Townhouse of Park Slope’s First Gentrifiers Listed for $4.8M | Bedford NY Real Estate

Location: Brooklyn, N.Y. Price: $4,800,000 The Skinny:Identified by theNew York Times in 2004 as “the original gentrifiers,” Evelyn and Everett Ortner dedicated their lives to the historic preservation of Brooklyn’s Park Slope, campaigning against big development projects, pushing for the neighborhood to gain landmark status, and setting a shining example by meticulously maintaining and restoring the 1886 four-story brownstone that they bought for $32,000 in 1963. With both Ortners now gone—Everett died in 2012, Evelyn in 2006—the house now finds itself back on the market for $4.8M. Featuring original mahogany woodwork, parquetry ornamentation, Lincrusta wallpaper, and its original heating system (uh-oh), the 5,043-square-foot house is one of the best preserved specimens in an area where people are paying above ask for historic properties on a regular basis—a phenomenon that Everett Ortner was not above jokingly taking credit for, telling friends he’d convinced to buy townhouses in the ’60s, “I made you all millionaires, and I think you should give me a commission.”