Quote Of The Day: ‘Brooklyn is similar to London or Paris’

By on March 20, 2012 1:01 am in Real Estate

The Financial Times House & Home section ran a thoughtful story last week that compared and contrasted residential buying in New York City versus London.

It began, “New York and London remain the grandes dames of the property world. The super-rich still want to park their money in these two ‘old world’ metropolises.” Further down, Elizabeth Stribling, founder and president of New York-based Stribling real estate brokerage, offered:

Brooklyn is similar to London or Paris in that it’s like a city of neighborhoods. You have Park Slope, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Williamsburg, DUMBO, each with their own personality, and yet you’re 10 or 15 minutes from Manhattan by subway.

There’s a lot more to read in the piece, including an entertaining quote that many in Brooklyn Heights can relate to, about the dreaded coop interview. Says Kirk Henckels, executive VP of Stribling, “Our advice to applicants usually consists of: Dress like you are going to your great auntie’s funeral, be as boring as hell, and ask no questions.”

(Collage: Chuck Taylor/stock images)

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  • Jorale-man

    I think it’s hard to generalize. London and Paris have many diverse neighborhoods as does Brooklyn. If you think of Central London, particularly the residential areas, there is some similarity to Brownstone Brooklyn in that both are relatively low-rise (compared to Manhattan) and favor rowhouse-style architecture.

    Brooklyn’s infrastructure lags behind both cities, however, in terms of roads, mass transit, etc. It also has fewer gardens and parks. Perhaps a more interesting question is, what London or Paris neighborhood is Brooklyn Heights most alike?

  • stuart

    Both London and Paris are national capitals. As such they benefit from a tremendous amount of money lavished on the streets, parks, national monuments, institutions, etc etc. Washington DC, although not as magnificent, is pretty darn magnificent. There is nothing like being a capital city, especially a former or present royal capital.
    Brooklyn is a merchant city. In no way even remotely benefiting from patriotic national largesse. Our street grid is a mess, our commercial streets are tacky, litter and graffiti are everywhere.
    We have a ways to go to be a refined, cosmopolitan city like London or Paris or Rome or Madrid or Berlin or Vienna. Keep dreamin!

  • cat

    It’s not surprising that the comparison is being made by a real estate broker. Real estate brokers want to sell real estate, and if they can make people think Brooklyn is similar to London and Paris…well, then. I love how they don’t mention Bed-Stuy or East NY.

  • Andrew Porter

    I understand many of the Brits who live in Brooklyn prefer the brownstone neighborhoods because they remind them of the many low-rise neighborhoods of London, especially Kensington. I also once read an article that said that Brooklyn Heights was the equivalent of London’s South Bank, only without the massive train station and railway tracks.