Tom Hanks’ house in “The Post” and other fine sights in Brooklyn Heights

Eye on Real Estate

March 7, 2018 By Lore Croghan Brooklyn Daily Eagle

The character Tom Hanks plays in “The Post” lives in a house whose real-life location is Brooklyn Heights. Here's Hanks (at left) with co-star Meryl Streep and director Steven Spielberg at the film's Milan premiere. AP Photo/Antonio Calanni

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Tom Hanks’ house in “The Post” is actually located in Brooklyn Heights, not Washington, D.C.

Hanks plays Washington Post editor Ben Bradlee in Steven Spielberg’s film about the decision by publisher Katharine Graham, played by Meryl Streep, to publish the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War.

At a critical moment in the movie, Post reporters go to Bradlee’s home — which gives audiences a good, long look at the exterior of an old-fashioned rowhouse covered with blue-painted wood shingles.

The distinctive facade belongs to 104 Willow St., a Federal-style home constructed in 1826. It is located in the Brooklyn Heights Historic District.

When we went to the movie, we were waiting to see whether footage of Willow Street would be included. Back in July, we’d watched Spielberg’s crew set up their equipment, and numerous period-appropriate cars, for a film shoot on the block where 104 Willow St. stands.

According to city Finance Department records, in 2014 an LLC with Allison Franco as managing member bought 104 Willow St. for $10.625 million. She is also identified in Finance Department records as Allison Sargent.

Tom Hanks’ fictional home is one of many fine sights that lure lovers of landmarked buildings to Brooklyn Heights on unseasonably warm later-winter days.

On a clear day, you can see workers on Pier 3

All along Willow Street, historic homes delight the eye.

The late, great author Truman Capote lived at 70 Willow St. when he worked on “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” and “In Cold Blood.”

The brick Greek Revival-style house, which was built in the 1830s, isn’t so easy to spot these days because it isn’t painted yellow anymore. In Capote’s day, and for decades afterwards, it was the color of butter, or sunshine, or happiness.

The current owners, “Grand Theft Auto” video-game creator Dan Houser and his wife Krystyna, stripped the yellow paint off the famous house. Now the facade is unpainted red brick.

Elsewhere in the neighborhood, corner houses look especially appealing in pale winter sunlight.

Streets such as Monroe Place exude serenity.

The picturesque Promenade is an irresistible place to end a stroll through Brooklyn Heights.

The sun-dappled recreation space has stunning views of some of New York City’s finest scenery.

Visitors snap selfies with the World Trade Center and the Brooklyn Bridge as their backdrop. Lower Manhattan’s shoreline looks lovely.

And the topography of Brooklyn Bridge Park is vividly visible.

The grass is an enticing green, mixed with a bit of wintry brown growth, on the Pier 5 uplands’ recently built sound-attenuating berm.

Even from this distance, workers are visible on Pier 3.

It is being turned into a five-acre recreation area with a lawn and an intriguing feature Brooklyn Bridge Park’s website describes as a “play labyrinth featuring historic elements salvaged from the Park for visitors of all ages.”