House of the Day: 39 Buckingham Road

It's a nice house. Close to Express B Train at Church. Renovation looks nice. The block is not bad- close to park, etc...only potential drawback is that this is sort of near the pretty busy part of Church. Anyway, not sure it matters because I actually think the house is either going to or in contract.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 12:06 PM

Buckingham Palace

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 12:20 PM

house looks nice, but that kitchen seems awkwardly set up to me.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 1:20 PM

I like a "tuxedo" bathroom in black and white like that, especially with black tile on the floor and counters. I did a bathroom in one home like that and it always drew gasps of delight from guests. Very deco and glam.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 1:25 PM

Can anyone explain why A&H have two websites? They launched the new site and still maintain the old one. Even wierder, the new one seems to have (or recently had) different listings than the old one. And sometimes the pricing is the different on the two sites for the same apartments. What gives? I thought the web was supposed to make things easier.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 1:30 PM

The biggest negative I see is that this house is also 2 or 3 homes away from Bobby's Dept Store. Not sure I would want to live that close to Bobby's. Especially since all the neighbors in Caton Park have a big problem w/ them and the house that they took down to expand there store...

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 1:34 PM

I am not bad mouthing Bobby's I shop there my self, great prices...
I just would not want to live next to it.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 3:55 PM

How do you know about the black-and-white bathroom? Is there a photo somewhere that I'm not finding? I'd love to see it.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 8:08 PM

This location has quite a few quality of life issues... Not only is Bobby's on the corner, but the house backs on to a thicket of large, noisy apartment buildings. There is a large day care center across the street, and many of the houses on this block have serious facade alterations. This house, as well, as brick columns which are not original to the design and which clash with the original design. Furthermore, it is not yet a landmarked neighborhood, and has suffered because of this. I also was under the impression (but not sure it's true) that all of these houses are R6... so zoning could be a threat to the block as well. The interior is lovely, the renovation well done, but is this house worth over $1 million? If it gets asking, it would set a record for Caton Park. Then again, a house of this caliber in a Beverley Square West or Ditmas Park would fetch over 1.1 million, maybe 1.2 million, no doubt. Only the market will tell us for sure...

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 8:27 PM

Clarification - it is my understanding that the houses along the East side only of Buckingham are R6... Also, should read Ditmas Park WEST. Houses with good renos in landmarked nabes like Ditmas Park and PPS usually go for another 100k more.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 9:35 PM

Re:Noise and Apt. buildings.

I'm in edge of DPW in a 3 family Victorian house, and there is an apartment across the back yard, apartment on the one side of the building and another diagonally across from me. Honestly, there is more noise for the family that lives on the 2nd floor of the house then from any of the adjacent apartment buildings.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 17, 2006 11:59 PM

Yes, Seamus, I understand that it's Caton Park. Please read my post more carefully.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 18, 2006 6:48 AM

I was clarifying my above post. The point was that this house in this condition would be worth either the ask or more in other nabes - Ditmas Park West, Beverley Square West. Caton Park though? We'll see.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 18, 2006 6:51 AM

Caton Park, Ditmas Park, Beverly Square West!! It is clear that none of you are real Brooklynites. When I was growing up in what is now known as Caton Park, all of these neighborhoods were known as Flatbush.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 18, 2006 1:10 PM

And they still are. They're all part of Flatbush. But Flatbush is huge, geographically, and characterized by a variety of architectural styles, neighborhoods, etc... Many of these "new" names were simply how these developements were originally marketed. Not unlike today's gated communities in the 'burbs - Sringcreek Meadows, blah blah blah etc... Today it's just a helpful way of pinpointing certain parts of the nabe. OK, Mr. or Ms. Super-authentic-the-rest-of-us-are-pathetic-interlopers-Brooklyn

Posted by: Anonymous at October 18, 2006 1:27 PM

We made an offer on this place about three weeks ago for $1.1 million. The top bidder was $1.125 mil. About a week and a half later we learned that the top bidders had backed out. I decided to check it out again, this time on a Saturday night about 11pm. Too many folks hanging out on the corner for me to be comfortable with. It's a terrific house in a bad location.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 18, 2006 8:43 PM

hey lily-white..have you ever checked out any block in park slope after 11pm from grand army plaza to the pavilion i live on this block in Caton Park. after 20 years in the slope this is the first time i feel like i have neighbors who know what's going on in their neighborhood and who care and do something about quality of life issues!we actually still have community association meetings where the district leaders..police and neighborhood talk and make each other aware of what needs to be done..`

Posted by: Anonymous at October 20, 2006 11:55 AM

Excuse me, but I live in the Ditmas Park area and I don't feel comfortable with the group of youth who hang out across the street from my house on weekends. By the way, most of them happen to be white.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 20, 2006 2:12 PM

feel compelled to write since this is my block in Caton Park that you are all referring to. with regardes to the unsavory seediness of church ave. at 11pm on a sat. night. i'm wondering whether you find the junkies in the north park slope area or the screaming car radios and mounds of garbage left after and during concerts at the 9th st. bandshell or how about those lovely quiet streets near grand army where we all warn our kids not to go because of the muggings and rapes that occur there too frequent to count.. let me see, could it be that the majority of families whom reside in my neighborhood my not be of the same socio-economic bckgr. as you!. so tired of the keeping up with the jones mentality. i really hope you don't move here.. when we have ball games soccer games and barbecue on the streets it is spotless the next morning. you wouldn't know anything went on. as for the pre=school on our block. those children are so well-mannered their parents NOT their babysitters drop them off and pick them up. if there is ever an issue the teachers and staff are hands on and the only issue has been when someone may have blocked a driveway picking up a child and at that it was just a few moments to find the parent.. How dare any of you make assumptions about a neighborhood that you step into for a few seconds!yes, church ave. is busy but the fish store has the same women buying for their families.. the meat market is spotless and NOT OVERPRICED!!!..the buses run like clockwork the police are constantly patrolling.. and we have our community meetings where the district leaders the police and the neighbors all get together... i consider myself truly fortunate to have stumbled upon this amazing place to live.. my children have thrived and i have the great fortune to know people that actually care about people more than renovating a brownstone..and by the way, i know the owners of the property for sale they have been wonderful and given so much that all of us are sorry to see them leave..we can only hope that the next owners of this wonderful property appreciate this fabulous place to live and participate with us in this Caton Park community

Posted by: Anonymous at October 20, 2006 2:33 PM

The way to defend your neighborhood is not by running other people's neighborhoods down.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 20, 2006 11:26 PM

I have to agree with anon 2:33. I don't think the comments were denegrating other nabes but rather pointing out that a strong community exists that other seemingly more gentrified nabes do not offer. I also think he/she makes a fair point about someone who decided to hang out at 11 pm and thought it was, "scary" when much of the actual real crimes people are worried about happen in so called safer nabes at 11 pm.

Posted by: Anonymous at October 21, 2006 12:13 AM

Can't we have a discussion without bringing people's ethnicity into it?

Posted by: Anonymous at October 21, 2006 8:31 AM