Inside the Historic $6M Bed-Stuy Mansion with a Presidential Connection
Bed-Stuy‘s most expensive single-family home has a set of new photos that gives us a closer look into the work that’s been put into bringing this storied home back to life. Designed by Montrose Morris and modeled after a Gilded Age Vanderbilt mansion along Fifth Avenue, this spectacular house known as ‘The Kelley Mansion’ was built for water meter magnate John Kelley in 1900. The mansion was a favorite hangout of Kelley’s pal President Grover Cleveland and has for the better part of its existence been affectionately referred to as the ‘Grand Dame’ of Hancock Street. The home fell into disrepair over the decades, but savior Claudia Moran, a retired ad exec, dedicated a great deal of her time and money restoring the mansion after buying it up for just $7,500 in the 1980s. It’s now selling for $6 million.
The mansion sits on an 81′ x 100′ with a building footprint of 41′ x 60′ and top to bottom Brownstone encompassing an entrance framed in a carved arch set between two bay windows. Past the arch, the main hall meets the billiard room with a ‘smoking’ balcony to the back.
The entrance hall is finished with French walnut, with Corinthian columns and high paneled wainscoting with carved panels and silk trimmings. Parlors 15′ x 50′ deep sit to the left of the entrance and are divided in the center by fluted Corinthian columns and and an oak arch. Similar details appear all throughout the mansion, including the bathroom with its gorgeous claw-foot tub.
The rose garden has its very own Koi pond—the perfect place to contemplate the home’s incredible past—and the up-and-coming neighborhood also has plenty to offer, including a great community and wonderful shops, restaurants and cafes.
More photos below.
[Listing: 247 Hancock Street by Ban Leow, Howard Ramial and Lance Bertrand at Halstead]
Images courtesy of Halstead
