« Head to Head: $829,000 in Williamsburg Monday On The Record »
July 31, 2006
House of the Day: Caton Park Fixer-Upper
Here's an interesting one hot off the presses...53 Marlborough Road between Church Ave & Caton Avenue. Not much info on it other than it has good bones, needs a ton of work and is a pretty cheap way ($575,000!) to get your foot in the door in Victorian Flatbush. We doubt anyone's seen it yet but we'll look forward to hearing feedback.
Caton Park Rare Opp [Mary Kay Gallagher] GMAP P*Shark
Comments
Wah, great price! Despite the flattening of the market, I predict this place will go quickly.
Posted by: brownstoneproud at July 31, 2006 12:15 PM
That sure is a beauty, and with a great price to boot. Where is Caton Park exactly? Since Mary Kay Gallagher is the queen of Victorian Flatbush, I'm guessing it's somewhere around there? Is it closer to downtown, like Ditmas Park, or farther, like in the Brooklyn College vicinity?.
Posted by: Shahn Andersen at July 31, 2006 12:21 PM
I just mapped it on Yahoo - no clue what Caton Park is - but this address is one large block away from Prospect Park. Me want - if I could keep the do-it-now renos to 200k, I would buy and hold as a 2-family rental.. Anyone want to go in with me?
Posted by: brownstoneproud at July 31, 2006 12:23 PM
Me want too! Too bad no interior pictures, no matter how bad the place looks. Sounds like a great location. The house next door looks to be in similar condition. I can only imagine what a 30 year old lap pool looks like, I think I saw one in a horror movie once. I wonder what's left inside worth saving. I've always liked these frame houses. Looks like it could be a great fixerupper for someone with vision. I wish I was in the market.
Posted by: CrownHeightsProud at July 31, 2006 12:58 PM
BTW, I doubt the house was built in 1925. It looks to be at least 20 years older. Looks like a classic four square with dormers. I guess sort of a Colonial Revival with the columns and the Palladium window. Classic Victorian style corbels too. That bay window on the second floor doesn't look original, but it's hard to tell from the picture.
Posted by: CrownHeightsProud at July 31, 2006 1:08 PM
You would need about $500,000 in reno money for this house.
Posted by: Blabber at July 31, 2006 1:31 PM
Thanks Blabber for pointing out the truth of the matter. "bring your contractor" + no interior pics = serious renovation. So that means 575K + a miniumum of 400K, and the price is no longer so great. In the current market, I doubt this will sell at the asking. But it does look lovely on the outside.
Posted by: choosy mother at July 31, 2006 1:52 PM
caton park is a small neighborhood bounded, if i remember correctly (from kenneth jackson's 'neighborhoods of brooklyn' book), by caton ave., marlborough rd., church ave., and maybe argyle rd.
it was planned as a neighborhood by a developer around 1900 or so and has regulated setbacks from the street and space between houses to allow for yards and air.
regarding the restoration costs, i think someone could definitely get some preservation tax credits or help from the NY landmarks conservancy for facade work. it isn't in a landmark district, but still might be deemed eligible based on it's history and location (i.e. just outside a historic district).
Posted by: arsenal at July 31, 2006 2:06 PM
This house is one of the least expensive homes in Ditmas Park to become available in the past few years. While a full price renovation would be quite expensive, an innovative couple could probably do a lot of the work themselves and still come in below market value. Plus, the lot is a nice size (50 x 100) Park location is also a huge plus...
Caton Park, appears to run from Coney Island Ave. to E. 17th.
This is a lift from Mary Kay's web site:
"Caton Park is a smaller neighborhood bordering Caton & Church Avenues. There are about 50 homes located on the streets of Buckingham, Marlborough & Rugby Roads. Over the last two years, the Caton Park Neighborhood Association has worked hard to bring about the renovation of the soccer, baseball & football fields in the Parade Grounds. The revitalized playing fields have created a better enviorment for the Flatbush community that uses the Parade Grounds & Prospect Park. "
Posted by: nryland at July 31, 2006 3:42 PM
Lift from Forgotten NY:
Sandwiched between Prospect Park South and Caton Avenue, just below the Parade Grounds, is the neighborhood known today as Caton Park, originally referred to as Mathew's Park by developers, as it was built on farmland owned by the Mathew's family. Flatbush of Today refers to these relatively modest five- to seven- bedroom homes as "Cottages North of Prospect Park South."
Posted by: nryland at July 31, 2006 4:00 PM
Agree with nryland at 3:42. I've never thought of my husband and I as all that innovative, but I'm sure we could bring the restoration (if there's something left to restore) in at under $200k. That's with some help from skilled contractors. Alittle sweat equity goes a loonnnggg way! Now, who would care to take me up on this and buy it for me?
Posted by: yente at July 31, 2006 4:14 PM
PS...And I'm not talking Home Depot fixtures, baby!
Posted by: yente at July 31, 2006 4:15 PM
This one's on my block! (At the risk of blog-flogging, my blog chronicles stuff about the immediate area among other things. Just trying to be helpful.) We are so hoping for an old-house-lover to rescue it, and not a sleazeball builder to demolish it!! Never been inside the house, alas...the owners were eccentric, a psychiatrist and his wife (now a widow)...that pool must be a Superfund site by now! But the 'bones' of the house are lovely. Can't speak for the interior, but the exterior would also need "gut" hardscaping and the porch is nearly rotted out.
More on "Caton Park": Our gallant little block association defines it as Caton Ave/Church Ave. on Buckingham, Marlborough, and Rugby Roads. Fabulous location (if a bit noisy and busy at times with a school on the block and the soccer fields down the street)-- always a fresh breeze from Prospect Park, and 3 blocks from the Church Ave. B/Q stop. The landmark Prospect Park South historic district is a block away, south of Church Avenue (I've dubbed Caton Park "NoProPaSo," for "North of Prospect Park South," but so far the moniker hasn't stuck--hey, it's no stupider than "BoCoCa"!) Our narrow strip is not landmarked (although some of us cherish and are actively pursuing the dream); it has a mix of vintage and "remuddled" "Victorians" built somewhere between 1900 and 1920's with a few modern infills. So you have the convenience and big-house-with-garage luxury of PPS without the sometimes uptight attitude that can go with it (my neighbors have always been the absolute best--an 'only-in-Brooklyn'mix of Jewish old-timers, house-proud Caribbean folks, some Yups, a Cambodian temple with saffron-robe-clad monks, and most recently some Bangladeshi newcomers in the building trades).
By the way, the block is also the very one that William Styron lived on during the postwar years he described in "Sophie's Choice"--although the film itself was shot on location a block south in PPS (sheesh, typical). Anybody who buys this house and fixes it up will get mucho homemade brownies and lemonade delivered from us...plus plenty of empathy, since we and our house (another wreck) are in our 20th year of struggle together. Somehow, we just never found that $500K lying around for renovations--it would have come in mighty handy!
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at July 31, 2006 4:32 PM
Yente, Brenda and Nryland, I'm with you. I'm an old house lover, and this house is just the kind of place I would love to fix up. Unfortunately for the house, I'm in act one of a four or five act restoration myself, with lots of sweat equity going on here, and I need to finish one before going nuts over another one. (No money also has something to do with it) I love that area, too. Unless the place is also termite ridden and has severe structural damage, I bet I could come in pretty close to $200 or $250K for a decent restoration, too. I agree, no Home Depot fixtures, either.
Ah well, guess the cookies and lemonaide are going to have to wait, Brenda, unless the Lotto gods are smiling. I hope someone of like mind gets the place, too, and restores it. Wouldn't it be great to just enjoy sitting on the porch in the summer?
Posted by: CrownHeightsProud at July 31, 2006 5:05 PM
I love to hear people´s comments but you need a good contractor, a cheap contractor, experience and lots and lots of time and patience. People forget the value of their time when fantasizing about such a project. I would guess without seeing the inside, but if it matches the outside that this is a 2 year hands on job in a raising interest rate market and a slightly softening one. This, however, seductive, falls into my Lotto category, but I hope someone can do it. It looks lovely from the outside.
Posted by: donatella at July 31, 2006 7:20 PM
Donatella, you're right. But I do speak from experience and I'm under the impression that CHP knows her stuff as well. Let's just say that some of us are suckers for this sort of thing.
Posted by: yente at July 31, 2006 10:21 PM
Truthfully, theres some stuff I know I can't do but I love doing the sweat equity thing! There's something so satisfying about bringing a house back to its former beauty that really grabs the artist in me. It isn't even about money for me (I have none how can it be an issue?) but doing the work myself. I helped a friend expose the brick in her kitchen- I had a great time doing it, and nothing beats that feeling of accomplishment.
Of course that said, I hope to be able someday to pay someone to put down a tile floor- that wasn't fun.
Posted by: Bx2Bklyn at August 1, 2006 9:40 AM
This house is cheap for several reasons. Obviously, it needs tons of work - between $300k - $500k, depending on the renovation. It's a great house for the right person (read: experienced or damn lucky). Caton Park is very close to Prospect Park (it's on the Parade Grounds), so very near to amenities in Park Slope and Windson Terrace, and also not too far from Cortelyou Road. However, it is also on the doorstep of many large apartment buildings and a busy shopping street (church Ave.) , so it is less tranquil than other parts of Victorian Flatbush. Also, architecturally, it has seen some damage over the years, more so than some other nabes - so you don't get the same pristine vistas you do in some other sections. Overall though, this is a great deal for the right person, as there are very few "bargains" left in Victorian Flatbush, excluding South Midwood (the Brooklyn College neighborhood)which is a bit far away from brownstoner brooklyn for some people's taste. Caton Park is certainly very convenient, but there are a few trade-off in terms of noise, architectural unity. Oh, I should mention Caton Park is actively seeking landmark status to combat the expansion of Bobby's department store at Church and Buckingham (the border of this neighborhood). Bobby's hoodwinked a long time Caton Park home owner into selling her house to him (he sent in a fake family to pose as buyers - the owner was adament she wouldn't sell to Bobby's). Anyway, Bobby's bought the house, stripped it and sold the good stuff, then tore it down and built a disgusting concrete extension on Buckingham itself. The neighboring home's foundation was seriously damaged, and the city fined the homeowner! Don't know how that played out in the end... So there are also some zoning issues along church - commercial overlay, but hopefully an end will be put to that nonsense soon.
Posted by: Flatbush Fan at August 1, 2006 10:42 AM
nryland - glad to see someone is looking at my web page!
Posted by: Flatbush Fan at August 1, 2006 10:44 AM
Bx2Bklyn, can you tell me how you exposed the brick in your friends' kitchen. Sandblast? Or did you strip it somehow? I am about to do the same thing.
Posted by: and away we go at August 1, 2006 2:07 PM
and away we go- nope. We went at it with sledgehammers and chisels. Took about a day. Once you break the surface it can go pretty quickly. I like using a cold chisel and tapping with a hammer carefully to get off stubborn pieces. And we wore masks and eye protectors.
Posted by: Bx2Bklyn at August 2, 2006 1:30 PM
Post a comment
Please be patient while your comment is published. It may take a moment.