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November 8, 2006
Skillman Ave: A Study in Contrasts
Cruising down Skillman Avenue this past weekend, we were struck by the extremes of these two houses. The house on the left at 173 Skillman is pretty cool, we think. (See, haters, we don't diss everything new.) It's a modernist play on the vernacular of vinyl siding so common in Williamsburg and Greenpoint. We're dying to know more about it. The house on the right at 179 Skillman is, well, we're at a loss for words. Who can give their best architecture grad-student critique of this place? GMAP
Comments
Yummy. If only it were made of real gingerbread, at least you could eat it.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 11:25 AM
I'm surprised they are able to have their (newish) gate and entry so far out into the sidewalk.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 11:30 AM
yay! i wish both of these houses were on my block.
Posted by: Jimmy Legs at November 8, 2006 12:13 PM
That house is duplicated 5-6 times throughout Greenpoint. The original (and largest) is down the street from me on Leonard between Nassau and Driggs. The polish ladies who build them really think they're beautifying the neighborhood. Yuck.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 12:17 PM
There are lots of frou-frou gates and doors and details being added to houses in Bay Ridge too. I think it's just the aesthetic from other countries coming in, like 12:17 points out. It reflects their vision of prosperity.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 12:28 PM
gaudy is the word that comes to mind. Don't like to bash other people's home but this one takes the cake. The actual architecture of the house on the right is fine. I think it's just the finishes that transforms it into a beast. The paint colors, doors, windows, fence/railing, all of the custom additions, none of them complement the original structure. Aesthetics from a different class and era, I guess. Can't blame it all on culture either because I would imagine that great designs can be found within Eastern Europe and throughout the Meditteranean.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 12:48 PM
is the house on the right an old building with a new facade or is it new construction. bleech, these are worse than the poorly done bricology and fedders nightmare popping up all over.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 12:55 PM
"Let's take the worst examples of the most heinous architectural ornamentation of the past 200 years and put it all together, out of proportion, on one small facade!"
Posted by: Rascal at November 8, 2006 1:14 PM
"The architectural equivalent of an Indonesian jitney."
Posted by: Bryan at November 8, 2006 1:49 PM
For the one on the right, how about . . .
Post-Soviet Neo-Capitalist Expressionism
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 1:54 PM
I think the house on the right, the one aptly described as the "architectural equivalent of an Indonesian jitney," must be old construction with new accretions. There are houses like that all over Brooklyn. I have a relative with a simple, but tasteful, '20s row house in Marine Park.A few houses down from him there is a once similar house transformed into a castle with a crenulated turret.
Posted by: Bob Marvin at November 8, 2006 2:33 PM
Yeah, it's just an entirely different cultural idea of what constitutes a good-looking house. I could see this house anywhere in the Middle East, too, not just Eastern Europe.
But "Post-Soviet Neo-Capitalist Expressionism" is pretty accurate. Borat would love this house.
Posted by: sylvia at November 8, 2006 3:11 PM
If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it!
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 3:47 PM
Can't you just say "to each his own" and leave it alone?
Posted by: punko at November 8, 2006 3:48 PM
looks kinda grand. like something that would fit in nicely over in park slope or gowanus.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 4:48 PM
The house on the right is new construction. There are a number of similar houses in Greenpoint. They are pretty awful, but at least they are entertaining. Wouldn't want to live across from one (or in one), but I do enjoy walking by them.
Posted by: x at November 8, 2006 5:13 PM
The worst one of these Gingerbread Castles I've seen is on Newel Street off of Norman Ave. in Greenpoint. Just hideous. I'd take a Fedders building over one of these anyday.
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 5:43 PM
It looks like a Byzantine's wet dream!
Posted by: Anonymous at November 8, 2006 11:57 PM
The one on the right shows signs of the dreaded "Odessa Luxe" look.
Posted by: NeoGrec at November 9, 2006 6:07 PM
I wonder if a hundred years from now there'll be a fight to preserve it
Posted by: pfa at November 14, 2006 2:27 AM
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