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June 2, 2009

PLG House Tour Recap

We've been hearing rave reviews from readers who attended the Prospect Lefferts Gardens House Tour this past weekend. Here's one:

These homes were nearly across the board respectful to original architecture and historic qualities, while being exuberant and inventive expressions of individual owners. My absolute favorite: the house on Chester Court (owned by two interior design professionals). Also a favorite: the Fenimore St. garden designed by Nigel Rollings. But wouldn't want to limit my praise there. So many distinct and wonderful renovations. Of all the homes, only one or two had the odd merit of being very nice but not extraordinary.

Other reactions?

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One of the best tours we've had in years. I don't know how many people attended, but we sold so many tickets that we ran out of ticket/brochures and had to use some xerox copies.

My personal favorites were the four story on Midwood I, the Chester Court house, and the house on Maple II decorated by Linda and Joel Spector,of Zelda Victoria.

The pre-tour publicity photographs, by Martin Friedman, Mr.B posted are beautiful; here's a slide show of photographs taken during the tour:

http://tinyurl.com/mktpxc

Posted by: Bob Marvin at June 2, 2009 11:17 AM

I throughly enjoyed the tour. All of the homes were great, and I got a couple of ideas, as well. They all reflected their owners' tastes and personalities, which is what a good tour should do, not show off how much money their owners and their decorators have spent. There was variety, and the 2 sets of homes that were next door to each other were great, as the layouts were basically the same, but they were as different as can be. I think my favorite was the first home on Midwood, followed by 198 Maple, with the stencilled stair risers. I was also impressed by the vast amounts of great art in almost all of the homes, and lots of books. My kind of people!

Thanks to the PLG planning crowd, I know it's hard work. Please come out to the Crown Heights North tour October 3rd. (unabashed plug.)

Posted by: Montrose Morris at June 2, 2009 11:21 AM

Forgot to mention, and how could I, that some of the houses had absolutely gorgeous period detail and woodwork. I had major floor envy, fireplace mantle envy, and with the Midwood house, I had to be pried away from the stairway. I've seen a lot of great staircases in my day, but this one moved into the top 5. Beautiful.

Posted by: Montrose Morris at June 2, 2009 11:31 AM

i had to speed through the tour as my pollen allergies were getting to me that day - so i wasn't able to spend too much time looking at details. i was impressed by the variety of styles, lifestyles of different economic backgrounds represented and the hard work put into each home. and the especially the two houses that had suffered from extensive fire damage. also impressed by the positive energy from all the tour guides (who were as sweet and informative as can be) and fellow visitors.

Posted by: winthropst at June 2, 2009 11:41 AM

Those homes were magnificent!!! It looks like a great time was had.

Posted by: faithful at June 2, 2009 11:57 AM

It was a lovely house tour. I really appreciated how people didn't do gut renos and put in modern interiors, but chose to respect the house and its history. And everyone was so nice- it was a beautiful day, all in all.

Posted by: bxgrl at June 2, 2009 12:02 PM

Loved the tour, and loved how very many of the homes had backyards with NOTHING between neighbors. Fences completely absent, partial fences with wide open access between backyards (no gates), backyards in a row separated by nothing but 3' tall chain link. Very old-school Brooklyn, where you sat on your front stoop playing cards with neighbors as the day's heat dissipated, or went out back to exchange pleasantries.

Posted by: vinca at June 2, 2009 12:19 PM

The slideshow is wonderful, so great to see what people do design-wise! Gorgeous elements. Note to self: Must get out to these house tours!

Posted by: cobblehiller at June 2, 2009 12:54 PM

Vinca--very interesting comment about the fences. My block has mostly just 3' chain link fences in the backyards and it creates a wonderful open, neighborly feeling back there. It's one of those things I never would have thought I'd like in the abstract, but in reality it's nice. Locked myself out on the back porch on Saturday and my neighbor who was also out back was able to come let me back in.

Posted by: BHS at June 2, 2009 2:09 PM

Wanted soooo much to do this tour, but we couldn't budget $40 (again)...I know they're fundraisers but wish they weren't so expensive. At least I can drool at some pix, looks like it was a great day in a great nabe.

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at June 2, 2009 2:11 PM

Was visiting family out of state, thanks for the great pictures.

Posted by: mopar at June 2, 2009 2:32 PM

What can I say? IMHO, the PLG house tour is always a great experience! Although I agree it was a particularly good tour this year. For one thing, with 11 houses on the map, it was a bigger than usual tour. More bang for the buck! But, one of the reasons why we especially love the PLG house tour is because it's always a People's Tour. By that, I mean this tour always faithfully covers the spectrum -- from high end renos and restorations that are the product of big budgets and reflect the will and skill of architects, big time GCs and professional designers to extremely modest DIY efforts that are primarily fueled by the owners' imaginations and creativity. In this way, we never walk away from the PLG house tour feeling somewhat deflated after seeing nothing but one fabulous high end home after another, all suitable for the pages of Architectural Digest but totally out of our financial reach. Instead, we are always treated to seeing a healthy sampling of homes so tastefully and reasonably done that, in the absence of hitting the lottery, we know we can realistically imagine lifting an idea or two or three and adapting it for use in our own home someday. And this year, the full spectrum of high end to budget renos and restos, in both houses and gardens, was bigger and better than ever-- with each and every one them beautiful!

The other consistently great thing about the PLG tour every year is, of course, the people. With the assistance of really sociable tour guides and other volunteers, it always turns out to be one rather festive occasion with lots of opportunities for ogling (houses, of course!) schmoozing, noshing (free refreshments!), and hugging. (Great to see you MM and BXgirl! And heck yeah we'll be at the CHN tour this year. No way we're gonna miss it!) Even so, there was a bit of added social sparkle with the Maple Street and Lefferts Ave stoop sales which helped to show off more of the laid back and "gently recycled" character of the PLG community. :-> And, if all the above wasn't enough to make for a great house and gardens tour, the weather was simply superb!

Bob, your photos are great! I find myself revisiting the tour over and over again as it was captured through the lens of your camera. Thanks!

Posted by: Brooklynista at June 2, 2009 2:38 PM

The PLG Lefferts Manor tour was a very good one this year. And while all the homes were lovely my absolute favorite was the Maple II Axel Hedman home with the stunning modern interior. This home was so well put together it blew me away. I think the owner said the home was featured in Architectural Digest last year.

The Sterling Street home was adorable and the Midwood I house was also nice but perhaps a bit fancy for my taste. All the people were pleasant and overall, I'd say it was a fun day. I think the pictures Bob Marvin took reflect just that.

Posted by: LuvingModern at June 2, 2009 2:50 PM

Time to scale down and sell the McMansion, Brenda?

Posted by: Architerrorist at June 2, 2009 3:04 PM

I can't help but make comparisons with the Park Slope tours which I've been attending for a long time. The PLG tour was like a breath of fresh air in comparison-everyone there was friendly and oh so down to earth. One owner at the PS tour one year told me to get out of the chair I was sitting on in her garden. Hey, it was a hot day and hers was the 8th house on a long tour. Get over yourself already. On PLG's all were welcome to sit in the lovely gardens, and in one of them to take some refreshments.

At PS you had the sense you were expected to feel privileged having the opportunity to marvel at the owners' tastes and precious "objets". My husband and I always laughed at the airs put on by the more insufferable owners. Not so the PLG tour-all the people I met were wonderful. The house selections were great, particularly the side by side identical ones showing the owners' different treatments.

The houses'lay-outs were far more practical than the older brownstones in PS. After building so many in more central Brooklyn, the architects seemed to have finally gotten a clue. I suppose a dearth of cheap household help must have had something to do with it too.

Posted by: ally at June 2, 2009 3:45 PM

I am pretty sure the house with the striped green floor was featured in Domino magazine before it closed. I have to admit I was a little scandalized they took out the wainscotting and changed the doorway in the dining room. Did anyone see that house?

Posted by: mopar at June 2, 2009 6:09 PM

Mopar, that's the Chester Court house that several people have mentioned in this thread. It was also one of the most talked about houses on the tour and a "must see" on many tour advice lists. This house was so "remarkable" you either loved it or hated it. Not much room there for going in between. As an old house lover myself, I can tell you that I loved this one.

Posted by: Brooklynista at June 2, 2009 6:55 PM

Just looked at Bob Marvin's slide show--fantastic pix, next best thing to being there...the whole set would make a great 'Exhibit A' for those who ask why I love Brooklyn so much. Oh, and best thing on the tour was clearly that cool white 'Spuds McKenzie' dog!!!

Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush at June 2, 2009 11:20 PM

Cool! Thanks, Brooklynista. If anyone's reading this who saw the Chester Court house, what was your favorite thing about it?

Brenda, I looked at the photos and thought the same thing: Wow, Brooklyn is really great.

Posted by: mopar at June 3, 2009 12:15 AM

We loved it, too. Fascinating to see the 2-story limestone homes of PLG--Victorian meets Craftsman on the inside. Lots of really great adaptive reuse. Thanks, PLG for a great event!

Posted by: Rehab at June 3, 2009 1:46 AM

All in all, it was a great tour. My one complaint is that there wasn't enough envelope-pushing design. Frankly, I don't crazy upholstery and wall-papered ceilings very inspiring.

Posted by: Armand at June 6, 2009 3:29 PM

« Flatbush Rezoning Can't Come Soon Enough Last Week's Biggest Sales »

June 2, 2009

PLG House Tour Recap

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