Small New Townhouse Condo Planned in Fort Greene
What you’re looking at above (at right) is a rendering of a four-story condo set to rise at 294 Cumberland Street. The contextual look has a lot to do with the fact that the project was put through its paces by the LPC (it’ll be built in the Fort Greene Historic District). The developers intend…
What you’re looking at above (at right) is a rendering of a four-story condo set to rise at 294 Cumberland Street. The contextual look has a lot to do with the fact that the project was put through its paces by the LPC (it’ll be built in the Fort Greene Historic District). The developers intend to break ground soon, and the condo will have four two-bedroom units, prices TBD. What kind of interiors do you think would work best here? More modern or traditional? GMAP P*Shark DOB
Would be really interesting to see the interior floorplans of a retro-style brownstone that was BUILT as a multi-unit structure, rather than awkwardly chopped into one after the fact.
I think this looks great, and would love to know construction costs vs. the typical crap that goes up here. Thank god for landmark protection.
Impossible to replicate or recreate the past architecture. It’s too good to be true, brick facades never look good when built.
Actually that IS what I said, 12:22 in my post at 12:04. My post was entirely about quality of materials, regardless of style. You need to read more closely.
However in general, in my knowledge there are more affordable options in modern styles than there are in traditional styles. There’s nothing traditional that’s even close to the price range of Ikea’s modern kitchens and built-ins and shelving, etc etc.
Also for a traditional living room, you’d have to pay for moldings, ceiling medallions, etc. when even made cheaply are not cheap.
You are right, 12:04, in that old does not always equal pretty, and it is possible to design and construct a very attractive modern building. However, those seem to be few and far between, and we usually get crap, especially on brownstone blocks, where a house has to fit into a 20′ lot.
The brick in the rendering is not the same color as the building next door, I think everyone understands that it would be hard to match, but to complement should be doable, which seems to be the case. If it ain’t broke, why change it? This seems to be a perfect building for an historic block. Nothing in the facade is that difficult to do. Even the cornice is now available in newer materials, But I don’t know if that would pass LPC muster.
I believe they will have to put a handicapped accessible entrance in front here. This take presedence over landmarks. See 242 Adelphi St. for an example.
Left Hook, 12:04 — you’re both wrong. Cost has nothing to do with “traditional” vs. “modern”. It has to do with the quality of materials and workmanship. Period. You can walk into a low income housing project and see that it was built in a ” modern” style (i.e. no decorative details) but was done in the most economical way possible. Likewise, you can walk into a McMansion with mouldings up the wazzoo and see immediately that the developers just laid the mdf on heavy to cover up the shoddy sheetrock work.
ANYWAY, lame argument. Let’s hope whatever they do, they do it with some modicum of sensitivity to materials and craftsmanship. Hey, one can dream!
MY QUESTION IS: Is there no building to the right of the new one? If so, will the new one have windows on that wall — in other words, will it have three exposed walls with windows?
That would be a huge huge luxury — the one thing all these brownstones lack is interesting exposures.
Doing antique reproduction is always more expensive, if it’s done WELL. Just ask our insurance company who estimated it would cost $1.5 million to recreate just the building, not buy the land underneath it mind you, just build the structure alone, for our 2-story 100 year old, 20 foot wide house.
For this reason, I always find cheaply done repro-traditional buildings end up looking awful. Remember this is just a computer rendering. It’s not a photograph. The brick between the old building and the new building will NOT match, in real life when it’s finished. It’s impossible to recreate an antique building in the same high quality because it’s cost prohibitive. Especially when it’s being built as condos to sell for a profit, not being built as a custom private home which is the only case where people can choose to sink a ton of dough into all the right materials and details.
I just don’t understand why people prefer an ugly building that imitates the old ones, over an attractive modern building. There’s nothing inherently wrong with modern. The problem is in the talent-less architects running around Brooklyn building modern buildings. Please criticize their designs, not every single modern building ever made. Speaking of vast generalizations, there are plenty of old buildings that are ugly too. Old does not = pretty and modern does not = ugly.
The building should have been at least 2 floors higher in order to have more units. All the poor and jealous losers crying about all the condos being built should direct their misplaced energies on improving their own earning power as opposed to hating those that are doing better than them. Typical white trash losers. Reminds of my old neighbor who was actually old and he was very angry that people and charities would donate money to “foreigners and foreign causes” when “he” was hurting and how dare they give money and help others before helping him. God damn I hate white trash Brooklynites.
Modern, done well, can be, and most often is, considerably more expensive than traditional interiors. The reason that details like moldings and baseboards were invented was to cover up gaps where the walls, floors, ceilings, door and window frames come together…or intersections where different materials came together. It is very difficult and expensive to make the various planes which make up your house come together seamlessly and beautifully.
Ask any contractor and he will tell you that modern details require much more craftsmanship. Many contractors will not even consider doing modern projects because they consider them a huge pain in the ass, particularly when many people falsely assume that modern is cheaper.