What does brownstone mean?
Brownstone is a type of reddish-brown sandstone, coloured by iron oxide, that became a favoured building material in the eastern United States during the nineteenth century. Its warm hue and ease of carving made it especially popular for the façades of urban row houses, and the stone gave its name to an entire style of architecture. In American English — above all in New York City — a 'brownstone' now commonly means one of these handsome townhouses themselves, rather than the rock they are faced with. The word therefore operates on two levels: a geological term for a particular sandstone and a cultural shorthand for historic, desirable city housing. Brownstones evoke tree-lined streets, stoops, and old-money respectability, and they remain among the most sought-after residences in Brooklyn and Manhattan. The term is standard in both British and American dictionaries, though its housing sense is distinctly North American.
nounA dark reddish-brown sandstone used as a building material, especially for house façades. In American usage, it also refers to a townhouse built with such a stone facing, particularly the row houses of New York City.
- A dark reddish-brown ferruginous sandstone used as a building material, especially for house façades.
- (US, especially New York City) A townhouse or row house faced with this stone.
"They rented a floor of a nineteenth-century brownstone in Brooklyn Heights."
"The building's brownstone façade had weathered to a deep chocolate hue over the decades."
"After years of apartment living, they finally bought a brownstone on a quiet tree-lined street in Park Slope."
The plural usually refers to multiple townhouses rather than quantities of the stone, which is normally treated as uncountable.
"Block after block of elegant brownstones line the streets of the historic district."
New York's beloved brownstones are clad in a stone quarried mostly in Connecticut and New Jersey — and so much was shipped to Manhattan in the 1800s that the whole architectural style got its name from it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of brownstone
Brownstone is a transparent compound of the English words 'brown' and 'stone', first applied to the iron-rich sandstone widely quarried in the Connecticut River Valley and northern New Jersey. The material came into fashion for building façades in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, when so many New York townhouses were faced with it that the stone's name transferred to the buildings themselves. Because it is an English compound rather than a borrowed root, its only true cognates are other compounds formed from the same two elements, such as 'sandstone' and 'grindstone'.
Related word forms
How brownstone is actually used
In American English, particularly in New York, 'brownstone' is strongly associated with affluent, historic urban neighbourhoods and carries connotations of gentrification and old-world charm. The plural 'brownstones' often refers collectively to rows of such houses rather than to pieces of the stone itself.
Easily confused with brownstone
Brownstone is a reddish-brown sandstone, whereas limestone is typically pale grey or buff and is a different sedimentary rock.