Brownstone Interior Destroyed Modernized by Artist Couple
We had mixed emotions reading the Times Real Estate story this weekend about the older artist couple who financed the purchase of a Stuyvesant Heights brownstone four years ago by selling a Basquiat that one of them had picked up for $100 back in the Eighties. (Anyone know what block this is?) Aren’t there enough…
We had mixed emotions reading the Times Real Estate story this weekend about the older artist couple who financed the purchase of a Stuyvesant Heights brownstone four years ago by selling a Basquiat that one of them had picked up for $100 back in the Eighties. (Anyone know what block this is?) Aren’t there enough brownstones that have already been stripped of their original detail that someone wanting to create a modern space could avoid destroying yet another piece of history? Yes, these folks were considerate enough to call in a salvage company to save the architectural artifacts, but it’s still a bummer. And how about all that tree-cutting? What a soap opera! Update: Okay, it’s sounding like the Times article might have overstated how salvageable the interiors of this place were, so it’s looking like we came down a little too hard on these folks. Apologies.
Bankrolled by a Basquiat [NY Times]
Photo by Gabriele Stabile for The New York Times
and isn’t it true that the salvage companies very rarely agree to buy and send a truck out for just one or two pieces? unless of course the company thinks your one or two pieces are very desirable and will fetch a mint….. in which case, makes me even more upset.
Sam,
IMO, you should be ashamed of yourself.
I think the interior is really beautifully done. (The lighting too DIBS!) Modern can be really hard and cold ‘feeling’ at times, and this doesn’t feel that way to me. It looks livable and cozy. I Like the wood floors and the stairs.
It maybe that details were lost, but not everyone has to save every inch of everything. It seems to me that there are plenty of ‘preservationists’ to go around.
It was their house, their money, their call, their style, and I like it!
Sam….First “bad karma” and then a “pox”!
sam…bedstuyhoya; who has posted on the reno blog here is the one who said that he saw it and there wasn’t much left.
God forbid we hear fom “these kind of people..” LOL
If they don’t show up here today to defend themselves then I’ll tell them tonight when I get home to post tomorrow. That is, if they reall care what all of us are saying. LOL
some people enjoy living in a rowhouse.
it has nothing to do with the “details”
Dave, I don;’t buy it. These kind of people, who destroy historic interiors in order to create fake Manhattan lofts, ALWAYS say there is nothing left. What they mean is: the interiors were somewhat in need of restoration and we don’t like old stuff.
There was obviously enough to interest the architectueal salvage company that filled up its truck. I bet that the house was probably largely intact.
A pox on them.
sam…read bedstuyhoya’s post above. There was little left.
So Mr. B…because of what bedstuyhoya wrote at 10:12 are you considering a re-write of the Headline???