Horror Show Friday: Mutant Facade Repair
We were biking through Wallabout earlier this week and were struck by the rather odd design choice at 33 Vanderbilt Avenue. For some reason, someone decided to put a layer of screamingly new brick on the lower half of the facade. What possible reason—other than pure bad taste—could account for this decision? Is it cheaper…
We were biking through Wallabout earlier this week and were struck by the rather odd design choice at 33 Vanderbilt Avenue. For some reason, someone decided to put a layer of screamingly new brick on the lower half of the facade. What possible reason—other than pure bad taste—could account for this decision? Is it cheaper than repairing the existing facade? GMAP
All of you too scared to have opinions about esthetics…
BOO
italiana – you’re confusing judging whats been done with judging the person
Doesn’t really bother me, maybe it looks terrible in person. Maybe they chose to live in an un-landmark block so they could do as the please and not worry about the brownstone heretics.
Since all of ya optically challenged mothers seem to be ok with with the freedom this owner enjoys to fuglify his property then you should be just fine with Mr. B’s freedom to write about such things, right? It is Mr. B’s blog after all, you bunch of contrarian wannabes you.
“I’m with the What on this one.
Brownstoner should just start a new daily blog for ‘Ugly houses we don’t like’. This is what this thread is all about.”
Um, if you read the comments on just about every house/coop/condo/development posting on this site, you’ll realize this is what this entire SITE is about.
crimsonson- Many, if not most of us love brownstoner because we love old homes and architecture. and resepct it. So even though I’m not a neighbor, it’s fair game for a comment. What I wouldn’t do is trash the owner’s taste. But I am curious about why he chose to go this route, rather than restore the facade or do something in keeping with the original design. That said, I give him credit for saving the window and door detail.
And I agree with BrooklynRooster re the Navy Yard and Poley’s idiot comment.
I can’t believe I’m going to say this but here goes: I agree with the what.
We have no idea what this guy/gal can afford to do with his house. Maybe he has a sick kid whose medical bills are more important to him than what his house looks like. Granted some people who have money do horrible things to their homes but don’t judge until you know the whole story.
This feature just screams ellitism and its a real turn off when you log onto this site.
I’m riding the What-mobile on this one. Ugly? In your opinion, apparently not in the eyes of the homeowner. Bad financial decision? Why do you care? Do you pay their bills? Are you getting a piece of the action if and when they sell their home? Destroying the architectural heritage of the hood? Then lobby for a landmarking of such homes so they can’t do that.
Yeah, that’s a real aesthetically pleasing and historically important block there.
Next non-issue, please.
“What possible reason—other than pure bad taste—could account for this decision? Is it cheaper than repairing the existing facade?”
Mr. B.;
Allow me to venture a guess on this one. As Sam and others pointed out, this is not a load-bearing wall. However, there may be a non-aesthetic reason for such a wall, and that is waterproofing. The front brick wall may have become excessively porous due to settlement and cracking. The best way to repair such a condition is to remove the old brick facade, apply a vapor-barrier layer to the front of the inner brick wall, and then reconstruct the front facade. However, this is a more expensive job, and my guess is that this fellow was advised to just apply a new facade over the existing one.