'The Standish' Now Renting in Brooklyn Heights

This phone booth billboard on Henry Street in Brooklyn Heights proclaims that "The Standish" is now renting 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms.

Once owned by the Jehovah's Witnesses, 169 Columbia Heights (previously known as the Standish Arms) has been renovated by an affiliate of Taurus Investment Holdings, which purchased the 120-unit, 12-story building back in December, according to the Brooklyn Eagle.

Taurus generally acquires assets, improves them, and then tries to sell them, according to the Eagle.

Awaye Realty, which is handling the rentals, did some research on the building's history. Apparently Superman lived in apartment 5G, and the building was the setting for Willy’s pivotal affair in "Death of a Salesman."

Not mentioned in the sales brochure was the spectacular Standish Arms Hotel Fire of 1966. A shocking photo (by Firefighter Francis Murphy) of a burning woman plunging through the hands of heroic Firefighter Rizzo can be seen at SteveSpak.com. More about the fire here.

According to some lively comments on Brownstoner, there are at least nine rent controlled tenants still at the Standish. (We remember when the invincible Alice, a waitress at the old Cadman Plaza Restaurant on Henry Street, used to live there.)

And yes, the coat-of-arms of the Standish includes -- what else -- a dish on a stand. In fact, three dishes on three stands.

Photo by MK Metz