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August 2, 2005

Today on My Brownstone: Crown Hts Vintage 1899

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Today on My Brownstone, check out the beautiful two-family brownstone in Crown Heights that the current proud owners purchased back in July 2002. The first thing they focused on was making the garden an idyllic refuge--and a great place to sample some of the ample wine collection!
Crown Heights 18.5-Footer [My Brownstone]




Posted by Brownstoner at 12:13 PM | Comments (27)
Categories: My Brownstone

Comments

Brownstoner please note: It's a two family. We have a tenant in the top floor.

Posted by: Hal at August 2, 2005 12:24 PM

Fabulous! The wine cellar and garden are inspirational.
What color paint is the dining room?

Posted by: LG at August 2, 2005 1:08 PM

LG, thanks for the compliment! You'll have to be patient on the paint color question. My wife knows it, but I can't reach her right now.

Posted by: Hal at August 2, 2005 1:19 PM

What's your favorite place to buy wine in Brooklyn, Hal?

Posted by: Brownstoner at August 2, 2005 1:26 PM

I have shopped at Red, White and Bubbly in Park Slope. They have good choices there. I have also shopped at Brooklyn Liquors next to Costco where choices are limited but I buy my inexpensive party wines and everyday whites there.

But I shop mostly by phone. I call PJ Wines (way uptown in Manhattan) while perusing their website and order by the case and they deliver free, and their prices are excellent. Similarly, I use Garnet in Manhattan.

So Brownstoner, are you a wine lover?

Posted by: Hal at August 2, 2005 1:42 PM

what is the floor in the cellar- smooth cement?

Posted by: Anonymous at August 2, 2005 2:19 PM

We been known to love us some wine

Posted by: Brownstoner at August 2, 2005 2:21 PM

The wine cellar floor is smooth concrete. The damp spot in the far right corner is a concern, but not urgent. The picture was taken after a few days of heavy rain, and there is no flooding. I still need to find the problem. Outside the house, above that corner in the garden, the concrete patio has proper slope to drain away from the house. So the cause isn't obvious.

I intend to cover the wine cellar floor with terra cotta some day.

Posted by: Hal at August 2, 2005 2:38 PM

Great house. You have been busy!! The moisture on your floor in the basement is pretty normal. In the summer it is tough to keep out. It goes down into the soil and leeches its way through the foundation. You can get a dehumidifier. I know when mine is off the basement can be 85% in the summer. Another alternative is break up the concrete, dig out and down around the foundation, seal it up with waterproofing and fill it back up. Then pour a new layer of concrete. If you have been fairly dry since 2002 you shouldn't worry. Its been real wet these past few summers.
Great job. Love your house. Crown Heights is the diamond in the rough.

Posted by: tom at August 2, 2005 3:59 PM

Thanks for the praise, Tom!

You have confirmed what I suspected. It's just the damp earth. I'm not going to mess with it. The dehumidifier has been considered, but the wine requires a certain minimum humidity. I think a cooling unit is in order anyway.


LG: the paint in the dining room is Pintchik #222.

Cheers!

Posted by: Hal at August 2, 2005 4:44 PM

You can regulate the humidity with a dehumidifier, or only use it when it gets really damp. They tell you the temperature and the percentage of humidity you have. In the summer my basement is never below 70 %

Posted by: Tom at August 2, 2005 5:42 PM

Thx Hal
Pintchik #222 . . . Pintchik makes their own paint?

Surrounded as I am by chips and swatches, I can see that's not a Pratt & Lambert or Benjamin Moore number . . . the heat is getting to me, so I ordered a Farrow & Ball sample red . . .

Posted by: LG at August 2, 2005 5:45 PM

Lovely home, Brownstoner!! Is that on Dean Street? Just curious..

Posted by: anonymous at August 2, 2005 8:50 PM

The house in on Park Place near Brower Park.

Posted by: Hal at August 2, 2005 11:17 PM

What a gorgeous house! You and your wife not only have talent, taste, and skills--you seem to have tapped into some Zen zone of thoughtful renovation; maybe it's the wine!
On liquidity: do you know Heights Chateau on Atlantic Ave. (near the corner of Henry
)? Of all the B'lyn shops, I think they consistently have the most in depth--and growing--selection. Further afield, I frequently order from Astor on Astor Place (www.Astorwines.com), particularly for cases of summer whites and bubblies for parties. For orders of $100 and more, they deliver for free to Brooklyn on Wed. and Sat.
Your wine cellar looks great, and it sounds like you're on your way to solving the temp/humidity problems. For in kitchen/everyday use , I highly recommend Haier wine refrigerators
which are sleek, extremely well designed and efficient , can be digitally programmed for temperature, have an external digital temp readout, and come in a large range of sizes and prices. Mine, which is about 40 inches tall and 20 inches across cost $300 at Lowe's several years ago. (Amazon.com also has them, sometimes with free shoping) It holds about 90 bottles of wine (and seltzer, club soda, etc.) and is somewhat colder in the bottom section (for whites) than in the top (where I keep the reds).
In vino...continued veritas!

Posted by: Anonymous at August 3, 2005 9:42 AM

Beautiful, beautiful place!

Posted by: ana at August 3, 2005 10:17 AM

I purchased one of these for my basement and it seems to do the trick. The humidity level is adjustable and they are available with a water pump to automatically pump the water collection to a drain or outside the basement.

It's not cheap, but it's effective.

Link:


http://www.allergybuyersclubshopping.com/ebaccd35.html

Posted by: Sloper at August 3, 2005 11:22 AM

That picture makes me feel like drinkin some wine. Yeehaw!

Posted by: Anonymous at August 3, 2005 2:53 PM

Hal,
if you're still checking in here- who or how did you do your cement floors, they are exactly what I want in the cellar but i've only found one cement "specialist" who does them and I just don't know where esle to look.

thanks

Posted by: Anonymous at August 3, 2005 3:28 PM

Thanks for the praise. It helps a lot.

I like Astor Wines too. I have yet to discover Heights Chateau, but I'll certainly check it out. Thanks for the lead.

The cement floor is the way we found it, so I can't tell you who did it. It's not in very good condition at the edges.

Furthermore, I love the look of the rough course granite, but the old mortar exfoliates onto the wine bottles and the floor. Not a big problem, but I may someday seal the walls somehow.

Posted by: Hal at August 3, 2005 4:07 PM

Hi! We bought a house in 2003 right down the block from you -- we're on bergen/brooklyn. Be careful of Brower Park...my husband has been jumped there twice now :-(
I love what you did with your garden...We have a large one as well, and have been experimenting with growing ground cover as a subsitute for grass, without much luck. We do have an excellent crop of tomatoes this year though :-) Congrats on your great work. - cat

Posted by: catinthehat at August 3, 2005 5:21 PM

Nice to meet you, Cat.

Sorry to hear about you husband's misfortunes in Brower Park. It's a shame we have to be cautious of how we enjoy our resources.

Glad to hear about your success with tomatoes. We had none. As for ground cover to replace a lawn (great idea!) just plant a few species and stick with what survives.

Posted by: Hal at August 4, 2005 9:15 AM

Im familiar w/the area...nice but can be kinda rough, though..Be careful, around Brower Park can be a bit dangerous especially in the evening.

Wonderful job...Hey, brownstoners if you're interested in that area, there's a brownstone on PShark in foreclosure...Lien's not that high..Check it out the address is 1109 Park Place. Would jump on it mysel, but not quite ready financially:( Just wanted to share!

Stay cool...BABY, IT'S HOTTT OUT THERE!!

Posted by: CH at August 4, 2005 2:25 PM

Im familiar w/the area...nice but can be kinda rough, though..Be careful, around Brower Park can be a bit dangerous especially in the evening.

Wonderful job...Hey, brownstoners if you're interested in that area, there's a brownstone on PShark in foreclosure...Lien's not that high..Check it out the address is 1109 Park Place. Would jump on it mysel, but not quite ready financially:( Just wanted to share!

Stay cool...BABY, IT'S HOTTT OUT THERE!!

Posted by: CH at August 4, 2005 2:26 PM

I'm commenting on what the Brownstone owner said about Crown Heights being called "other Brooklyn." We bought a house in Crown Heights almost two years ago. I know prices have gone up in the neighborhood, but real estate brokers (e.g., Corcoran) still call it other Brooklyn. I'm offended that they can ask over a million dollars over here and than not refer to it as Crown Heights. The are not fooling anyone, and by keeping the neighborhood in this non-descript category they only prevent people from seeing it as a neighborhood one should want to live in. I complained to them about it when I saw one of their listings, and I was told that some brokers are trying to have this changed; really, Crown Heights deserves to have it's name as one of the choices on their website. I think if enough people complain, it will change.

Posted by: Anonymous at August 8, 2005 11:44 AM

I think you're refering to my comment about Crown Heights being 'other Brooklyn'. It's odd because once you get past 'other Brooklyn' and find a Corcoran listing in Crown Heights they talk about what a great neighboorhood it is. I once emailed them about it and received no reply.

Posted by: Hal at August 8, 2005 1:16 PM

A musical about the witches from The Wizard of Oz breaks West End box office records, its producers say...

Posted by: Keon Currier at December 13, 2006 10:26 AM

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