Brownstone house

A brownstone house or simply brownstone is a kind of townhouse common in large, historic cities like London, New York City and Boston. The term brownstone refers to the type of stone that some of these houses are built of, although these townhouses can also be built of other types of stone or brick. These houses tend to have at least four floors traditionally laid out with the raised basement or ground floor typically housing servants quarters, any casual recreational facilities and the utility rooms including the main kitchen. The main floor typically was one floor level above the ground floor, holding the formal rooms (dining room, parlour, withdrawing room, etc) and often called the piano nobile noble level or parlor floor.The floor level or levels above contained the bedrooms, more casual spaces and beginning in the late 19th century, bathrooms. Many of these brownstones now have been converted into small apartment buildings or rooming houses.