1170 Ocean Parkway #8J, Brooklyn, NY 11230

Ocean Parkway was laid out as a boulevard and 1170 sits on the loveliest stretch of it: traffic pushed to the middle and out of your life, and between you and it a wide planted mall of grand trees and the 1894 bicycle path, the country's oldest. Upstairs, the door opens into a real foyer, and 8J gives you its best moment all at once: tall windows across the living room, sky wide open above the treetops, and the Verrazzano sitting quietly on the horizon. A full mirrored wall opposite sends that light back at you twice, and late afternoon the room turns gold. The view carries west over the low open ground of Washington Cemetery, so nothing is built up in front of you and nothing ever will be. Underfoot, warm wide-plank floors over the original oak on a concrete slab, which is why this home is so blessedly quiet. Then the thing that makes the layout remarkable: two bedrooms, a windowed home office, a breakfast nook, a dining area and five closets, all inside 1,023 square feet. Most...