Kensington House Where Children's Author Ruth Chew Brewed Her Tales of Magic Asks $1.99 Million

There are no guarantees the house is full of magic, but for decades this Kensington row house was home to 20th century children’s author Ruth Chew, who spun tales of enchantment for young readers. Those 29 adventures, the bulk published in the 1970s and 1980s, frequently took place on the streets of the neighborhood, with nearby Prospect Park a prominent backdrop.

Ruth Chew Silver and her husband, lawyer Aaron B. Z. Silver, moved into the limestone row house at 305 East 5th Street in 1953, and there Ruth produced her chapter books, and the accompanying illustrations, aimed at new readers. With titles like Magic in the Park, The Witches Button and The Witch at the Window, the slim volumes, many recently reissued by Random House, usually featured a boy and a girl encountering a magical experience while going about their everyday life in Brooklyn. In the latter book, a brother and sister live in a house on East 5th Street around the corner from Church Street and “four long blocks from the park.”

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The house the family purchased was one in a row of two-story houses built in the early 20th century by R. P. Sherlock and Peter J. Collins, with a mix of bow and angled limestone fronts stretching along the block. The houses were completed by at least 1911 when the builders advertised them as “charming Flatbush homes” with hardwood floors, electric lights and steam heat. The Silver family owned the house until 2001, when it was sold to the current owner; Ruth died in 2010.

Set up as a single-family, the legal two-family house still has many of the original details while the wet rooms have gotten some updates. Many of those original details are concentrated on the first floor, where the wood floors with inlaid borders start at the entry and continue through the parlor and into the dining room. The entry also has an original stair with newel post, and a doorway framed by columns that leads to the parlor, a feature seen in another house on the row.

That parlor has stained glass windows in the angled bay, but the most detail-filled space is the dining room beyond, with the coffered ceiling, wainscoting and plate shelf so popular during the period. There is more stained glass and also a built-in buffet framed on either side by glass-fronted china cabinets. A vintage scenic wallpaper graces the wall above the wainscoting — no witches in sight.

At the rear of the house, the windowed kitchen got a recent renovation with a blue tile backsplash and wood cabinets that lean a bit more orange than the other woodwork in the house. A staircase provides access to the rear yard and down to the basement.

Upstairs are four bedrooms and two full baths. Two of the bedrooms are set into the front and rear bays and all have wood floors and picture rails.

The full baths have both been renovated, one with a bit of a nod to period style with a pedestal sink and subway tile and the other heavily brown. In addition to the two full baths there are powder rooms on the first floor and in the basement. That basement is “partially finished,” according to the listing, and has an updated laundry room and is currently used as a gym and music room.

Other updates to the house include new electrical, a new hot water heater and central air. Outside, the paved rear yard includes a spot for dining, planting beds and opportunity for a gardener to bring some of their own magic to the space.

Listed with Mara Ingram of Compass, the property is priced at $1.999 million. If you are interested in seeing it in person there is an open house by appointment on Sunday, April 24 from noon to 2 p.m. What do you think?

[Listing: 305 East 5th Street | Broker: Compass] GMAP

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