Real Photos of Carroll Gardens Bastard

wow.

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 9:53 AM

It looks like a bomb shelter fell from the sky and landed on that poor brownstone...

Or a building cancer...

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 9:55 AM

This isn't looking so great. I'm glad they didn't chop up the original house but if you remove it from the picture, the addition alone is quite ugly. I hope in finishing the project, they have plans to integrate the two structures more appropriately. How on earth do these things get approved?

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 10:00 AM

Am keeping my fingers crossed that whatever finish goes over the concrete block will help. And they do something about the garage to help blend everything together.
It was a really cute house. Couldn't they just have found some empty lot if they wanted to build something so gross looking.

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 10:02 AM

And they say you have to watch Discovery for wildlife pleasure

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 10:20 AM

bombshelter fell on building post is the funniest of day. especially because it is so accurate.

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 11:20 AM

Please note: Most homeowners in CG have NOT abused their homes...numerous homeowners have (and it galls me), but NOT most. Most have respected their homes for what they are and have maintained them beautifully, and that's what makes CG most attractive to newbies. I'm a life-long, 50-yr resident of CG, and that Third Place addition is the greatest abuse I've seen in the entire neighborhood.

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 11:29 AM

"Best of both worlds! Times change, get used to it. I'd much rather live in that than in the original house. It's tattered.

Most homeowners in Carroll Gardens have ABUSED their homes and they are in hideous condition. Now they want 4 million dollars for them. It's outrageous."

Sounds like a broker/owner trying to unload these units. But you cannot argue with ugly. There are many, many ways to make old and new coexist, such that they complement each other, contrast to each other, enliven each other (whatever you want). This, however, isn't not about old versus new -- it's about clumsy massing. When you compare the fine grain of the existing house with its max-out-the-FAR addition, you see the real "design" here: lazy developer planning meant to squeeze the last dollar out. As if the only thing that matters is raw square footage.

--an architect in Brooklyn

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 12:03 PM

A perfect example of appropriately combining modern and old exteriors exist on the corner of South Portland and Hanson in Fort Greene. Stoner, you know the house on talking about, right? That building rocks!

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 12:43 PM

how sad

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 12:48 PM

This THING should be taken down. What a disaster!!

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 1:20 PM

"It looks like a bomb shelter fell from the sky and landed on that poor brownstone."
"engulfed by tumor"
"looks like an elephant mounting a gazelle"

agglomeration+abomination=
agglomination! how's that for a "mashup?"

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 1:20 PM

‘Everything Now Is Negotiated Downward’

A housing report from the New York Sun. “Veteran real estate broker Deanne Esses said eight people in her Upper East Side office on Madison Avenue are leaving their jobs for alternative careers. Those eight represent 20% of the office’s sales staff.”

“That’s only the beginning. Ms. Esses said she thinks more New York City brokers will be leaving the scene. ‘Business here is just not quiet; it has dropped dead over the past few weeks,’ she said. ‘At the same time, there’s a flood of inventory on the market. We run open houses, we run advertisements, but nothing works. There are no buyers, and without buyers, there are no sales.’”

“Ms. Esses made these noteworthy observations: Everything now is negotiated downward from the initial asking price, by a minimum of 5% to 7%. Prices are down at least 10% from a year ago on practically everything.”

“The Upper West Side is moving very slowly. The Hamptons have turned especially soft. ‘We’re in a transition stage where sellers will have to come down in price, and right now it’s a waiting game to see what the buyer will do,’ Ms. Esses said. ‘Since there’s only one Manhattan, I don’t see a crash. But who knows?’”

“Real estate appraiser Jonathan Miller also cites a sharply slowing trend, with actual sales activity flat. There’s a big gap between buyers and the sellers, and more realism will be required by the sellers, he said. His reasoning: swelling inventories, especially condominiums.”

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 3:22 PM

tetris!

Posted by: Anonymous at September 27, 2006 4:24 PM

Maybe they'll go all "Frank Gehry" and put some twisted and dented sheet metal over the cinderblocks and trick it out, all "Bilbao"-istic.

Got to love that "Deconstructivism"
(see "wikipedia" for definition)

Or

Maybe Christo will wrap it in Saffron coloured tarps, "Reichstag"- style

Posted by: Anonymous at September 28, 2006 1:30 AM

Ben Dover
you have got to see "Jackass 2".

And then think of the deep,underlying psychological implications, of some of the skits and compare to your above message.

Posted by: Anonymous at September 28, 2006 1:33 AM

"I'm a life-long, 50-yr resident of CG, and that Third Place addition is the greatest abuse I've seen in the entire neighborhood."

Carroll Gardens is the poster child for owner neglect and abuse, yet they now resent the people who now push their net worths into the stratosphere. Insane.

Posted by: Anonymous at September 28, 2006 5:59 PM