Typical Garden Level Floorplan?
My fiancee and I are about to close on a Bed-Stuy brownstone who was agressed in the 1970’s big time. Especially the parlor and garden levels. In terms of restoring back to “original” layouts, I don’t think the parlor will be a challenge. But I am really curious to know what a typical garden level…
My fiancee and I are about to close on a Bed-Stuy brownstone who was agressed in the 1970’s big time. Especially the parlor and garden levels. In terms of restoring back to “original” layouts, I don’t think the parlor will be a challenge. But I am really curious to know what a typical garden level floorplan looked like when these houses were first built.(Concerning your fairly standard, 3-story, 1899 brownstone)
Would anyone be able to post something like this?
You should check with the DOB to see if the original building plans are on file. On the day of our closing, we headed straight for the DOB and found (eventually) the plans for our 1895 brownstone in Bed-Stuy. The plans also included the layout of the house next door. Good luck!
I think Drew is right. That’s generally what you see. A good resource for this, if you can’t have a look at a similar house on your block that was not altered, is Charles Lockwood’s Bricks and Brownstones. There used to be a link somewhere on this Brownstoner site, maybe the homepage. It has a lot of history and some typical floor plan drawings too.
My Bed-Stuy brownstone has the dining room as the front room then a passageway to the large kitchen from the dining room (of course the hallway also leads to the kitchen) and then because I have an original extension to the house, is the large bathroom.
what about the bathroom? was there one on the garden level? or were the houses built with only one bathroom on the top floor? was there every anything that required plumbing on the parlor level?
Drew is absolutely correct.
AFter you move in, if neighbors are friendly, you might want to ask them if the layout in their place has changed from the original. Our next door neighbors have a limestone nearly identical to ours, except that it has never been remodeled; when I told them I’d love to see what their place looked like, they took us on a short tour. That’s better than just seeing a blueprint.
Thanks – I’d rather not say where and how much until we actually do close. I’ve been telling friends not to congratulate us or buy us drinks until we actually have the keys to the house in our hands. I won’t believe it until I see it.
But we’re very excited, it is a beautiful block, the house needs a lot of work however.
I think typically the garden level was an informal dining room in the front of the house, and the kitchen and laundry area in the rear (looking out on the garden). Pretty simple floor plan, with two large rooms and maybe a butler’s pantry between them.
congrats .. where in bed stuy ?
how much ?