blowing out rear wall in historic district.
We have a dark and narrow rowhouse in an historic district. My husband longs to blow out entire rear wall and install glass windows on at least the first level and hopefully all levels. He wants something more modern and clean that attached picture — that’s just to give you an idea. Anyway, what are…
We have a dark and narrow rowhouse in an historic district. My husband longs to blow out entire rear wall and install glass windows on at least the first level and hopefully all levels. He wants something more modern and clean that attached picture — that’s just to give you an idea.
Anyway, what are the chances we’d get permission? And would it cost more than, say, 30k per floor to take out all the masonry and build these in?
And how likely is it that entire 100 year old building will collapse or something (my fear)?
its worth saying 3 times, to those who even think of it. don’t do structural work yourself, anyone.
worst case scenario, the building falls down, or a kookoo building inspector says it might, even though he is wrong. the city comes and knocks it down, to be on the safe side. it has happened in ny. play it safe, dude, play it safe!
Qoute, when seeking advice, think how you would advise someone else, then follow your own advice!
dude, she/he said she would get permit. twice.
It’s very dangerous to do without permit! Please think what if your neighbors complain to DOB and when you sell your house.
Other people say whatever they say, but only you take responsibility for it. I am in process of permit for extension back of my house.
It’s very dangerous to do without permit! Please think what if your neighbors complain to DOB and when you sell your house.
Other people say whatever they say, but only you take responsibility for it. I am in process of permit for extension back of my house.
BTW – The DOB (Department of Buildings) lately seems to be on a war path. They are auditing jobs – meaning they will come down to inspect – when it was Self Certified – meaning the architect could have inspected it and signed it off.
Also, after you file with Landmarks and yes, it will be more than a month to get a response from them. Response – I didn’t say approved. If all is well, they’ll approve – but that is so rare – they’ll give you a response as to what they object. You resubmit. AFter you get approval (You get a Landmarks Permit), You then file with DOB for a construction Permit, Structural Permit.
I second the above post it is good advice.
The details on Landmarks —
Landmarks has different levels of review, depending on a number of criteria like whether or not work can be seen from the street, whether the building is in a district versus individually landmarked building, etc. Each higher level requires a longer and more involved process with more review.
The lowest level review can be done in a matter of hours and it’s called a Certificate of No Effect, when you are working on a landmarked property but doing no exterior work. The next step up is staff level review, which is what your project will be most likely assigned to. Anything higher involves a community board.
Staff level review might take about a month to process, depending on how backed up they are. It shouldn’t be much of an obstacle to getting what you want but it would be wise to factor in the month delay in your expectations of project schedule.
11:32 here – Architect. I just did this in a townhouse in Manhattan.
Landmarks doesn’t care what the other neighbors have done. You most likely would get this approved. If you are a corner house, they might have issues with it, because it’ll be visible from the street.
DO NOT do this yourself. It’s more involved than you think.
Your limestone, brownstone is made out of brick and clad in stone. Between your floors on the exterior walls are beams that run the width of the house to suport the floor above. Once you break down that wall to open it up, you might need a column in the middle to carry that beam or a cross beam…a structural engineer will advise you. (we had to put a column in the middle, so we ended up with two sets of double doors).
Also, file the job. I’ve had stop work orders on my jobs, that were filed and permited (because neighbors called to complain). Stop work orders are not fun to deal with and they don’t go away over night. They delay the job and cost money.
Search in the NY Times at houses (pricey ones) in West Village and Upper East Side, 2:55. You’ll see some examples of glass-backed houses there.
I would love to see some pictures of the work described above by posters. In Europe (Im thinking the Netherlands and Germany in particular) this kind of work is done on old townhouses all the time, but I rarely here about it in Brooklyn.
Also can anyone recommend a good architect for this type of work…..