Late New Orleans-born painter Kendall Shaw, who
coined the term “Cajun minimalism,” lived with his wife,
Frances, in an impressive Park Slope brownstone at 916
President St. for more than half a century.
It’s now back on the market for $5.4 million — down from its $6.25 million ask in 2020. A half block from Prospect Park, the 20-foot-wide, 6,136-square-foot residence was built in 1905 and is part of the Historic District.
The home — which features six bedrooms, six fireplaces, bay windows, 12-foot ceilings, a grand staircase, and an L-shaped stoop — had been a boarding house for Brooklyn dockyard workers when the Shaws bought it in the early 1960s.
Kendall, who was then teaching at Columbia University’s graduate school of architecture, and his artist friends restored the home to its original state, “often finding the exact woodwork from nearby brownstone discarded on the street,” a neighbor tells Alexa.
A World War II vet, Shaw studied at Tulane in New Orleans, where one of his teachers was Mark Rothko, who was visiting from New York. Shaw later moved to New York to continue studying with Rothko and later became the acting director of the Brooklyn Museum’s art school.
The residence’s parlor floor boasts stained-glass windows, oversized pocket doors, and a windowed formal dining room with intarsia floorwork. There are an additional three floors above the parlor level, plus a garden floor and a full-height basement.
While it’s currently configured as a two-family home, it could also convert to a single-family mansion.
The listing broker is Debra Bondy of Compass.