping fashion of clapboards"—and is well worth a read.)
The house's first owner was a physician named George H. Watson, and it has since changed hands a number of times, with the most recent owner, who acquired it in 2002, gut-renovating the century-old structure. A number of original details have been maintained over the years, however, including the inlaid parquet flooring, pocket doors, decorative mantels and leaded glass windows.
· Listing: 100 Rugby Road [Corcoran]
· Monday Mansion archives [Curbed]
Loading comments...