Alison Beshai of Resource Library’s Brooklyn Brownstone

This 1899 Brooklyn Brownstone Apartment Has Huge Windows in Every Room

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About this tour

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Home Type

Apartment

Location

Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York

Style

Organic Modern

Vintage

Bedrooms

1

Square feet

750

Sq ft

750

In 2021, when Alison Beshai and her roommate were only one year into a two-year apartment lease, Hurricane Ida flooded their home, and Alison was unexpectedly faced with trying to find another place to live without any planning or preparation.

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Credit: Nasozi Kakembo

Something guests always ask about? "My rotary landline phone lol. People always ask if it’s real and if it works. The answer is yes."

“I was frantically looking for places in the neighborhood (I have lived in Bed Stuy since I moved to New York and knew this was where I wanted to be) and had applied to a couple places before I found this one,” she writes of this 750-square-foot apartment within a brownestone built in 1899.

Credit: Nasozi Kakembo

Alison Beshai is the founder and director of the Resource Library.

“When I came to see it the day after it was listed, I knew it was the one,” she admits. “It had an open-floor plan, original molding, windows on every side, and contained a warmth and familiarity that I felt immediately, even when the space was empty.”

Credit: Nasozi Kakembo

Alison is the founder and director of the Resource Library, a lending library making design knowledge and inspiration more accessible in New York City. Members can pay $5 a month to reserve books and publications online, and pick up or drop off titles at Lichen in Ridgewood and Herman Miller on Park Avenue.

Credit: Nasozi Kakembo

"I have many old things in my home, as I’m drawn to vintage accessories and analog devices, but I think the oldest thing is still the home itself," Alison writes.

Design and living spaces are central to Alison’s life. “Making and settling into a home is very important to me — to feel grounded and have an oasis I can call my own — so I knew I was looking for a forever home and not just a place to rent for a year,” Alison admits.

Credit: Nasozi Kakembo

Alison describes the living room rug as "smaller than what is said to be appropriate for the space and layout and serves more like a runner under my sofas instead of an area rug to ground the space, but I love the way it looks and I have such beautiful old floors that I feel to cover them up would be a shame."

Alison officially moved in on October 1, 2021, and has been renting the space ever since. “My favorite thing about making a home is that it grows and changes with you, which this place has definitely done over the past four and a half years,” she explains. “I imagine I will have this apartment for many years to come and we will continue to grow together.”