I actually think the reno costs were closer to a million dollars. Every little thing was done. Functionally and structurally, the house is brand new.
It is a thing of beauty for a very wealthy collector of antique furniture perhaps or for someone who likes the idea of living in an 1830's house that is up to the minute in terms of all the modern conveniences. I think the price is a little aggressive but it is a one-of-a-kind house in Brooklyn Heights in perfect condition.

Posted by: sam at September 10, 2007 1:50 PM in response to House of the Day: 135 Joralemon Street

I saw the house on the house tour, the rear is very attractive. there is a wooden porch with thin, 1830's wooden columns, and a very large rear yard. An artistic landscaper could screen the views of the apartment houses next door with trellises or plantings.
This is a formal house, the parlors are upstairs and the kitchen and dining room are on the garden level. The house had never been broken up into a 2-family, so the layout remains as it always has been since it was built. The attic bedrooms are great with their dormer windows facing straight out to Sidney Place. There is a reason this house in in every picture book on Brooklyn architecture. It is a beauty.

Posted by: sam at September 10, 2007 2:44 PM in response to House of the Day: 135 Joralemon Street

This is a bigger and dirtier job than you may realize. I always recommend that people do this before they move in. The dirt and soot that comes out of an old chimney is unbelivable.

Posted by: sam at September 10, 2007 3:59 PM in response to Making our fireplace work?

What impressed me about the kitchen was how roomy it was. I'm not a real cabinet/appliances maven so to me that was rather secondary. I think one can never guess what a very wealthy owner will want in a kitchen so often putting in a simple generic kitchen-as a place holder- is the best way to go. I thought the bathrooms were very well done and so were the finishes such as the plasterwork, the doors, and the leaded glass work.
It is an early house, so there is no elaborate woodwork and parquetry. Anyway, it is a miracle that the house survived and I tip my hat to the developer/restorer.
Now the house needs to find a new owner who will make it a real home again.

Posted by: sam at September 10, 2007 5:46 PM in response to House of the Day: 135 Joralemon Street

I can't believe that someone paid 2.5 million for the house in its prior condition. The former owner was a bagman who inherited a real estate portfolio. If his father had not left him these properties he would have ended up living in the subways.
I would be surprised if he even has a bank account. Maybe his live-in girlfriend attend to those details.
Anyway I think the purchase price was far less regardless of what was recorded.

Posted by: sam at September 11, 2007 12:01 PM in response to House of the Day: 135 Joralemon Street

This is a great old upper-crust mansion. Everything looks perfect to me.
One would need a staff to keep this place up (at least two full-time employees and a landscape service as well as carpenters and painters on retainer) but that's part of living large.
There are very similar houses in the tony suburbs that are about the same price but that are not adjacent to not-so-nice areas. I wonder what would make a stockbroker buy here rather than in Rye, or Darien? Driving in to Manhattan would be easier, but I don't see Flatbush providing the kind of lifestyle that would match this house. I may be wrong, just asking.

Posted by: sam at September 11, 2007 2:53 PM in response to House of the Day: 1306 Albemarle Road

This building, the Alhambra Apartments, was brought back from the dead. It did not suffer a devastating fire, it suffered three devatating fires. It was a ruin. The comeback is remarkable. Now all three of the Montrose Morris apartment buildings: the Alhambra, the Imperial, and the Renaissance, are restored and once again adorn the streets of Bed Stuy and Crown Heights.
If a 'Before" picture of this building were posted today, half the comments would be to tear it down as it looks too far gone.

Posted by: sam at September 12, 2007 12:36 PM in response to Wednesday Links

We may be planting the seeds of our own destruction. Housing costs in Brooklyn are off the charts. An ordinary house here has now become unaffordable by all but the very rich, with incomes in the top 1%.
When talented, hard working people see that their efforts are not resulting in a good life for their families, they will move out. It is always the most talented and viable that move first leaving behind the older folks who are retired and the less-capable. So the city will be more and more filled with people on Social Security and with rich bankers and lawyers. Who will tend to these folks is a big question as no blue-collar professional or teacher, or healthcare worker will want to work hard in a place that denies them the basic promise of the American dream namely: to own your own house. It is a crisis and it is going to hit us hard and everyone will say: where did that come from?

Posted by: sam at September 13, 2007 10:29 AM in response to Brooklyn Breaks the Bank for Housing

Another very nice, middle-class family home available only to the super rich.
Sigh...
Brooklyn is screwed up.

Posted by: sam at September 13, 2007 2:03 PM in response to House of the Day: 202 Prospect Place

I was hoping this would be the site of the new Apple store. Oh well, Urban Outfiters will do fine because there are so many young people living in the area now and there are the colleges and the dorms nearby.
1980's Brooklyn was great because you could buy a big old brownstone for $350,000, but that was a lot of money then and mortgage rates were hovering around 12% assuming you could even get one. Everone was convinced we needed to become more Japanese to survive financially. Then their economy went kablooey -about the time our real estate market did the same.

Posted by: sam at September 17, 2007 11:48 AM in response to Urban Outfitters in Store for Atlantic Ave.