Remedial Repairs Forced Upon 476 Washington Avenue
After years of neglect, the owner of 476 Washington Avenue tried to find a buyer willing to pay $1.2 million last year to no avail. So the property continued to sit in a state of neglect, until earlier this month when the Landmarks Preservation Commission and DOB teamed up to force the remedial repair of…
After years of neglect, the owner of 476 Washington Avenue tried to find a buyer willing to pay $1.2 million last year to no avail. So the property continued to sit in a state of neglect, until earlier this month when the Landmarks Preservation Commission and DOB teamed up to force the remedial repair of the frame house, now covered in aluminum. (If an owner in a landmarked area lets a building deteriorate to the point of needing to be torn down, LPC can sue the owner for the value of the property.) Specifically, the permit issued covers the removal of debris from the 1882 house and the yard and the installation of shoring to stabilize the structure (whose beams had deteriorated). As you can see from this photo, the work began yesterday. Hopefully the people who own this place will finally sell it to someone who can restore it its former glory.
House of the Day: 476 Washington Avenue [Brownstoner] GMAP P*Shark DOB
Just make sure to bring in the inspector yourself, someone you trust. The siding could be covering up severe fire and/or water damage. The sellers could have remodeled over major structural deficiencies – the brokers are on the sellers’ side, not the buyers’. Also, check thoroughly for any present building code violations. Finally, make sure you have a good lawyer, someone who fights for you.
Wood frame houses, really old ones like this one, could be more trouble than their worth. Do your homework so you don’t get reamed.
“Who cares.” The rallying cry of the intellectually lazy.
9:39 not true, we have a “brick filled frame” and had absolutely no problem getting insurance. why do you think that?
It is extremely difficult to find insurance companies to write policies for wood frame houses. They burn too fast and it is always 100% replacement because nothing is ever left to restore.
Wood frame house are pretty easy to fix, as long as you go in knowing that it will take the appropriate amount of resources. There’s no reason for demolition.
By the way 11:24, not true that houses in historic districts can’t be demolished. See this link to Brownstoner from just last month.
http://bstoner.wpengine.com/brownstoner/archives/2008/05/emergency_demo.php
Thank you, Guest 1:56, for posting your experiences.
A big raspberry to you, Guest 2:22 for your gratuitously rude comment.
guest 1:56. I live in and old woodframe. Some people like it. Some people don’t. Even if you’re experience regarding a gut renovation is typical, univeralizing your emotion towards the experience is not really valid or useful. So you hate working on houses. Who cares.
I used to own a frame house in Brooklyn, built roughly around the same time as this one. Not having seen this one from the inside, but having read 11:16’s comments, it sounds a lot like the house I used to own. Personally, I would never buy such a place ever again. My experience with home ownership was so bad, I went back to renting.
The house had numerous, serious problems. The sellers, the broker and inspector (which I naively let the broker bring in) all covered up serious deficiencies with the home, which would have brought the price way down. About a week after moving in, the problems appeared and got worse until a large 5-figure investment took care of the most serious issues. Even then, the house would need major renovations to bring it up to snuff, at least for the kind of tastes bstoner’s readers seem to exhibit. After the main issues were fixed, I had had enough.
I was able to sell it for a small gain (miracles happen), but made sure it was known how much was put into it to make it livable. Knowing what I know now, I would recommend the place be torn down completely and a new building put in its place. It’s someone else’s decision, now, but I would advise anyone to steer clear of this type of purchase unless it can be demolished and a new structure put in its place, given one has the funds of course.
You have to really, REALLY love having a second job, not only taking care of the house and land, but spending all your free time fixing it or working with contractors to remodel the place. You don’t get to “live” there. It’s your other job, waiting for you when you get home from your hour commute.
There’s a lot more to what I went through, and I hope the repairs have held up for the buyers who took it off my hands. Just looking at the picture up there gives me the heebie-jeebies.
If you want a place to _live_, avoid these old wood frame houses, unless some miracle worker has come in and rebuilt it from the inside. If you like fixer-uppers, the kind that take years, hey knock yourself out. Better you than me.
well either nobody and/or daveinbedsty… but you kind of got it.