Carriage houses started popping up in New York in the 1800s, built to accommodate horses, carts and later motorcars for the city’s burgeoning middle class. Today, these characterful buildings – packed with Victorian features – have become coveted New York real estate. Most have been converted into townhouses and apartments, with price-tags to match their storied pasts.

Here are 5 for sale or rent in the city right now.

139 Bond Street, Boerum Hill, Brooklyn

2 bedrooms; $1.649m via Corcoran Group
Sitting in the Boerum Hill Historic district is this freshly renovated carriage house, set over three levels. A red brick exterior gives way to white-washed, light-filled interiors which have a minimalist bent, complete with blonde timber floors and a huge skylight that channels light into the ground floor living room and kitchen space.

The master bedroom is on the lower floor, with a second bedroom on the top floor. The low-slung Brooklyn property also has a leafy rooftop terrace.

112 Waverly Place, Greenwich Village, Manhattan

2 bedrooms; for rent via Stribling for $21,500 per month
A string of celebrities has called this Federal-style carriage house in Greenwich Village home, including Kate Moss, who rented it in the 1990s. The 1,800 sq ft Manhattan property is back on the rental market and includes a skylit living room with a 17-ft-high beamed ceiling.

Brick walls and a wood burning fireplace can also be found inside the 19th-century, two-bedroom home.

167 E 69th St, Lenox Hill, Manhattan

5 bedrooms; $16.95m via Leslie J Garfield
Carriage houses are usually on the compact side, but this 1908 neo-Georgian property bucks the trend with a 25-ft-wide facade. It’s undergone a complete redesign by studio Fairfax and Sammons, which has retained period details and introduced custom millwork.

Interiors unfurl across 7,200 sq ft. The showstopper is the ground floor studio space, with its 14.5-ft-high skylit ceiling.

433 Waverly Avenue, Clinton Hill, Brooklyn

4 bedrooms; $4.1m via Knight Frank
Sitting on a stretch of Waverly Avenue in Clinton Hill, known as ‘Carriage House Row’, this 19th-century Brooklyn property has featured in film and magazine shoots and has been completely restored. It’s set over three storeys and is currently configured as two, two-bedroom dwellings with two separate staircases. However, it could be turned into a single 4-5 bedroom home.

A colossal, 40 ft living room occupies the second floor of the carriage house, while other features include 19th-century panelled doors, raftered ceilings and white-washed brickwork.

170 Eldridge St, Lower East Side, Manhattan

4 bedrooms; $8.75m via Douglas Elliman
Among the period details on offer at 170 Eldridge Street is a hand-painted sign for Oppenheimer sausages, the product of entrepreneur, Sigmund Oppenheimer who owned the building in the 1920s. The Manhattan property was given a top-to-toe renovation in 1996, and its owners installed a two-level waterfall feature in the living room

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