brownstone

[ broun-stohn ]

noun

1. a reddish-brown sandstone, used extensively as a building material.
2. Also called brownstone front. a building, especially a row house, fronted with this stone.

adjective

1. Archaic. belonging or pertaining to the well-to-do class.

brownstone

/ ˈbraʊnˌstəʊn /

noun

1. a reddish-brown iron-rich sandstone used for building
2. a house built of or faced with this stone

Word History and Origins

Origin of brownstone¹

First recorded in 1830–40; brown + stone

Example Sentences

The elegant brownstone stoops so beloved of contemporary city-dwellers allowed homeowners to “rise above a sea of manure.”

From Nautilus

While they would later be viewed as authentic, contemporaries dismissed brownstones as modern and artificial.

From Vox

Ronald Grullon, who was ultimately sentenced to probation on drug charges, had scaled the 9-foot gate outside a Manhattan brownstone as he ran from police.

From ProPublica

A professor from City College, a member of a small arts society called the Vanishing Literary Club, gives Etta a room in his brownstone on West 89th Street.

From Washington Post

Martin Amis asks as he greets me in the invitingly elegant hallway of his Brooklyn brownstone.

From The Daily Beast

My Parents bought their first home in 1968, a Brownstone in Fort Greene, where my Father still lives.

From The Daily Beast

We went to another house, a brownstone not too far from where I lived.

From The Daily Beast

She then told another story about the same boyfriend—a guy living in a brownstone in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

From The Daily Beast

Five months ago, Mercado was visiting a friend and left her chair outside a brownstone apartment.

From The Daily Beast

Mr. Dennis' brownstone front was one of the fine old houses on West 23rd street that are fast making way for stores.

From Project Gutenberg

But try as he would, Jim could say nothing until they reached the old brownstone front.

From Project Gutenberg

This was the first home that Jim had had since he had left the brownstone front and he was very proud of it.

From Project Gutenberg

I crossed the pavement with her to the loutish brownstone front-stoop of the boarding house; there she turned to dismiss me.

From Project Gutenberg

The unpretentious, brownstone-fronted home of Deputy Copeland was visited, late that night, by a woman.

From Project Gutenberg