Scouting NY is having a Halloween contest in which you submit a picture of your favorite local eerie property and win tickets to NY’s infamous Nightmare Haunted House! This is what my submission would be…
This is what I imagine it looks like when a house possessed by evil opens one eye to stare at you:
This and dozens of other creepy windows can be found on what I consider to be the spookiest house in Brooklyn, 1305 Albemarle Road:
1305 Albemarle was once of the most beautiful homes among the many gorgeous offerings in Ditmas Park.
However, for many years, 1305 has been allowed to fall into a tragic state of disrepair by its current owners:
Wood is rotting, and flaking paint can be found everywhere:
The balcony on the west side is in equally bad state…
…and I swear, every time I drive by, I expect it to have finally collapsed:
Meanwhile, the drooping colonnade seems on the verge of tumbling through its four support columns onto the porch below:
And then, there are the windows. I’m quite confident that Charles Addams himself couldn’t come up with a creepier third story window, and I envy the local kids, whose imaginations can run wild with what lurks on the other side.
Dilapidated and sinister, 1305 Albemarle has an unbelievable number of window designs, and almost feels like a showcase for a window company:
These rounded bay windows appear on both the first and second floor…
…and man do I love that spiderweb design in the center:
1305 Albermale was built in 1905 by architect HB Moore for one G. Gale. It’s one of my favorite homes in New York City, but every time I pass by, it’s in noticeably worse shape than the last time I saw it.
Ask any of the neighbors about the home owners and they’ll just sigh and shake their heads. Everyone in the neighborhood loves this house, and is sorry to see it die a slow death. Someone mentioned that it was on the market a few years ago for $4 million, then removed. Check out these two beautiful windows:
Another fascinating window on the opposite side of the porch:
A circular window above the colonnade:
The side of the house is equally imposing…
The wide chimney running up its height almost feels like it’s holding the structure up…
I especially love this rounded projection of windows (term, anyone?)…
…with its ornamental copper roof – doesn’t get much more haunted house than this!
Ditto goes to the two quarter-circle windows abutting the third floor chimney:
And hidden behind a bush, two more windows – wonder what that small square window was for?
The house continues much farther back than you’d expect:
A dozen different variations in windows on the upper porch:
The back of the house…
And finally, those eyebrow windows…
Never forget: 1305 is watching you.
Have a favorite spooky locale of your own? Doesn’t have to be in New York! Enter the Scouting NY Halloween contest today!
-SCOUT
Leave a Reply