Park Slope’s famous pink brownstone will lose its polarizing, Pepto-Bismol hue, city officials decided on Monday.
The new owners won permission to add a coat of brown paint to the landmarked home on Garfield Place, which has been an object of curiosity and an icon of Park Slope quirkiness since 1971, when the city included the rosy residence in a historic district — effectively setting the odd color choice in stone.
That is, until its buyers requested permission to make the building match the rest of the block, according to Landmarks Preservation Commission spokeswoman Lisi De Bourbon.
“There are a lot of mixed emotions about the decision to paint the townhouse brown,” she said. “We [considered] whether those changes will be consistent with the color of the buildings around it, and whether the changes will be consistent with the history and the architecture of the building that’s being repainted.”
The new buyers, who acquired the home between Polhemus Place and Fiske Terrace for $2.2 million, did not return repeated requests for comment.
But the broker who represented 95-year-old seller Bernie Henry — the man who painted (and even repainted) the home pink — said the color didn’t stand in the way of the building’s sale.
“It’s such a beautiful house with such a great location, so the color is really not a problem,” said Rachel Aylward of Brenton Realty.
Tacky or twee depending on your perspective, the home was certainly eye-catching — and that was a good thing, according to long-time Park Slope resident and artist Jonathan Blum.
“I didn’t exactly like it — but I appreciated it because it stood out and it was bold,” he said. “Painting a brownstone? No one does that!”
— With Natalie O’Neill
