No basement in pre-war townhouse???

Lots of circa 1900 one- to three-family townhouses in Bushwick and Ridgewood have an English basement (more than 50 percent above grade) instead of a cellar, with a boiler in the rear and two rooms for living (sometimes a summer kitchen) in the front. English basements with boilers, half baths and plumbing lines buried underground are common in 1910s houses in Crown Heights (especially south Crown Heights).

cate

in General Discussion 7 years and 7 months ago

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Guest User | 7 years and 7 months ago

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I just visited an old, pre-war townhouse multi-family, and the boiler and water heater were on the first floor in the back. When I asked why they weren’t in the basement, they said the building doesn’t have a basement. Is that possible? I figure it had to have had a oil tank in the basement at some point (though I’ve seen some in the backyard). Could someone just have filled the basement with sand and boarded it up, or is it possible that the foundation is built on ground level?

Guest User | 7 years and 7 months ago

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In addition, The agent said that he heard this might be common for the entire block, but not sure how accurate his source of info. If there was an old oil tank in the basement, could this be an issue in the future? Would an inspector be able to tell if it’s been completely boarded up?

randolph | 7 years and 7 months ago

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what neighborhood?

resident2 | 7 years and 7 months ago

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Yes, it is possible.
What war are you referring to? I have seen many pre-civil war houses with no cellars.
The cellars where not built for boilers even when they did have cellars; they were built as cool storage for food. And not all early boilers were for oil, I have seen coal boilers still working as recently as the 1990’s. It cost less than $750 a year for heat & hot water + a reliable person to stock it on a regular basis.

Guest User | 7 years and 7 months ago

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Built 1901

randolph | 7 years and 7 months ago

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if built in 1901 it has a cellar.

slopefarm | 7 years and 7 months ago

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Lots of houses denoted 1899, 1900, or 1901 were actually built earlier. Ours is an “1899” house according to DOB that was actually built around the time of the Civil War. First building code was 1880.

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 7 years and 7 months ago

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Many houses have basements, but no cellers. For example all the houses on the easter end of my block and the other Bedford – – Rogers blocks in Lefferts Manor

yudashasom | 7 years and 7 months ago

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Is it a wood frame? I’ve seen a few without cellars, or with partial cellars. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a brick without a cellar. And I’ve never an oil tank outside in NYC unless it is underground.

Guest User | 7 years and 7 months ago

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brick construction

bklyn658 | 7 years and 7 months ago

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On my block where houses were built in the 1870s and 1880s, one side of the street has cellars and the other side does not. The side without cellars has the boiler and water heater in the back of the ground floor, and they actually have an additional story on top.

workisfun | 7 years and 7 months ago

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I have a brick in south Crown Heights with a basement, but no cellar. Actually, the basement is at grade, so we call it the garden or lower level.

CarmenR | 7 years and 7 months ago

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we have an 1850s woodframe and it has a half cellar (well, more like 40%) and it has our boiler, but a lot of the houses on our block don’t have cellars and have boilers and utilities on the basement (garden) floor.