Two Buildings on South Elliott St.

 

This distinctive Queen Anne house in Fort Greene, Brooklyn has quite a history.

Originally built as a one-story, wood-frame house in the 1870s, it was bought and enlarged by a lawyer named Anthony Barrett. It was then purchase by Salvatore Cantoni, a wealthy Wall Steet banker, who expanded it even further, adding the towers and oriels and distinctive fish scale shingles on the facade. Cantoni rented the house out for years. Eventually, ownership passed to others, and by the 1980s, the house was deteriorating and going into foreclosure. The city wanted to demolish the building, but it had been landmarked as part of the Fort Greene Historic District in 1978. In 1993, in the middle of a building inspection, the house collapsed, leaving only the front facade standing.

The property continued to auction and sold for $45,100. However, the bidder thought he was buying a fixer-upper, not a single wall! And so he backed out of the deal. Eventually, another buyer was found, who rebuilt the house utilizing the remaining facade.

A few years later, the address made news for tragic reasons. In 2003, it was the residence of a man named Othniel Boaz Askew. Askew wanted to run for City Council, and had some sort of fixation on the current councilman, James E. Davis. He convinced Davis to allow him to accompany him to City Hall, thereby bypassing the metal detectors, Askey shot and killed Davis in the middle of the chamber, himself then being shot by police.

Next door is this two-family brick and stone house. It doesn't seem to have an infamous history to it. It was built sometime in the late 1800s, and has an adjoining twin, painted brown and red.