Michelle Williams Settles on Ditmas Park Fixer-Upper Mansion

BUYER: Michelle Williams
LOCATION: Brooklyn, N.Y.
PRICE: $2.45 million (last asking)
SIZE: 6,480 square feet, 8 bedrooms, 6 bathrooms

YOUR MAMA’S NOTES: Although none of the several property record databases we peeped at and perused reflect a recent transaction, one of our Brooklyn-based mates dropped us a digital note this morning to let us know that the fine folks at Brooklyn-based blog Ditmas Park Corner say they’ve confirmed Oscar-winning actress and longtime Brooklyn resident Michelle Williams has bought — or is in the process of acquiring — an unquestionably elegant if decidedly down-on-her heels fixer mansion on a leafy, esplanaded block in a landmarked section of the historic Ditmas Park neighborhood just south of Prospect Park.

First listed at $2.8 million and last listed on the open market with an asking price of $2.45 million, the 18-room residence was designed by architects Robert Bryson and Charles Pratt and built in the early 1900s with a liberal mish-mash of architectural vernaculars that, as best as we can surmise, gleefully careens from Victorian, Colonial Revival, Greek Revival, Palladian and Queen Anne. According to online marketing materials, the stately but sadly threadbare residence, currently humiliated with practical if déclassé asphalt siding applied to look like brick or stone, has eight bedrooms, six bathrooms and eight gas and wood-burning fireplaces with original tile work and mantelpieces in 6,480 square feet spread over three floors plus a high-ceilinged basement

Towering fluted columns support a grand, double-stacked porch and make for a high-toned entrance to the sizable center hall entry that retains original dentil moldings, a curved “bridal staircase” and original stained glass sky light. (We’re just going to look right past the dingy orange carpeting throughout much of the main floor since we can all bet the farm it will be ripped up and tossed out long before Miz Williams ever moves in.) Spacious sitting rooms flank the foyer, the larger of which has a pair of fluted Corinthian columns that divides it from the dining room. There’s a slender sunroom that overlooks the side yard, a big eat-in kitchen that isn’t pictured in any of the online listings we looked at so we’re just going to assume it’s well beyond outdated, and a guest or staff suite with a second, smaller kitchen.

On the second floor an office/den with private porch is joined by three ample en suite guest/family bedrooms — one with private terrace and both with original built-in cabinetry — along with an extensive master suite complete with bedroom, dressing room with original built-in wardrobes and cabinetry, roomy bathroom with original fixtures, a sleeping porch and a balcony. There are four more large bedrooms — two with direct access to private porches — and bathroom and tucked up on the third floor. The 0.3-acre corner parcel doesn’t allow for too much in the way of outdoor living space but does appear to accommodate a detached single-car garage.

It was late last year and early this year that Miz Williams, a three-time Oscar nominee, most recently appeared in all the property gossip columns with her rather lovely and fully rehabbed townhouse in Brooklyn’s Boerum Hill that she listed and subsequently sold to an unknown buyer for $8.8 million, well above its $7.5 million asking price.

Listing photos: Mary Kay Gallagher Real Estate

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