BROOKLYN HEIGHTS — The Brooklyn Heights Association has secured a remarkable location for its 2026 Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse: the 1852 landmarked One Monroe Place (aka 100 Clark St.), which has recently completed a 10-year gut restoration.
The Designer Showhouse, held every two years since 2017, is BHA’s primary fundraising event, and like the civic organization itself, the project combines an appreciation of the historic with an awareness of emerging trends and talent. This year the event opens to the public from Oct. 2 to Nov. 1.
One Monroe Place under reconstruction in February 2023. Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle
The corner mansion’s nine bedrooms, seven baths and rooftop terrace will present a distinctive canvas for 17 designers and architects to show off their creativity.
As in the 2024 Designer Showhouse, the participants represent a range of styles — from the vibrant interiors of art historian Hannah Blumenthal, founder of Studio Olivine; to the New York- and Paris-based interiors and collectible furniture designs of Llewellyn Chupin; to the pattern-driven, functional and “lived in” classic designs of SRF Interiors.
Architect Erika Belsey Worth and designer Ellen Hamilton are serving as event co-chairs emeritus, and the honorary design chair has not yet been announced.
“We’re always excited about the wonderful and historic homes that serve as the Designer Showhouse,” BHA Executive Director Lara Birnback told the Brooklyn Eagle. “And this year there’s something extra exciting since so many of us watched the near destruction and then resurrection of this special house.”
The top floors of the building at 100 Clark St. were demolished in May 2008. Photo: MK Metz/McBrooklyn blog
From riches to rags to riches again
Originally built in the Greek Revival style for New York merchant Samuel Bell, One Monroe Place was later enhanced in the 1860s with its distinctive mansard roof, according to BHA.
By the 1890s, the corner building was home to the Weirs, the Brooklyn Heights family behind James Weir Floral Company. The business, on Montague Street, has been in continuous operation since 1853.
Times changed, however. A Certificate of Occupancy issued by the city Department of Buildings in 1950 showed the building had been subdivided into three apartments per floor. After the turn of the century, the former showpiece was declared an “at-risk structure” by the Historic Districts Council.
The former mansion as it was being demolished in May 2008. Photo: MK Metz/McBrooklyn blog
In May of 2008, the New York City Department of Buildings was notified that a door of the building was bowing out, and the same condition existed on the third floor and roof.
DOB deemed the structure, owned at that time by the Penson Cos., structurally unsound. Three rent-stabilized tenants were immediately removed from the premises and relocated, and the top two and a half floors, including the hallmark mansard roof, were demolished. A lawsuit halted the rest of the demolition, a new roof was built to keep the elements out, and the mansion spent the next decade as a neighborhood eyesore.
A demolition worker can be seen on top of 1 Monroe Place (aka 100 Clark St.) in May 2008. Photo: MK Metz/McBrooklyn blog
New owner, new plans
Newcastle Realty Services bought the building in 2010 for $1.2 million, according to The New York Times, and a reconstruction permit was issued by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2011. But still nothing was done after Newcastle decided to change the design, the Eagle reported.
In 2016, Newcastle and architect Tom van den Bout of NV/design.architecture announced a new plan, which would meticulously restore the building to its former glory.
After full demolition was stopped, a partial roof was built in June 2008 to keep out the elements. Photo: MK Metz/McBrooklyn blog
The LPC approved the proposal in August of that year, noting that the building’s “style, scale, materials and details are among the features that contribute to the special architectural and historic character of the Brooklyn Heights Historic District.” Its reconstruction would return “a significant contributing building to the streetscape and to the historic district,” LPC added.
In 2017, the Brooklyn Historical Society hosted a discussion with Margaret Streicker Porres, president of Newcastle Realty Services, and van den Bout, who discussed their method of working from archival plans and historical photos.
The Brooklyn Heights Association will be holding its 2026 Brooklyn Heights Designer Showhouse at the restored 1852 mansion, One Monroe Place. Photo: Mary Frost/Brooklyn Eagle
The reconstruction took 10 years. The mansard roof was restored. Ultimately, the mansion will consist of a single family on the upper floors and two studios at the garden level.
The Designer Showhouse will open the building to the public, with each room decked out by the participating design talent, starting Oct. 2. The Opening Night Party takes place on Wed., Sept. 30. To learn more, visit brooklyndesignershowhouse.com