Oldest House in Brooklyn Heights Gets Gutted and Listed for $10 Million

By Michael Gonik

If you’re an interiors preservationist, or just a candid appreciator of the Federal-style homes scattered across the boroughs, it may be best to avert your eyes and attention turning from Middagh to Willow Street in Brooklyn Heights. 24 Middagh Street, the six-bed, five-bath home that has stood at the corner of those streets for somewhere between 200 and 230 years (reportedly the oldest house in the neighborhood), has hit the market for an astounding $10 million.

But the next owners won’t be getting any historic touches. The unbelievably old wood-frame was entirely gutted in its latest renovation, according to the listing, which will likely be mourned and called a travesty by some. The kitchen, once a landing zone for Swedish dignitaries, is now fit with a sleek marble island and polished aluminum appliances, the yard has been leveled and repaved, and the windows are now double-hung to meet energy efficiency standards, which are all pretty standard updates for a building of this age.

Truth is, though, whoever settles in never really had a chance to absorb the full brunt of histories collected across and between its walls. Per a pretty thorough expo from Brownstoner, the home has been renovated, reconfigured, and expanded upon as many times as you’d expect in its two-ish centuries of existence. Built some time between 1790 and 1829, the Federal-era flourishes were likely long gone by the time city records finally caught up with the home’s ownership, showing in 1933 a Fitz Randolph as the owner, who finished the building’s first documented remodel by 1936, when Randolph moved in with his wife Carolyn Wydman, after hiring local architect Sidney Daub to “modernize” the house. The Randolphs were the ones to convert what was previously a two-car garage on the back of the property into a separate carriage house in 1938. Eight years later, they sold the place to the Duffields, who sold it to the Dublins, who handed the keys to Eli and Tomi Weisman, the parents of the home’s final owners before this latest rehab. Each of these owners, no doubt, brought their owner flair to the space. But the Weismans seemed to have had an appreciation for some of the home’s more worn details, preserving the 1930s-style bathroom and the 10-inch-wide floor boards that came with the home.

All of this is to say there wasn’t a whole lot of history left at 24 Middagh by the time Christie’s took it to market. But we’re sure it will make for a stellar second or third homestead for its next tenants.