Fort Greene House Tour Wrap
[nggallery id=”21148″ template=galleryview] Like the Brooklyn Flea, the Fort Greene House Tour yesterday benefited from some much overdue sunshine. We were only able to hit about half the stops on the tour, but there was nary a clunker among them. As expected, the highlight (for us at least) was a look inside the modern studio…
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Like the Brooklyn Flea, the Fort Greene House Tour yesterday benefited from some much overdue sunshine. We were only able to hit about half the stops on the tour, but there was nary a clunker among them. As expected, the highlight (for us at least) was a look inside the modern studio building designed by British architect David Adjaye. Unfortunately no interior photos were allowed. It was a modern design that employed cool (as in temperature) colors and clean lines while also feeling extremely livable. As for the more traditional homes on the route, we were most seduced by 219 Carlton Avenue, whose judicious use of European fixtures and some impressive cabinetry enabled the house to be at once comfortable in its traditional shoes and a little lighter and less stuffy than your average townhouse. As you’ll see from the slideshow, we also made it to 237 Cumberland Street (a condo project with quite a backyard) as well as 297 Cumberland Street and 98 South Oxford Street, both of which had some serious old-school charm. What were your favorites?
i volunteered and only had time to see the condo on 237 cumberland where the after-party was hosted.
yikes!
bad taste to host a marketing party.
and
please hand these guys a big axe to chop their prices.
(someone must have been in a cave the last 6 months)
Re:I am assuming most of the houses on the tour were either on the market or going on the market soon?
The House Tour is not a Real Estate Broker’s Open House. Many of us, the home owners of these ‘marketed homes’, live in them, and plan on continuing to live in them. Many of us have been here for 20-30 years………and hope to be there that many years again!
The ‘marketing’ that happens is part of the Fund Raising aspect. These are the funds that allow a relatively small neighborhood organization to do community outreach, to our schools and youth organizations, and help in our neighbors in small ways. We have worked to fight large scale development, to expand the historic districting, that was done 30 years ago, and is so critical to the neighborhood that we are today. There are initiatives for ‘greening’ and ways for our aging neighbors to stay in thier homes. This is a community effort.
So please, next time you come on our House Tour, come to appreciate the old-time home-steaders, and the newer ones. The Fort Greene House Tour is presented as a cross-section of the neighborhood, it’s ecentricities and its’ beauty. We are a different group, and the homes were equally different from each other. We celebrate that diversity.
What are you talking about 5:19? Jon said there wasn’t a clunker, and although some of us were more interested in some kinds of renovations than others, the comments I read are pretty damn positive. This threads been going on for hours without a problem (or much interest, if truth be said), so me thinks your negativity is a wee bit misplaced.
I thought even the suggestion from Brownstoner to seek and point out the “clunkers” on a house tour to be really catty and tacky. A house might not be done to your taste but to actually call somebody’s lovingly renovated house a “clunker”, I’d just think they have issues.
Anyone have the addresses for the entire tour, especially South Elliot Place?
The 56 South Oxford house did not have original parquet when the owners bought it. It had cheap, ugly parquet installed by the previous owner in the parlor ONLY, and there was a huge hole in the parlor floor where an interior staircase had been. Rather than patch the hole when the staircase was removed, the owners ripped up the “old” floor and put in quartersawn white oak. (Not cheap!)
What some of these comments about the David Adjaye building on Vanderbilt seem to overlook is that it isn’t a residence. It’s two studios for working artists. I would posit that explains the lack of views to the exterior and the extreme minimalism. I loved the double thickness birch ply bookshelves with the striated edges showing. What a great, affordable solution. Think I’ll steal it.
Views from the Forte were predictably stunning but what disappointing layouts: one in the NE corner had a sofa practically backing up into the after-thought of a kitchen. And the bedrooms were tiny.
The recreated plaster cornice in the large So. Oxford St house was incredible, though overall that house felt a little sterile to me. Maybe they just need to live in it some more.
The 237 Cumberland condos were attractive. But sooo over-priced.
I agree that there were some great kitchens on view. My favorite was the Cumberland St house with the full-width kitchen located in a rear extension. The one with wisteria on the back wall. Beautiful layout and stone countertops. The fridge is cleverly tucked into an alcove in the hallway where you enter the kitchen. The Carlton Ave kitchen was also very cool (lovely bamboo cabinets, an island, and still room enough for the dining table).
The narrow house on So. Oxford btw Hanson & Atlantic was fascinating and full of atmosphere. Especially the owner’s spread of old photos showing the area behind his house as a vast over-grown meadow before the pre-Ratner Atlantic Commons was built. And the plan that existed before Atlantic Commons — the Rose corp had proposed a vast redevelopment in the area incl the block btw Flatbush and Ashland, the entire Atlantic Terminal mall area, and the Atlantic Commons site. An object lesson for all those following the AY story.
Big shout out to the volunteer house sitters who make these tours possible. Thanks to you all.
“sometimes nice old parquet can’t be salvaged. we had some parquet floors in our house we wanted to keep, but they were worn so thin that they could not withstand a restoration, so we had to replace most of them.”
this is more often the case than not. you can only refinish an existing floor so many times because when you do, you sand the top layer off.
sometimes nice old parquet can’t be salvaged. we had some parquet floors in our house we wanted to keep, but they were worn so thin that they could not withstand a restoration, so we had to replace most of them.