Brownstoner Upstate: Beauty Inside and Out

We scour hundreds of real estate listings every week to create this column. Sometimes, we really have to dig for the good stuff, plunging deep into the middle price ranges and sifting through photo after photo after photo as all of the houses start to look the same. And sometimes, the properties will almost leap from the screen in rapid succession, lacking little rhyme or reason, and we have no choice to follow their siren’s song. The four properties featured today were the ones that leapt from the screen with not only attractive and eye-catching exteriors, but interiors with charm, to boot, ranging in price from $1,000,000 down to $315,000.

It doesn’t get much better than this Grzywinski+Pons-designed modern fantasy. The exterior features a dazzling carapace of aluminum accented with wood grains and bright colors. The interior is sleek and bright. It’s almost as if this house was meant to shine from every angle. But not in that creepy “The Shining” sense. Located just over the NY/CT state line north of Millerton, Dutchess County. Beds: 2. Baths: 2. Square Feet: 1784. Lot Size: 5.79 acres. Est. Taxes: $15,617. Distance from Brooklyn: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

80 Shagroy Road, Millerton (Houlihan Lawrence) GMAP

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Tudor-style Victorians might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but you can’t deny that there’s something a little magical about this house, like there might be a secret entryway somewhere inside. Whether it does is indeed a mystery, but we do know the house includes two separate apartments contained within their own wing. And it’s a big house at 5,000 square feet. The property sits near the heart of Catskill village in Greene County, surrounded by other distinctive, historic houses. Beds: 5. Baths: 5.5. Square Feet: 5,000. Lot Size: .4 acres. Est. Taxes: $9038. Distance from Brooklyn: 2 hours, 20 minutes.

152 Broad Street, Catskill (Sotheby’s) GMAP

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Another architect-designed piece of loveliness, this time in Hillsdale up in Columbia County, 30 minutes east of Hudson and near the NY/MA border. Crafted from wood and copper, the appropriately-named Copper House was designed by Andrew Bernheimer and is lean and green (in other words, energy-efficient). Includes radiant heat floors, plentiful skylights for light harvest, and an energy-efficient boiler. And also! A wall of shelves! All walls should be more…shelvy, don’t you think? Beds: 4. Baths: 3. Square Feet: 2600. Lot Size: 6 acres. Est. Taxes: $12,154. Distance from Brooklyn: 2 hours, 30 minutes.

871 Pumpkin Hill Road, Hillsdale (Gary DiMauro) GMAP

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We’re suckers for repurposed churches for no other reason except that we garner immense satisfaction from seeing things transformed into other different things. And this former church-turned-contemporary Catskill Mountains cottage is nice transformation. The exterior harkens to its churchy past while the interior is newer and more sophisticated. Our favorite part, naturally, is the big, bright sun room, not to mention the landscaped yard with a saline in-ground pool. Sounds heavenly (see what we did there?) to us. Situated north of the hamlet of Accord in Ulster County. Beds: 2. Baths: 1. Square Feet: 884. Lot Size: 1.5 acres. Est. Taxes: $3086. Distance from Brooklyn: 2 hours, 17 minutes.

909 Queens Highway, Accord (Westwood Metes & Bounds) GMAP