31 Washington Street
31 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
DUMBO, Brooklyn
BBL 3000287501 · BIN 3388012
- Year built
- 1894
- Type
- Condominium
- Units
- 13
- Floors
- 6
- Landmark
- Designated
Every recorded sale at this building, 2005–2025
Price-per-square-foot over time, the line- and floor-premium curves, and every recorded sale.
- Median $/sf
- $1,257
- Listing discount
- 5.5%
- Recorded sales
- 25
- On record
- 2005–2025
Own an apartment here? See what it would sell for.
A Private Pricing Opinion — what your apartment at 31 Washington Street would likely sell for today, what it costs to sell, and what you’d walk away with — reviewed personally against condition, exposures, renovation quality, and the competition actually on the market.
31 Washington Street is the building in the photograph. The cobblestone block of Washington Street, with brick factory walls rising on both sides and the Manhattan Bridge tower framed dead center at the top of the hill, is the image that sells DUMBO to the world; 31 Washington is the masonry on the downhill corner that makes the frame. Very few residential buildings anywhere are load-bearing to a piece of the city's visual identity. This one is.
The building behind the image is a serious industrial artifact. It went up in 1894 for John Robertson and James Hardie, whose Tubal Cain Iron Works — founded by Robertson in 1863, named for the Biblical forger of bronze and iron — was among the manufacturers that made this waterfront one of the most important industrial districts in the country. The architect was Benjamin Finkensieper, a German-trained Brooklyn practitioner whose industrial work is all over the neighborhood. The LPC's designation report calls the result a textbook example of the American Round Arch style, built with slow-burning mill construction — the heavy-timber-and-masonry system that predates the reinforced-concrete daylight factories the Gair Company would raise a few blocks north a decade later.
Robertson died in 1896, and the building then did what nearly every structure here did — it was leased out. By 1901 Robert Gair was running his label printing department inside it, which places 31 Washington squarely inside the Gairville story that underwrites the rest of the district's residential stock; in 1927 the factory went to the Commercial Can Company, which by then occupied every building on the block.
The residential chapter came in stages rather than in one developer's stroke. The building was altered to residential use in the late 1980s and ran through the 1990s as a thirteen-unit loft building under a single corporate owner; the 31 Washington Condominium declaration was recorded on June 13, 2005, with the first unit deeds following that summer, and amended declarations in 2007, 2010, 2011 and 2026 track the combinations since. What that produces today is unusual: a genuinely small condominium inside an authentic 1894 factory, in a historic district that will never permit a competitor next door.
Architecture and unit composition
The building is a six-story-and-basement brick mill structure on a corner, six bays to Water Street and ten to Washington. The LPC's survey catalogues the surviving detail: segmental-arch openings with corbelled brick lintels, stone sills, iron shutter supports still in place, accordion-brick spandrels, a pressed-metal bracketed cornice, an ornate wrought-iron fire escape on Washington Street and a utilitarian one on Water, and a tapered square chimney on the east wall — which is clad in cheaper brick than the two street fronts, the honest economy of a working factory. The report also records the alterations that made residential use possible: replaced windows, an entrance cut into the eighth Washington Street bay with a raised stair, and a second bay extended down to a sidewalk-level entry.
Inside, the arithmetic makes the building distinctive. Roughly 36,000 square feet over six floors on a 100-by-60-foot footprint, divided among a dozen-odd apartments, produces full-floor and half-floor loft plates rather than the corridor-and-line configuration of the neighborhood's large conversions. Apartments run to the vocabulary the structure gives away free: oversized multi-pane windows on two or three exposures, exposed brick, timber beams and columns, wide-plank floors, skylights at the top. Combinations mean line-to-line comparison is less useful here than in most buildings — the specific apartment's exposures and renovation state carry the pricing.
Building operations
31 Washington operates as a small, board-governed condominium with an elevator and superintendent service and no amenity program — the model that fits a building this size, and one that keeps common charges low relative to DUMBO's full-service inventory. The condominium's earliest financial statements, held in The Roebling Research Library, show the expense structure of a lean building: superintendent, repairs and maintenance, management fee, utilities, water and sewer, insurance. Current management, reserve position and assessment history should be confirmed with the board; The Roebling Team remains the contact of record for clients. Two operating realities deserve weight: an 1894 masonry envelope in a historic district means Local Law 11 façade cycles run through Landmarks review, and the corner that makes the building famous draws steady daylight foot traffic to the lower Washington Street elevation.
Policy framework
Purchaser review: Condominium framework — right of first refusal rather than cooperative-style board approval; standard 30-to-45-day closing pacing.
Leasing, pets and pied-à-terre use: Not publicly documented. The condominium form is permissive by default, but a small building's by-laws and house rules govern the specifics and should be read before contract.
Flip tax / transfer fee: None documented. Confirm current fee schedules, move deposits and working-capital contributions with management.
Alterations and taxes: Work touching windows, cornice, fire escapes or street elevations is a Landmarks matter as well as a Buildings Department matter. No current tax abatement is documented; underwrite the unit's current bill.
Local Law 97
- 2024–2029 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- 2030–2034 annual penalty
- $0 (under cap)
- Per unit / month range
- —
Source: NYC LL84 benchmarking and PLUTO · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
See full Local Law 97 analysis — emissions history, scenarios, methodology →Facade safety — Local Law 11
The latest available filing classified the facade as SWARMP — Safe With A Repair and Maintenance Program: the engineer identified conditions requiring monitoring or repair before the next inspection cycle. The scope, timeline, and how the building funds the work are building-specific — we review the filings and board materials for you.
How to read this, and where it comes from
QEWI = Qualified Exterior Wall Inspector — the licensed engineer the city requires to sign the report (the independent expert, not the managing agent).
Penalties shown are amounts DOB assessed against filings on record across 2005–10 to 2020–25. The FISP dataset does not record whether they were paid, contested or remain open, so treat the figure as history rather than a current balance and confirm the building’s standing with the managing agent.
Source: NYC DOB facade filings (FISP) · The Roebling Research Library. City record last verified September 2026.
Recent sales
Recent closings at this building, curated by The Roebling Team research desk. Prices are the transfer amounts recorded with the NYC Department of Finance; apartment-level detail is checked against the building’s own file in The Roebling Research Library before publishing.
| Date | Unit | Apartment | Price | PPSF | vs. Ask |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| May 9, 2025 | 4 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,758 sf | $2,210,000 | $1,257/sf | -16.6% |
| Aug 18, 2022 | 3 | 2 BR · 1.5 BA · 1,718 sf | $2,500,000 | $1,455/sf | -3.7% |
| Feb 10, 2022 | 15 | 4 BR · 2.5 BA · 3,200 sf | $4,600,000 | $1,438/sf | -8.0% |
| Apr 23, 2021 | 13 | 3 BR · 2 BA · 1,731 sf | $2,531,700 | $1,463/sf | +0.0% |
| Dec 14, 2020 | 10 | 3 BR · 1 BA · 1,750 sf | $1,810,000 | $1,034/sf | -9.5% |
| Oct 2, 2017 | 5 | 2 BR · 2 BA · 1,390 sf | $1,950,000 | $1,403/sf | -2.3% |
| Jun 16, 2017 | 11 | 3 BR · 2.5 BA · 2,600 sf | $4,260,000 | $1,638/sf | -3.2% |
| Nov 30, 2011 | 12 | 2,730 sf | $2,500,000 | $916/sf | off-mkt |
Market read. Most recent trades (2025) cleared a median $1,257/sf across 1 sale. Median listing discount 5.5% from the last ask — a recurring negotiation gap worth pricing into any offer or listing strategy.
The retrade record
Lines that have traded more than once in the public record — the building’s appreciation arc, apartment by apartment.
Full closing history with price-per-square-foot over time, the complete retrade record, and every line that has traded.
Sales sourced from NYC Department of Finance recorded transfers (BBL 3-00028-7501) and verified listing data. Apartment-level facts (line, condition, asking-price context) curated and cross-verified by The Roebling Team research desk. Not all transactions cross-verify with ACRIS records — sponsor and LLC purchases sometimes record at stipulated values rather than market price; square footage from recorded condo declarations and offering plans.
What to know if you’re buying
You are buying an 1894 factory, with everything that implies. Timber-and-masonry mill construction delivers the ceilings and window walls; it also means floor structure, party walls and façade older than the concrete buildings up the hill. Engineering diligence is not optional here.
Confirm the current unit schedule. Combinations and subdivisions have moved the dwelling-unit count since 2005 and the declaration has been amended more than once. Have counsel verify the unit's boundaries, common interest and limited common elements.
The corner is an amenity and a condition. The framed bridge view brings photographers, tourists and film crews to the block. For most buyers here that is the point; walk it at different hours first.
Model small-building economics honestly. Fewer units means fewer owners across which to spread a façade cycle, a roof or an elevator modernization. Read the reserve and three years of financials, and plan renovations around Landmarks review.
What to know if you’re selling
Lead with the provenance and the corner. Finkensieper, the Tubal Cain Iron Works, the Gair lease, the historic district, and the most photographed intersection in Brooklyn — a narrative no new-development competitor can write.
Sell the plate, not the building average. Large, multi-exposure loft floors are the product; price against boutique-conversion evidence.
Have the paperwork clean before you list. In a building with a combination history, a documented, Landmarks-clean alteration file and a clear common-interest schedule remove the friction that costs money in diligence.
Set expectations on services. No doorman, no gym. Framed correctly — lower carrying cost, more space, more character — that is a selling point; discovered late, it is a re-trade.
Comparable buildings
If you're considering 31 Washington Street, also evaluate:
- 133 Water Street (One Three Three) — the immediate neighbor on the same block front; boutique new construction inside the same historic district, with parking and terraces
- 37 Bridge Street (Kirkman Lofts) — the closest conceptual peer: a small soap-factory conversion with authentic loft plates
- 168 Plymouth Street — the most finish-forward of the neighborhood's authentic conversions
- 30 Main Street (The Sweeney Building) — boutique-scale Gair-era conversion nearer the park
- 70 Washington Street — the same street, the opposite scale: DUMBO's largest loft conversion and its pricing benchmark
- 1 Main Street (The Clock Tower) — the conversion that started the neighborhood's residential market
- 205 Water Street — boutique modern condominium a few blocks east
- 4 Water Street — very small DUMBO condominium at the Fulton Ferry end
How to read the facts on this page. Items attributed to an offering plan describe the building as it was offered at that filing — unit mix, square footage, the amenity program as planned. They are not a statement about how the building operates today. Tax and compliance figures are sourced separately to current City records and carry their own dates. House rules, staffing and fee policy can change by board resolution without any public filing: treat every policy line here as a starting point for diligence and confirm it with the managing agent. Where this page compares one building or neighborhood to another, that is our analysis of the recorded record — it names the measure, the period and the sample it rests on, and it is an observation about medians rather than a prediction about any particular apartment.
Considering a move at 31 Washington Street?
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