On a hidden Brooklyn Heights street, two pricey townhouses are up for grabs

There aren’t many houses on tiny Sidney Place, a two-block stretch sandwiched between Henry and Clinton streets in Brooklyn Heights, but two of them just came onto the market. Despite the fact that they share a block, the homes are wildly different in style—and price.

The more expensive of the two, located at 16 Sidney Place, is a lovely Federal-style townhouse that’s gotten an ultra-contemporary revamp—though you wouldn’t know it by looking at the exterior. Inside, the 6,600-square-foot home is kitted out with all mod cons: gas fireplaces, energy-efficient windows, a smart home system, customized everything, you get the idea.

There’s an elevator connecting the home’s floors, along with a custom-built cantilevered staircase that adds a decorative element. And there is, of course, a remodeled backyard with an open-air cabana and a swing. The cost of all that luxury: $11.8 million, making it one of the borough’s most expensive homes for sale. (Here’s a floorplan.)

For those who don’t need all the swanky bells and whistles, there’s the townhouse at 2 Sidney Place, which isn’t exactly cheap, with a price tag of $4.75 million. It’s also quite different in style: the house itself was built in 1846, and it has the slightly old-fashioned interiors to match—or, as the brokerbabble puts it, it’s the “perfect balance of old world charm and modern convenience.”

The four-story home has three bedrooms, three and a half bathrooms, two kitchens (including one off of the third-floor study), and its own outdoor space. That study also has a nifty loft space, and there’s plenty of space throughout. (Here’s the floorplan.)

So let’s pretend we have the money to spend on an extravagant Brooklyn Heights townhouse: Would you go for hyper-contemporary gut-reno job, or old-world charm in a pre-Civil War structure? Sound off in the comments.

• Listing: 16 Sidney Place [Corcoran]
• Listing: 2 Sidney Place [Brown Harris Stevens]