Brown Harris Stevens
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Brown Harris Stevens is an American real estate service company headquartered in
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with offices across the East Coast serving
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,
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, the
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,
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, Palm Beach, and
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. The original firm was founded in 1873. It is primarily known for its real estate brokerage and management divisions that have catered to wealthy buyers and sellers.


Early history

After graduating from college, Charles Stelle Brown went into the real estate business in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
in 1873. He specialized in valuations and appraisals. A descendant of
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settlers in the area, Brown was born in New York. His business was immediately successful. In 1901, Brown formed a partnership with the prominent New York real estate broker Douglas Robinson. Robinson was married to the former Corinne Roosevelt, sister of
President Theodore Roosevelt Theodore Roosevelt Jr. (October 27, 1858 – January 6, 1919), also known as Teddy or T.R., was the 26th president of the United States, serving from 1901 to 1909. Roosevelt previously was involved in New York (state), New York politics, incl ...
. The new partnership was called Douglas Robinson, Charles S. Brown Company. On Robinson's staff was appraiser Francis K. Stevens. Stevens began his real estate career with the Astor Bank after graduating from Yale in 1897. He joined Robinson's office in 1901. Stevens remained with the merged companies. While Robinson and Brown increasingly handled many high-profile transactions in the city, another broker was making his mark in the field. Duncan G. Harris began his real estate career as an assistant to real estate tycoon
John Jacob Astor John Jacob Astor (born Johann Jakob Astor; July 17, 1763 – March 29, 1848) was a German-born American businessman, merchant, real estate mogul, and investor. Astor made his fortune mainly in a fur trade monopoly, by exporting History of opiu ...
in 1901, the year after he graduated from
Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher lear ...
. In 1907, Harris began his own firm, Harris & Vaughan. He later partnered with Douglas Vought and, in 1914, the company name changed to Harris, Vought & Co. William H. Wheelock joined the Robinson Brown firm after he graduated from Harvard in 1898. Starting in the maintenance department, Wheelock rose through the ranks to become a vice president and director in 1902. When Robinson died in 1918, Wheelock was elected president of the firm. In 1922, Wheelock and Harris arranged a merger of their two firms and the new company was named Brown, Wheelock, Harris, Vought & Co. When Vought left the firm in 1931, the name changed to Brown, Wheelock, Harris & Co. Charles S. Brown died at 85 in 1935. He held the title of chairman of the board. He was a trustee or director of several insurance and banking companies and non-profit groups. He lived at 535 Park Avenue. In 1938, Wheelock took Brown's title of chairman and Harris become president. The firm's main office was at 67 Wall Street. When the new titles were announced, it was noted that Wheelock had participated in the sale of the
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and the assemblage of the land for the Pennsylvania Railroad Station. When Wheelock died in 1942, he was also credited with assembling property for
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, Presbyterian Hospital and the
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and
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stores. At the time of Wheelock's death, the firm had the name Brown, Wheelock, Harris, Stevens, Inc. By 1948, the name of the company was Brown, Harris, Stevens. Harris, who had been president since 1938, took the title of chairman of the board in 1951. Henry Forster, vice president, become president. Another Harvard graduate, Forster had joined the company in 1913. In 1959, Forster stepped down as president and became vice chairman; John W. Lonsdale became president; and Harris remained as chairman of the board. Lonsdale had been a vice president of the firm since 1941. Forster retired from the firm in 1960 but continued to work in real estate. He finally retired from William A. White & Sons in 1984 after his 95th birthday. He died at age 100 in 1989. After his death, the
Real Estate Board of New York The Real Estate Board of New York (REBNY) is a trade association for the real estate industry in New York City. Formed in 1896, it has been dubbed "the leading trade group advocating on policy changes in the real estate industry". Its current p ...
established the Henry Forster Award for “outstanding record of achievement and conduct – both within the industry and in the community.” The award was given to a member of the profession "whose career accomplishment brings credit to the residential brokerage community." The first award was given in 1990.


The Helmsley years

New York real estate investor Harry Helmsley purchased the company in 1965. Helmsley retained Harris as chairman. Paul J. Etzel was president. Helmsley said he would keep the company, which was mainly known for its residential brokerage and management services, separate from his commercial companies. In 1970, Harris died at age 93. Seven top agents and executives from rival
Douglas Elliman Douglas Elliman is an American real estate company. Douglas Elliman employs more than 7,000 agents and has 113 offices in New York City and across the country. The company also has a number of subsidiaries related to real estate services such as ...
moved to Brown Harris Stevens in 1988. Angered by Elliman's management policies and the firing of executive Roger Tuckerman, the group moved to Brown Harris Stevens along with the management of many buildings at prestigious addresses. Tuckerman later became president of Brown Harris Stevens. Hall Willkie, one of the executives who left Elliman, became sales director. The Helmsley real estate empire suffered when Helmsley's wife
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was convicted for federal income tax evasion and other crimes in 1989. After serving nineteen months in prison and dealing with her husband's declining health, Mrs. Helmsley put the company on the market in 1992. In 1994, more than 80 individual New York real estate property managers and companies pled guilty to charges of bribery by Manhattan District Attorney's office. The managers were found to have been extorting millions of dollars annually from contractors working in buildings managed by the companies. A total of fourteen real estate management companies were found to have employees involved in the schemes. Brown Harris Stevens saw 17 of its agents indicted. The company acknowledged that it failed to properly supervise the managers and made more than $1 million in restitution payments. The company was the exclusive sales agent for the sale of the cooperative apartment owned by the late
Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Jacqueline Lee Kennedy Onassis ( ; July 28, 1929 – May 19, 1994) was an American writer, book editor, and socialite who served as the first lady of the United States from 1961 to 1963, as the wife of President John F. Kennedy. A popular f ...
in early 1995. The 14-room apartment was sold to industrialist
David Koch David Hamilton Koch ( ; May 3, 1940 – August 23, 2019) was an American businessman, political activist, philanthropist, and chemical engineer. In 1970, he joined the family business: Koch Industries, the second largest privately held co ...
for $9.5 million.


Current ownership

In March 1995, Helmsley sold the company to a partnership led by brothers Arthur and William Lie Zeckendorf and Kent Swig. The three were active real estate investors and developers whose families were also in the real estate business. The Zeckendorf brothers' father was William Zeckendorf, Jr. and grandfather was William Zeckendorf, Sr., both real estate developers. Swig's father was San Francisco real estate investor Melvin Swig. In 2000, after five years, the number of buildings managed by the company went from 98 to 170. On the brokerage side of the business, the number of agents grew to a total of 160 from 58 and closed sales went from $250–300 million to $1.3 billion. The company's headquarters was located at 770 Lexington Avenue with Manhattan sales offices on the east side, west side, downtown and another office in Palm Beach, Florida. Aside from Swig and the Zeckendorf brothers, the other partner was David A. Burris. The owners of Brown Harris Stevens purchased Halstead Property Company in 2001. The combined companies made the firm the second largest in New York, behind
Douglas Elliman Douglas Elliman is an American real estate company. Douglas Elliman employs more than 7,000 agents and has 113 offices in New York City and across the country. The company also has a number of subsidiaries related to real estate services such as ...
. The combined sales volume of the two companies would be close to $3 billion and number of agents was 635. In the previous two years, Brown Harris Stevens purchased one of the city's largest rental brokerage firms, Feathered Nest. In 2001, Hall F. Willkie was named president of the company's residential sales division. In his new position, Willkie was charged with overseeing the company's 190 residential sales agents. He had been executive vice president with the company. Edward Lee Cave Inc., a 28 year old firm noted for its high-end sales, was taken over by Brown Harris Stevens in 2009. For the year ended on February 29, 2016, Brown Harris Steven had closed 789 sales totaling $2.02 billion. In 2017, the company was the exclusive agent for the sale of
David Rockefeller David Rockefeller (June 12, 1915 – March 20, 2017) was an American economist and investment banker who served as chairman and chief executive of Chase Bank, Chase Manhattan Corporation. He was the oldest living member of the third generation of ...
’s upper east side town house. The asking price was $32.5 million. Bess Freedman, an executive with the company, was named co-president with Hall Willkie in 2017. At that time, the company had about 500 agents and closed more than $4 billion in sales in the previous year in NYC. Less than an year later, she was promoted to Chief Executive Officer. In 2025, th
company announced
that Hall Willkie would step down as President of the NYC Brokerage after 37 years, and into a full-time consulting role for the next 6 years. Sales managers Kevin Kovesci and Itzy Garay were named as co-presidents in his place.


Restructuring

In June 2020, Terra Holdings announced that its subsidiaries Brown Harris Stevens and Halstead would restructure to form one unified company operating under the Brown Harris Stevens Brand. The move created one of the largest privately held real estate services companies with more than 2,500 agents and 55 offices across New York City, Connecticut, New Jersey, the Hudson Valley, the Hamptons, Palm Beach and Miami. Combined, the two firms had more than $9 billion in sales in 2019.


References

{{reflist Real estate companies of the United States Real estate companies established in 1873 Companies based in New York City American companies established in 1873 1873 establishments in the United States 1873 establishments in New York (state)