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September 30, 2009
Exposed Brick Blues
If you own a brownstone and you have exposed brick somewhere in your house, please stand up. And walk yourself to the hardware store for a bag of plaster and a trowel. I am a future tenant of a park slope brownstone garden apartment (TBD ...tbd), and as I search the listings high and low, I can’t seem to find a single one fitting my criteria (dogs, private garden, north slope) that does not have exposed brick. It is a bigger offense than the white painted over fireplace+grate look. To me, exposed brick is just fine in a warehouse loft, but in a –let’s face it – NARROW apartment with minimal window action, it just looks like a cold, damp and depressing basement rec room. At best, it is reminiscent of something cool seen somewhere else, somewhere very different. Exposed brick is definitely not “original” detail. Listing after listing I see this brick, usually around the fireplace – either ever so restrainedly just on the chimney, or tastefully not on the chimney but on the main wall, or just balls out all over the entire frickin apartment. Is this an instance of the emperor wearing no clothes? Can't you all see that you are looking at a very very wrongly naked wall? Please plaster it. Then you can, rightly, claim that the wall is AUTHENTIC. Or just drywall it & send me your listing.
Comments
Couldn't agree more. Beautifully written. Good luck in your apartment search.
Posted by: Schultz at September 30, 2009 10:14 PM
Rot. Exposed brick, when detailed well, is beautiful and desirable. Unfortunately, most of the time it's just scraped clean and rutty. So what if it's not 'original?' Neither is electric light, air-conditioning, Sub-zero fridges and Wolf ranges, the last two are much more hideous than brick.
Posted by: cmu at September 30, 2009 10:24 PM
cmu, People seem to think exposed brick is 'original' or can pass as original - case in point, this listing (http://www.idealpropertiesgroup.com/property/details/13682#img_preview) with excessive exposed brick says "Description:
To be concise: the most beautiful, meticulous, tasteful and true-to-Park Slope`s-roots renovations this year. Anyone who ever wished to live in a brownstone that looks like it looked when it was first built, please, come and see these units before it`s too late."
There is just something very misguided about this description.
Posted by: butlerspanties at September 30, 2009 10:36 PM
I can't agree more that exposed brick has no place in an otherwise "restored" brownstone.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 1, 2009 8:12 AM
I don't have it in my house but I don't mind it at all.
To each their own but I think it can look quite nice in the right setting.
No offense to you OP but if you feel so strongly, maybe you should buy your own house and do what you like with it.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at October 1, 2009 8:52 AM
Yes, but why WOULD you want to "restore" something to the point of excluding a feature (that is, IF you think it's worthy; if you don't like brick, don't expose it?) That way lies stultification. Most "restored" brownstones are dreary, dark and Victorian (in the worst sense of the word.)
There's a difference between preservation of details and intent and slavishly restoring something just because it was built that way (or why for example do you, Bids, disagree with whats-his-name's objection to en-suite bathrooms? A little inconsistency when it comes to comfort?)
I say that obsessively researching materiel, paint colors, original hardware, etc. is a total waste of time. I mean, who WANTS push-button switches really? But then I suspect it's because most "restorers" are so insecure in their own taste that by doing so, they can rest easy: it's "original". And you typically cannot be criticized for that.
Posted by: cmu at October 1, 2009 8:55 AM
No offense to you OP but if you feel so strongly, maybe you should buy your own house and do what you like with it.
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at October 1, 2009 8:52 AM
LOL, I was thinking of posting the same thing but as you all know, I'm too nice to write such a thing. :)
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 1, 2009 8:55 AM
i'm with mrs limestone and dibs!
Posted by: CGmodern at October 1, 2009 9:02 AM
cmu, I invite you over to see the best of all worlds...a restored parlour with all the plaster detail, restored gas/electric fuxtures and YES, push button switches. Tucked away in the back is a modern kitchen with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops.
Upstairs, I may have orn a hole in the universe by combining two of those ridiculously small Victorian rooms to form the ghastly ensuite master bath but with modern toggle light switches and a Jacuzzi.
Within these decorating choices, there's no place for exposed brick. Fireplaces & mantles are stripped to the original tile!!
But, yes, I'm insecure about all of it. :)
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 1, 2009 9:05 AM
I have one push-button that was here when I bought & that I rewired - just a subtle touch & it turns on a wonderful old rewired gas ceiling fixture. Also an old brass sign about how to use electricity instead of gas.
No bricks, though. They aren't "original".
Posted by: Arkady at October 1, 2009 9:11 AM
cmu...
http://houseofantiquehardware.com/s.nl/sc.9/category.34/.f
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 1, 2009 9:14 AM
What if my brownstone's got a modern industrial kinda feel? Is that OK OP? Now I'm worried you won't like my design choices.
Posted by: Johnny at October 1, 2009 9:17 AM
It's OK in a brownstone that needed to be completely gutted and has a modern open industrial feel. That said, the OP is right about the lack of side windows in a brownstone and the concomitant result of the darker exposed brick.
The restoration police will be issuing Get Out Of Jail Free cards on a case-by-case basis. :)
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 1, 2009 9:23 AM
Given OP's username, we're not so sure this ain't a hoax of a post...
Posted by: brownstoner at October 1, 2009 9:33 AM
I'll expose whatever I want whenever I want.
Posted by: Petebklyn at October 1, 2009 9:59 AM
Thanks for all of your responses. I am sure it is very liberating to break your house out of its victorian plaster prison.... Just wondering why this one style of liberating interior architecture is the one style people choose. It is in over 50% of your brownstone homes. Think about that.
If someone put a jacuzzi in my apartment rental I would totally overlook the brick.
Posted by: butlerspanties at October 1, 2009 10:17 AM
"Just wondering why this one style of liberating interior architecture is the one style people choose. It is in over 50% of your brownstone homes."
Go on the Crown Heights North house tour this Saturday.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 1, 2009 10:22 AM
DIBS: thanks! would love to see your house, and I'm sure I'll envy it!
OP: to some extent, the exposed brick thing is because it's easier than complete re-do, and (I suspect it started in the West) it was considered desirable. While not yet at the yellow-shag-carpet stage, it's somewhat passe I guess. I love it when it's done well; it's not in my place and I wish I had the money to redo it.
Posted by: cmu at October 1, 2009 10:31 AM
cmu...I have an admission to make. On the garden level, i have a small stretch of exposed brick in the hallway leading to the yard. God knows I didn't expose it. It was done by the previous owner.
There, I've admitted to it and gotten it off my chest.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 1, 2009 10:39 AM
I'd like to make a snarky comment about exposing your own brick, but common sense prevails ;).
Posted by: cmu at October 1, 2009 10:42 AM
I think butlerspanties should go over to the OT. Someone's looking for riff raff over there.
Posted by: daveinbedstuy at October 1, 2009 10:56 AM
Here’s a theory on why you see so much exposed brick in brownstone apartments (garden-level apartments, anyway). These houses’ kitchens were usually in the basement or garden level at the rear. The fireplace or hearth was built to accommodate a cast-iron stove. The fireplace and the surrounding wall were brick, presumably for fire-proofing. (Take a look at the Merchant’s House kitchen here: http://www.212panos.com/MerchantsHouse/Kitchen.html.) When we moved into our 1888 house, the stove wall had been covered with ersatz paneling and, under the paneling, a crumbling coat of plaster. We restored the brick (many of our neighbors had the brick intact). Ultimately, we decided we didn’t like the look either, and installed wallboard, but the brick (and, in this situation at least, it is an “original detail”) in still behind the wall.
Posted by: 16Street at October 1, 2009 11:34 AM
I love my push button switches. Nothing to do with restoration - I just prefer how they look. What is wrong with that?
Posted by: Mrs. Limestone at October 1, 2009 12:10 PM
No idea why people get into such a state over exposed brick. Depending on your style and what you like, I think exposed brick can look wonderful. I love old houses and all their detail but if there were a room where i thought exposed brick worked, I am not emotionally so attached to plaster that I would say no. I wouldn't remove plaster wals with detail- but plain plaster. It depends. I find old brick to be beautiful and warm.
Posted by: bxgrl at October 1, 2009 1:31 PM
Exposed brick may be the party wall separating your brownstone from the next door neighbor's. During my plumbing repairs the party wall was exposed and I could hear shockingly clearly into my neighbor's house (dining room). The plaster keeps dust, noise, and drafts out of your living space.
I also used reproduction push-button switches in the public areas of my house. Original (1919) push-button and old rocker switches were in place when I bought the house but I replaced all the switches on the electrician's advice and because they wouldn't guarantee the functioning of any old parts. The repro switches work much better than the originals, some of which you had to really push fairly hard, perhaps because they were old and heavily used. I'm really happy with the new ones and the brass switch plate covers I used.
Posted by: BHS at October 1, 2009 1:47 PM
During the 70's and 80's, exposed brick was the cool thing to do with a restoration. I bought a coop and lived with an exposed brick wall in my Brooklyn Heights coop for 15 years and I kept thinking about plastering it over. I was really aggravated by it after a while. I used to talk about it all the time. This one liked it, that one agreed with me. In the end, I did nothing but no way did I want to have any of that in my brownstone. I didn't "restore" my place either -- just kept the pretty Victorian stuff like plastered floral designed molding on the ceiling, big molded doors, put back fireplaces, and other stuff which fits with the brownstone but works for modern life. There is light everywhere. I made a big deal about adding nice light fixtures, which give lots of light. I HATE dark and dreary and for that reason, I don't like true "restorations".
Posted by: donatella at October 1, 2009 3:19 PM
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