Size Matters. So Do Money and Ego.
What an embarassment. This article made us so glad that we no longer live in Manhattan and that our children will not have to grow up around the kind of shallow, materialistic people epitomized by Gary Rabin. Hey, we’ve got nothing against double-wide townhouses, believe us, we just wish you didn’t have to be a…
What an embarassment. This article made us so glad that we no longer live in Manhattan and that our children will not have to grow up around the kind of shallow, materialistic people epitomized by Gary Rabin. Hey, we’ve got nothing against double-wide townhouses, believe us, we just wish you didn’t have to be a one-dimensional, status-hungry jerk to own one:
WHEN Gary Rabin closed on a 38-foot-wide New York City town house this month, he happily acknowledged that his new home’s girth would make him the envy of the tony town-house set. He had started off in 2003 with a 19.6-foot-wide brownstone on a quiet Greenwich Village block – wide enough by any conventional brownstone standards. There was no need to hang his head in shame the way he might have had he bought, say, a 13-foot-wide property. But being slightly below the coveted 20-foot mark, it wasn’t the sort of statistic he was likely to brag about among his real estate-savvy friends at dinner parties. In the fall of 2004, he found what he was looking for: a 38-foot-wide town house a few blocks away, a massive piece of real estate for New York. Sure, it was a lot more expensive, but he’s a lot happier, too…”There’s an element of pride when you walk out the door in the morning,” Mr. Rabin says.
Gag.
Quest for a Wide Town House [NY Times]
Dude, your whole web site is based on the fact that you have a brownstone in NYC. It’s a subtler form of the NYTs article sure, but just because you bought in Brooklyn doesn’t absolve you of heady materialism.
Erm…I’m proud as can be of my townhouse. Though it’s an astonishingly narrow 12.5 wide, it’s all mine! 3 floors plus a basement and a finished (though stuffy) attic! And a delightful backyard in the partial shade of an enormous maple tree! I guess it’s a matter of perspective; my home before this one was a 625 sq ft E Vill walkup in a dark airshaft.
We dish it out and we can take it. This article may have touched a particular nerve with us because we unfortunately have to work all too closely with the kind of Wall Street people who truly measure their success in life by how many zeros are in their net worth. Sure, we take a certain pride in our house, obviously, but it comes from the hard work and creativity we are putting into it. So inevitably, there is some amount of ego wrapped up in that, but it is a far cry from the “my house/boat/phallus is bigger than yours” mentality that drives a lot of the one-dimensional type-A hedge fund managers, traders, etc. out there. And unfortunately, given the real estate values in Manhattan, those are the only kind of people who can afford to raise their families there. Which is why we think Brooklyn is an infinitely more interesting place to raise ours.
Hey, if brownstoner chooses to opine about other brownstone owners, e.g. “one dimensional, status hungry jerks,” and about what I found to be an amusing and interesting article then they should expect to take a little heat. And I think they do expect it and are quite capable of defending their position.
yes, after reading the article I know hang my head in shame for alas live in a 16.5′ -never mind that I only occupy two of the 4 floors.
The article didn’t mention the shame of having to rent out part of the house to strangers to help pay expenses.
i’ve read b’stoner since the early days and any mention of 5th floor is purely informational…sounds like a few of you have been obsessing a little too much on other people’s property…take ’em down a few notches, right?
I agree that this site seems to mention The Fifth Floor more than a lot. I always bite my tongue when I read it bcs I have a single family house with 5 floors and we never even go up to 5 bcs it’s too much of a friggin walk!
Good luck to you on that. And take care of your back. Carrying a sleeping kid up to their bed on the fifth floor is not a good time.
I think that when the author wrote that passage, they were most likely exaggerating to create melodrama. I think we have all seen that many times in articles especially those about Real Estate and the like.
BTW, I think that most people in this city are “status hungry” (at least to some extent) … in a way, one has to be since everything is so damn expensive.
Absolutly right but in my humble opinion that 30 somthing brownstone in Mnhattan was ugly, ugly, ugly (they have pictures in the paper version), probably double-wide was only one interesting thing about this one.
IT IS ALL ABOUT PROPORTION. Only somone not civilized would think wider is better at any prise.
I have seen some gorgeus 14 and 16 footers.
It is ok to be proud of your building