Park Slope is brownstone Brooklyn at its most intact, and most of it is a historic district. The four-story rowhouses between Prospect Park West and Fourth Avenue were built in the 1880s and 1890s with plaster, parquet, marble mantels and plumbing that has been redone two or three times since. Renovating here means respecting the details that matter, fixing the floors and walls that have moved for a century, and doing the paperwork for landmarked blocks and co-op boards. We are thirty minutes from Rego Park.

The housing

Brownstone and limestone rowhouses on the blocks between Prospect Park West and Fifth Avenue, usually divided into an owner's duplex and one or two rental floors, with bathrooms stacked on an old stack and kitchens at the rear of the parlor or garden floor. Pre-war and post-war co-ops along Prospect Park West, Eighth Avenue and Union Street with boards and alteration agreements. Toward Fourth Avenue and Gowanus, newer condos with concrete slabs and management rules. Floors are rarely level, walls are rarely plumb, and that is the starting point for every estimate.

What we are asked to do here

  • Kitchen Remodeling: Garden-floor and parlor-floor kitchens in brownstones off Seventh Avenue, opened toward the rear with a beam sized by an engineer and venting routed to the exterior.
  • Bathroom Remodeling: Rebuilding stacked bathrooms in a rowhouse in one mobilization, with new branch lines, waterproofing and tile that suits the house.
  • Drywall and Painting: Plaster repair and full skim coats through parlor floors where settlement cracks and decades of paint show under daylight.

Permits and building rules

Most of Park Slope is inside a historic district, so exterior changes such as rear extensions, windows and facade work go through the Landmarks Preservation Commission; interior kitchens, bathrooms and plaster work do not. DOB permits apply to plumbing, gas, electrical and structural changes and are filed by licensed trades or an architect, which we coordinate. Co-ops along Prospect Park West and Eighth Avenue require alteration agreements with insurance, license and schedule, and occupied rental floors need a tenant protection plan.