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October 6, 2008

House of the Day: 423 Clinton Avenue

423-Clinton-Avenue-1008.jpg
This unusual brownstone at 423 Clinton Avenue in Clinton Hill could be an amazing place—the architectural details on the interior look incredible, despite the gloomy exterior—but it's gonna take some work! And given the fact that it's a seven-family building, the deal's bound to have some hair on it. (The listing does say that the 3,750-square-foot house will be delivered empty and there's no mention of it being and SRO, so maybe our caution is misplaced.) Despite the house's potential, we think the $1,800,000 asking price is a stretch given how much money the new owner will have to spend on renovations. We just hope it will fall into the hands of someone who really cares.
423 Clinton Avenue [Fillmore] GMAP P*Shark
Exterior photo by Michael Fine




Posted by Brownstoner at 1:15 PM | Comments (32)
Categories: Clinton Hill, HOTD

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Comments

Man oh man could that be a nice house. They should price it so that somebody could really afford to put some money into renovations. Plus, how depressing is that website for Fillmore? Don't know why people would ever list with them.

Posted by: wasder at October 6, 2008 1:22 PM

Wow, I love those "pocket stained doors". Seriously, this place is great. What great unusual detail. This is the kind of house I would love to have and bring it back to life. I don't care what the rest of the house has wrong with it, unless it's structurally dangerous, I would love to be able to have it. I hope they have an open house.

Of course, I am not in the market, and this is a lot of dollars, but I hope someone who loves period detail - woodwork and stained glass, especially, buys it with the intentions of restoring it.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at October 6, 2008 1:27 PM

I am pretty sure my friend lived in here on the second or third floor in the 80's. Then, her apartment had the original closet/sink builtins and I remember for certain some amazing stained glass on interior doors. I could be confusing it for a similar house with a porch, but I am pretty sure it's the same one. I remember it was beat up, but great.

Posted by: Stonergut at October 6, 2008 1:31 PM

Just looked again at the specs - why are the taxes so high? Over $8000? Because it's a multiple dwelling? It's nice and wide - 25 feet! Fuses? Whooboy, it's going to be buy a Hamptons home for your electrician, for this one. Still has mucho potential.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at October 6, 2008 1:33 PM

"Plus, how depressing is that website for Fillmore? Don't know why people would ever list with them."

seriously couldnt agree more wasder. what an awfully gloom depiction a brooklyn brownstone. At least those overpriced listings on corcoran and brown harris stevens get you a little excited about the property. This listing makes me feel like their open house will be closer to what one might find in a haunted brownstone on halloween in a few weeks.

CHILDREN BEWARE

Posted by: bktycoon at October 6, 2008 1:55 PM

That stained glass - WOW!!

That Price - BOO!!

Posted by: bayridgegirl at October 6, 2008 2:12 PM

I agree the "pocket stained doors" are fabulous. I wish there would have been more pictures.
Hey, did anyone check out any open houses in Fort Greene over this weekend? There were some quiet appealing but I had a paper deadline and couldn't make it.

Posted by: ethankB at October 6, 2008 2:12 PM

Nice rarity. A porch and a stoop. Southern style livin' in BK. You'd be kinda stupid to pay $1.8M though. Good luck to the seller anyway (like I'm sincere).

Posted by: DOW8000SP800 at October 6, 2008 2:16 PM

I'm having mixed feelings about that 'porch'. At first I liked it, now I don't. I don't think it's original to the house. I hate the white fence.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at October 6, 2008 2:24 PM

Whoa, that IS spooky! I'm grooving on the vintage TV console in the living room. Perfect for watching Addams Family reruns. I would offer $1.5MM for the place and demand a complimentary exorcism of the evil spirits. By the way, can one get a ticket for drinking spiked witches brew on the porch? And is this really 10 minutes to Manhattan as the Fillmore website boasts?

Posted by: Biff Champion at October 6, 2008 2:25 PM

That's a picture of Mr & Mrs. Taub's bedroom. If they just moved the beds together.

Posted by: bayridgegirl at October 6, 2008 2:34 PM

BRG, good one!

"And given the fact that it's a seven-family building, the deal's bound to have some hair on it."

Some long, straggly gray hair, no doubt...

Posted by: Biff Champion at October 6, 2008 2:43 PM

I love original details but this house does have a certain Creepy McCreeperton factor to it.

Posted by: TownhouseLady at October 6, 2008 2:49 PM

THL, this is to Haunted Houses what Mill Basin and Dyker Heights are to mansions!

Posted by: Biff Champion at October 6, 2008 3:01 PM

So true Biff!

Posted by: TownhouseLady at October 6, 2008 3:01 PM

Hey Biff you weren't serious about offering $1.5m were you ?
We like the interior a lot but not as bullish on the exterior as MM seems to be. That porch looks like a later addition prior to landmarking.
Nice street though and lots of space.

Posted by: pierre de taille at October 6, 2008 3:17 PM

Love the house, hate the price. Is that a fireplace on a back wall between two windows? I've never seen that in a brownstone before. Great, if so. I happened upon a fantastic fixer-upper yesterday at 875 St, Marks, but you'd need alot of money as well as fortitude to fix that one up!

Posted by: Susan Elkins at October 6, 2008 3:24 PM

Oh mon dieu, pierre! Pas une chance. I'm not saying this place doesn't have potential, but I just don't think it's a good time to buy a fixer upper like this unless it's in the most primo area.

Posted by: Biff Champion at October 6, 2008 3:31 PM

While making fun of Fillmore for advertising "pocket stained doors", why not pile on about their use of the letter "s":

"...located in the prime area of Clinton Hills"
"X-Street Green & Gate Aves"

+1 and -1, I guess it's a wash.

Posted by: Bklnite at October 6, 2008 4:22 PM

"And is this really 10 minutes to Manhattan...?"

Yes. By broom.

Posted by: SnarkSlope at October 6, 2008 4:53 PM

pas de probleme Biff. We think this thing should really be max $1.2m if it is indeed an SRO plus that porch still bothers us but some folks may like it.

Posted by: pierre de taille at October 6, 2008 5:07 PM

Who said I liked the exterior, especially the porch? Au contraire, pierre! It's not original, and looks rather absurd on the classic brownstone facade. Love the inside, though. I always wanted to own the haunted house on the hill.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at October 6, 2008 5:50 PM

strip off the one in front of the price and they may be getting into realistic territory. what a joke.

Posted by: jingle mail at October 6, 2008 6:37 PM

The so-called detail just doesn't do it for me. The detail is rather perfunctory and boring. I looked at the 4 photos on the lousy RE website and can't see how Browner can managed to write "architectural details on the interior look incredible"...

I mean, is there a link to many more photos I am not seeing?

Fillmore is ridiculous. As others state above, I agree: this is a fantasy price. If the house were 4 or 5 blocks closer to BAM in prime FG on a nice block, maybe they could ask this price. It doesn't make sense for someone thinking of condo-izing it either.

If anyone wants to reconfigure this house into an owner occupied 1-, 2- or 3- family, it'll end up being a guttish reno, no doubt. It won't just be about moving walls, ripping out the odd kitchen or two...it'll end up being a total redo of the electric and plumbing...mechanicals... new kitchens and baths...and then maybe the windows, facade work, and then, bonjour, $400K before you know it. Unless it's all done by the owner hands-on like those kids in BS who did a lot of their own work putting in their black-and-white tile snowflake motif everywhere...

I hope the broker is reading this. The house should be listed at $1.125 tops considering all the eventual costs to bring it up to snuff.

Oh, and there will be an immense amount of paint stripping on that woodwork. Ugh. Someone will be at it for ages and it'll cost a fortune.

Braunsteiner...I shopped the Flea yesterday. I probably made one of the higher dollar amount purchases yesterday that wasn't for one of the GreenJeans furniture pieces...but by the look of it, those kids of GreenJeans may not have had any sales, poor things. With any luck, those who took catalogs (including me) will think about it and make a purchase eventually. Nice stuff...not my exact taste...but some of it wasn't bad. Let's just say, I paid the most money anyone probably spent for small items yesterday and would have spent more but had a moment of "Um, will I get in trouble?" (i.e. get home to have to hear "Did you really need that/those?!"). I did buy one thing that was possibly less of a good buy but ultimately it was all such a bargain from one vendor I felt guilty. I also found some decent heavy 60's vases from another vendor for the mother-in-law who, going bouquet-crazy in the summertime (10 bouquets in the house at once) tends to break a lot of vases.

It's too bad so many vendors canceled due to the weather.

I mention this again, and repeat that I'm sure you've thought/researched this: can you (are you allowed to) get a huge tent set up in the AM on Sundays so lots of vendors know they'll be protected from the elements? You really should negotiate it with the school to allow you to try it out in November and December when the cold weather is upon us. It’ll be brutal otherwise. Is it too complicated with the City and all?

Hugs!
BG

Posted by: BrooklynGreene at October 6, 2008 6:56 PM

A bit of a spooky haunted house. I would buy it for $700,000. I will take a lot of money, time, and emotional capital to empty that sucker of its tenants. With its tenants, it is worthless.

Harsh, but true.

Posted by: sam at October 6, 2008 9:29 PM

A gut reno? Please no. Whoever buys it, just leave it alone. Fish through a new electrical line or two for a computer and an air conditioner, restore the multiple bathrooms to original-condition bedrooms, just let it be.

Posted by: mopar at October 6, 2008 11:36 PM

While we're on the topic of Clinton Hill, can someone please explain who is buying these properties and why they are choosing Clinton Hill over, say, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Forte Greene, Bed Stuy, etc.? (A serious question, not saying they shouldn't.)

Posted by: mopar at October 6, 2008 11:49 PM

"why they are choosing Clinton Hill over, say, Carroll Gardens, Park Slope, Forte Greene, Bed Stuy, etc.?"

I would definitely choose Clinton Hill over these neighborhoods you list above (though Fort Greene and Clinton Hill are in many ways connected, interdependent neighborhoods). For me it is the family vibe and space for kids that does it. It is a unique urban community in my opinion. Brooklyn Greene, I am with you about the ridiculousness of the house but this is a nice block.

Posted by: wasder at October 7, 2008 12:00 AM

Thanks, Wasder, appreciate the info.

Posted by: mopar at October 8, 2008 12:58 AM

The negative people commenting definetly does not know how to look for a house. There is nothing in this brownstone that has anything spooky about it, it is something called "Originals". The price is very reasonable with the expenses of Brownstones in the year 2008. If you can not afford a brownstone now wait until 2009.

Posted by: NiaHenry17 at October 9, 2008 11:32 AM

Wow. A 17 year old has more common sense than all of you grown adults. Now a days we do not know anything about buying a house. A house is not about how it looks on the outside but the fine original details it has on the insides. And for the comment about Fillmores website, if your juvenile still looking for pretty picture pages you definetly dont need to be buying a house.

Posted by: RealEstate09 at October 9, 2008 11:52 AM

I just don't understand why people feel a need to replace all the plumbing and electrical in an old house and destroy the walls and all the original detail in the process. If people want to live in a new-construction building, there are plenty of those around. I just don't understand this mentality that because an old place is not exactly like a new one (no 220-volt wiring), there is something wrong with it. I encounter this mentality everywhere, from buyers to brokers to contractors to inspectors. In 80 or 100 years, the "new" construction is going to be old and it's going to have a heck of a lot more problems than these old houses do now.

Posted by: mopar at October 11, 2008 2:17 PM

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