Horror Show Friday
These two charmers hail from Bed Stuy and Canarsie, respectively, and can be yours for the low, low prices of $439,000 and $550,000. Any takers? BEAUTIFUL 2 FAMILY IN THE HEART OF BED STUY [Craigslist] Huge 2 Family Brand New [Craigslist]
These two charmers hail from Bed Stuy and Canarsie, respectively, and can be yours for the low, low prices of $439,000 and $550,000. Any takers?
BEAUTIFUL 2 FAMILY IN THE HEART OF BED STUY [Craigslist]
Huge 2 Family Brand New [Craigslist]
I didn’t realize that the homes downtown were built by Ratner or with government subsidies Benson. I am pleasantly surprised. I wonder how much more it cost Ratner to build something decent? Probably not much, if anything at all or else he would not have done it. Afterall, he didn’t use limestone, brownstone, cedar clapboards and plaster. He used the same bricks/brickface and sheetrock that the private builders use and this can probably be duplicated by private builders with them still making a profit.
benson- I was joking…jeesh.
I agree with Benson – enough is enough. This whole “horror show” thing seems to only appeal to a select few (the usual suspects)
The problem with your proposal is that government cannot dictate what people can or cannot build. They do this to an extent through historic districts, but you cannot feasibly propose that EVERY building be put through the same kind of process.
Guess what, I don’t like McMansions. should i lobby the government to have them outlawed?
If people didn’t like these buildings, they wouldn’t be purchased and then people wouldn’t build them any more.
and let’s face it… these builders are not tearing down majestic brownstones and building these. i’m sure most of these were empty lots previously. i don’t subscribe to the theory that “anything is better than nothing” but the market has to dictate these things.
Benson….I,(gasp)AGREE with many of your points. SCREECH!!!THUD>(Sound of world’s rotation screeching to a halt, followed by jaws hitting ground).
I would love to have Mr.B find one or more of these developers to give his/her side of the story. I, for one, want to know if there is a computer schematic blueprint, or template that they buy, that enables disparate parties to all come up with the same stuff, no matter where in the city it is. I bet there is. Houses R Us.
I would like to hear the rationale for some of these places. I suspect that you are right, there is no conspiracy to uglify, just the blind desire to make a product, sell it, and move on to the next. I think this desire is oblivious to anything except profit, and it wouldn’t matter to them if the same house was plonked down in Bed Stuy, Bay Ridge, Pelham Park, or midtown Manhattan.
This, to me is the crux of the matter: that it does not matter. It should. “Fedderism” is not the malicious doings of those who hate our communities, or those who want to possess our communities, but rather the bland, blind, banality of those who care only to make money, keep building, and move across the urban landscape like a factory assembly line mold that squeezes out a product into a space, and moves on to the next space.
I want to see viable communities. Necessary housing, new housing is needed, no doubt about it, and vacant lots need to be filled. But the mold needs to be adapted. Instead of squeezing out about 5 variations of ugly, how about getting the mold changed? If these houses are from a template, a kit, why not mandate that the city change the kit?
I agree that Horror Show Friday no longer serves a purpose, and Mr. B, let’s let it go. Let’s see what we can do to change hearts and minds here, where it counts. Is there any way for communities to have a say in what gets built? Can the city adopt a Code of Standards for Urban Rowhouse Construction? Can Brownstoner.com do anything? I’m very serious in my questions. Can Joe Public make a difference here?
We can pick these houses out of Craigslist, like fleas off a dog all day, ridicule them till the cows come home, but at the end of the day, they shake themselves off and jump back on the dog. To get rid of them, we need better tools. Any suggestions?
I’m not necessarily defending these two houses, but let’s take the Bed-Stuy house on the left as an example.
This place is essentially just like the houses on either side of it, minus the fancy accoutrements around the windows and at the cornice. Depending on its location in Bed-Stuy, 439k is a good price. If you want, throw some woodwork around the windows and fat cornice at the top. paint it any shade of beige and you’ve got yourself a brownstone. and, unlike other “horror shows” this one is actually built in line with its adjacent buildings instead of pushed forward, so that’s a plus.
There are rows of brownstones on some of the nicest Carroll Gardens blocks without the fancy exterior details and they easily look as bad as this place.
As far as the actual construction quality, there’s no way to judge without seeing it. Maybe it’s not so good, who knows.
So… in conclusion it’s a shame that someone built this as it stands, but for that price and with a small amount of work, it could look great.
Rtrain, unfortunately, the prices of these Fedders houses are not cheaper than any other buildings. Shutlz, you are right it can be done better and for the same cost. (And actually, Habitat for Humanity is doing a great job with this in New Orleans — and they included the potential occupants in the design process.) It’s a simple matter of ignorance and economics.
The house on the right would be attractive by brownstone standards if it didn’t have the Fedders boxes.
I would hate to see a website mocking the house that I grew up in.
The one n the right looks great compared to the one on the left. Perhaps the architects went to correspondence schools. Fortunatly these aren’t built to last a 100 years.