The House on the Hill

Today's Photo of the Week showcases a beautiful home in Bay Ridge at 8311 Ridge Boulevard. This stunning mansion at the top of a hill is still standing today, though it is located at the corner of 84th Street and Ridge Boulevard, not 85th Street as this postcard states. The house is one of my favorites among the many lovely homes in my neighborhood. Its columned front porch with a curved entryway is perfectly proportioned, and its decorative elements are elegant but not ostentatious. The verso of this circa 1940 photographic postcard reads:

This beautiful example of Dutch Colonial architecture is offered for sale at $25,000. This magnificent home built on a plot of ground 100x150 has 12 rooms--4 baths, 2 car garage, nicely landscaped. There is a recreation room in the form of a ship's bridge on the top floor.

The real estate agent who produced this postcard, John B. Swift, was described in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle in 1938 as a "well-known Bay Ridge realtor." Other coverage in historic newspapers indicates that one former resident was Herbert F. Gunnison, who was associated with the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper for over 50 years first as a reporter and later as publisher, president, and chairman of the board of trustees. From what I could find in historic atlases, the house was built sometime between 1898 and 1905.

$25,000 in 1940 is equivalent to about $557,000 today. That's still far below what the real estate website Zillow currently estimates as the value of this property - a whopping $2.7 million. I think I'll be continuing to enjoy this building from afar.

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