329 Adelphi Visit
First, let me say that it was a pleasure meeting the realtor, Bill Radtke, a really nice guy. This house will need a total gut job. The basement ceiling needs to be removed to determine the issues with the undulating (!) first floor. That said, this house seems really solid. It was most likely built…
First, let me say that it was a pleasure meeting the realtor, Bill Radtke, a really nice guy. This house will need a total gut job. The basement ceiling needs to be removed to determine the issues with the undulating (!) first floor. That said, this house seems really solid. It was most likely built in the 1840s or somewhere therabouts and maintains its original clapboards under the shingles. The framing is solid (likely oak) 4X5, 24″ on center and filled with brick, which is why, despite the floors, the house stands plumb. It needs a new roof, all new plumbing but does have circuit breakers and a fair amount of new BX. There is nothing salvageable AT ALL on the inside except the crown moldings, which are pictured and quite interesting and a nice stair rail. The stairs are built against a curved wall and will be a beautiful feature once that wrap around rail is restored. The fireplaces have been long ago sealed up and there is one rather plain marble mantle.
The basement is full height and legally occupiable. The top floor has decent ceiling height to make a large bedroom and perhaps add a small bath. About a third of that 24′ X 35″ floor is usable.
So, it’s really about 3,100 sq. ft. in total usable space. Carve out a utilities room in the basement from that figure.
The door and window casings outside might be slavageable but in reality should be replaced along with the windows, which are not slavageable. The porch needs to be completely rebuilt but the columns are salvageable.
The house next door which someone linked in yesterday’s HOTD thread has been completely restored and is a copy of this one wrt porch & casing details. The addition on the back, though it shares the same basement is a bit funky with the second floor level lower than the main house. It was originally detached.
It’ll make a beautiful house but it will require far more than $200-300,000 in renovation, ptobably $500,000.
I last did a gut reno in PA in 2000 and easily spent $300,000 on a smaller project.
The last comment I made to Bill as we were leaving was that dealing with LPC on the exterior was going to be the least of your problems. But if someone with the passion can see this as the size house that’s good for them, it’ll be a great project and it’ss be worth more than $1.2 MM when done correctly.
Ed: The original House of the Day post can be viewed here.
Page 178 in Bricks & Brownstone there is a photo of this type of plaster decoration with air behind it. The house is described as Anglo Italianate.
I’d call this particular example Renaissance or Roccoco Italianate.
Italianate started in the 1840s. (And belongs to a time when houses were made by hand.)
This kind of florid decoration does seem incongrous on a wood sided house with a porch. But there it is.
Dave, thanks for the nice job in describing the house. I imagine that that would be a really fun project too; I have always loved that house from the outside. One of the things you learn from doing a renovation is how so much of an old house can be recreated. For example, the lovely molding can be cast in a rubber mold, recreated and restored. I found a guy on Brownstone to fix pieces of my ceiling molding. It wasn’t a big deal. No matter who does the work on the house, the owner needs to be extremely hands on with the project — first, not to get financially soaked, but also to find the materials, and make all the aesthetic decisions and watch over the work to make sure everyone gets it and you need to do some good estimates beforehand to make sure you are paying the right price. but you need the time too. It is a second full time job.
Mopar’s style question
Romanticism reigned then
Dave rejects pastels?
_______
Floors fitted with rugs
Parquet set down much later
Moulding not so rare
_______
Quirky little house
The sounds of the departed
Ancient water stain
Presidentstreeter- how old was the house. I’m curious because although the molding could be original from that period, seems odd in a house of this type whereas in a town or row house I wouldn’t have been surprised. Especially since they upgraded to parquet floors in the 1880’s – this style of fancy molding seems more in keeping with that.
FWIW, the porch pillars were replaced in the early to mid 80’s – they are not original to the house. In the seventies, the porch support was cinder blocks and 2x4s as I recall.
My house in Carroll Gardens has the same plaster moldings. They are beautiful, and fragile. I found someone who would fix them by doing what vinca describes — pulling a cast and creating replacement footage. Costs a lot.
Hey Dave. It’s been nice to read what you’ve written about this place. From what I’ve learned about you through your own posts, it’s clear you possess the DIY expertise, energy and willingness, as well as the broader conceptual talents to undertake such a project, if you wanted. From what you write today, renovation of this building would definitely require someone with time, vision and deep pockets. As to your basement description (and without knowing whether prohibited by zoning) if the windows are sufficient or could be made sufficient, it seems as if an owner could apply for revised CO in tandem with all other permits. It’s a shame to think those beautiful moldings might be lost entirely in the course of a renovation. Maybe worth calling in someone like Hyde Park Mouldings to pull a cast and provide some historical background. I have the feeling you’d have a better chance of finding an early 19th C. place in deeper Brooklyn, though much as I personally love them, also have the sense those neighborhoods would not be your style. Apropos of not much, if you’ve never been to Governors Island, I think you’d enjoy it: http://www.govisland.com/Visit_the_Island/default.asp
Same for Open House NYC: http://www.ohny.org/weekend/listings.cfm
Thanks for the full report, DIBS. Carroll Gardens is full of moldings like this. I always assumed they’re 1860s or 1870s. If I were at home, I could look it up in some books. What was that florid style of decorating popular in the 1840s or so? (Not that this is 1840s.) It came in after neo-classical.
OK DIBS, you explain the math on this house to me, and I’ll explain the URE to you.