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Hansel and Gretel meet Bay Ridge.

By Matthew Lysiak
The Brooklyn Paper
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The Brooklyn Paper / Matthew Lysiak
Everyone loves the “Gingerbread House” on 83rd Street and Narrows Avenue in Bay Ridge.

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“Everyone calls it the Gingerbread House,” said local conservationist Victoria Hofmo. “That house looks just like the Gingerbread House from ‘Hansel and Gretel.’”

It is officially called the Howard E. and Jessie Jones House, after the original owners had architect J. Sarsfield Kennedy build it in 1916.

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And its fame stretches across oceans.

“I was traveling in Prague when I came across a display of the most-beautiful places in the United States,” said Hofmo. “I was shocked to see the Gingerbread House was one of the top 10 — in Prague!”

It’s not just beautiful from the outside. This candy-coated dreamhouse is sweet on the inside, too.

A real-estate source familiar with the property told The Stoop this week that the house “has a bowling alley in the basement and a revolving garage door. All they have to do is push a button, and the entire garage floor shifts so they never have to back out.”

He estimated the value of the property at “well over $5 million,” though in reality, it’s probably priceless.

“You just can’t put a value on a home like that,” he said. “It really is Bay Ridge’s best-kept secret.”

The current owners may just want to keep it that way, never answering the door no matter how many times we knocked.

©2007 The Brooklyn Paper

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