Crazy Stable

It was our pleasure yesterday morning to offer refreshments to an intrepid Forgotten New York walking tour of Victorian Flatbush. The group had cookies and lemonade and heard a few tales to prime them for their exploration of the lush enclave a block away; I shared this reflection on life just outside a rock-star historic district.

Spouse and I tagged along for our umpteenth tour of our own neighborhood, because there's always something new to discover in Prospect Park South.  Newcomers always love the "Greek temple" houses, like this one on Buckingham Road...

...or this one, the raffish "Spider Web House"...

...with its Morticia Addams windows.

Here's two sweet details from Buckingham Road, a turret I've actually been inside (it's next to a top-floor ballroom in a shingle-style pile)... 

...and the exuberant palette of the famed Japanese house plus its maple foliage screen.

Several of these grande dames were having facelifts. One was stripping away siding to reveal decades-old shingles.

  This one had undergone a complete chemical peel. Some tour guests seemed surprised that Landmarks gets a say on what colors you can paint your house in a historic district. (We, on the other hand, could paint the Stable hot pink and neon green and no one could stop us. Hm, there's an idea.)

It was a four-hour ramble, too much to recount in one bite. Tomorrow: Flatbush tour, part II: Old ghosts and new gardens.