Lovable Lesser-Known Landmarks: The blue belle of 9th Street

Eye On Real Estate

September 2, 2015 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Nothing But Blue Skies Do I See (remember that Ella Fitzgerald song?) — at 271 9th St. Eagle photos by Lore Croghan

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My Blue Heaven.

We start humming that Frank Sinatra tune every time we walk by the baby-blue manse with the mansard roof at 271 9th St.

The French Second Empire-style property is an important piece of pre-Civil War Park Slope architecture. Preservationists refer to as the William B. Cronyn House. He’s the Wall Street merchant who built it in 1856-1857.

Architectural history wasn’t the foremost consideration when its long-time owners purchased the place in 1981, though.

“We were desperate. We had three children. We needed a place to live,” Vita Sibirsky told Eye on Real Estate. “Park Slope was not overpriced the way it is now.”

Sibirsky, a classical musician, and husband Charles Sibirsky, a jazz pianist, had been renters in Cobble Hill before buying the freestanding 9th Street house.

In addition to living in the handsome home, they operate a school called Slope Music there.

Owning a historic home proved to be a big financial responsibility over the years.

“Every dime we earned, we put into the house,” Vita Sibirsky said. “The house is a treasure and a trust.”

The William B. Cronyn House is one of 10 properties Eye on Real Estate recently photographed that are lesser-known but lovable Brooklyn landmarks listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

The house is also a city landmark.

P.S.: The Sibirsky kids are grownups now. One’s a doctor, one’s a computer whiz — and one’s a professional musician.