Cathedral Condominiums, 555 Washington Avenue: Review and Ratings

Review of 555 Washington Avenue by Carter Horsley

This extremely attractive, four-story building at 555 Washington Avenue between Fulton Street and Atlantic Avenue in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn was erected in 1915 at the Cathedral College of the Immaculate Conception and converted in 1988 to 45 condominium apartments.

A September 22, 2010 article by Suzanne Spellen at thebrownstoner.com noted that the Neo-Gothic building was designed by Gustave Steinback and that John Gillis was the architect for the condo conversion that was made by Norman Kirscher, who paid $2.7 million for the building in 1988.

The school was founded by the Bishop of Brooklyn in 1914 and continued at this location until 19985 when it relocated to Elmhurst, Queens.

A subway station is very close.

Bottom Line

With its handsome and impressive gargoyles, arched windows, and red-brick-and-stone façades beneath a large pitched roof, this former school building is one of Brooklyn’s most attractive residential properties and has some unusual layouts.

Description

The red-brick building has some large and handsome gargoyles.

It also has light-colored stone window surrounds and a broad, decorative bandcourse above the first floor, which has large arch windows.  The building’s fenestration is multi-paned and the building has many finials and a two-story slanted tile roof. 

The second-floor windows have decorative stone spandrels and there are protruding piers between the windows on the lower two floors with thin bandcourses between the tops of the windows on the second floor.

The windows on the third floor are beneath a thin, curved copper element on alternate window bays.

A building corner is chamfered.

The building has some protruding air-conditioners.

Amenities

The building has a part-time doorman, a live-in superintendent, a laundry and a bicycle room.

Apartments

Apartment 3N is a two-bedroom unit with a large, angled entry foyer that leads to a 15-foot-square living room next to a 17-foot-long, angled dining area with an open kitchen. One of the bedrooms is angled and has a small angled terrace.

Apartment 3K is a two-bedroom duplex with a 9-foot-long entry foyer that leads past a bedroom and an 18-foot-kitchen with a breakfast bar to an angled 14-foot-wide living room with a staircase to a 16-foot-long sleeping loft.

Apartment 3J is a two-bedroom duplex with a 16-foot-long entry foyer that leads past an enclosed, 7-foot-wide kitchen to an 8-foot-wide dining area, a 7-sided bedroom, and a 15-foot-wide living room with a 14-foot-high ceiling and a staircase to a 19-foot-long sleeping loft.

Apartment 1C is a one-bedroom duplex unit with a 16-foot-long living/dining room with a small enclosed kitchen with a loft and a 15-foot-long master bedroom and a 25-foot-long recreation room on the lower level.

Apartment 1A is a one-bedroom unit with an entrance through a curved garden to a 19-foot-wide living/dining room with a 7-foot-wide open kitchen and a spiral staircase to a 26-foot-wide lower level.