After landmarking news, historic Carroll Gardens schoolhouse is back on the market for $5M

An unusual Carroll Gardens building, once the first freestanding kindergarten to be built in Brooklyn, is seeking a new owner, asking $4.95 million, now that it may not be headed for the wrecking ball. The Landmarks Preservation Commission calendared the building (along with the apartment building next door), now a unique single-family residence, at 236 President Street for landmark status consideration on Tuesday. Neighborhood residents and concerned citizens–including folk hero Joan Baez, whose grandfather once lived next door–have been rallying to stop the building’s planned demolition as Brooklyn Paper reported last month.

The former Hans S. Christian Memorial Kindergarten was scheduled to be demolished in favor of a six-story condominium building with development firm Avo Construction ready to close on the property last month. Once the building is calendared by the LPC, a public hearing follows. LPC Commissioners will then vote on the fate of the two structures.

The unusual French Renaissance Revival-style building, designed by architects Hough & Deuell, was commissioned by neighborhood resident Elmira Christian, who donated money to fund a kindergarten for the First Place Methodist Episcopal Church. She bought the property at 238 President Street and built the kindergarden on the adjacent lot in 1897 to honor her late husband, Norwegian immigrant Hans S. Christian. The schoolhouse was converted, along with its neighbor, into a residential building in the 1970s.

We’re guessing the developers may be reconsidering the purchase now that the building may be protected. According to the latest listing for the diminutive free-standing building at number 236, the 3,485-square-foot home is ready to be the perfect city townhouse at 27 by 60 feet with an additional 1,353 square foot basement. High ceilings, stained glass windows, original beams and other historic details can be found throughout.

There are yards at the front and back in keeping with the verdant neighborhood, plus a private attached garage and 6,582 square feet of additional FAR.

[Listing: 236 Carroll Street by Brian Lover for Corcoran Group]

RELATED:

• East Village’s landmarked Bathhouse Studios building is up for sale for $20M
• Jemima Kirke is selling her luxuriously bohemian Carroll Gardens townhouse for $4.5M
• Loci Architecture took this 1878 Carroll Gardens brownstone and decked it out with wood

Images courtesy of Corcoran Group.