House of the Day: Woodframe on Middagh
While the exterior of this house looks like it belongs in Greenpoint, it’s actually located on one of the more charming streets in Brooklyn Heights. We hope the next owner of this house has enough dough to do the renovation justice. While the house has more of a 1970’s suburban vibe right now, the potential,…
While the exterior of this house looks like it belongs in Greenpoint, it’s actually located on one of the more charming streets in Brooklyn Heights. We hope the next owner of this house has enough dough to do the renovation justice. While the house has more of a 1970’s suburban vibe right now, the potential, especially given the extra-wide lot, driveway and carriage house, is amazing. With an asking price of $2.395 million, it looks to us like you could put close to a million bucks into fixing this place up and be in a decent place investment-wise. Do others agree or has old Brownstoner lost his marbles?
72 Middagh Street [Corcoran] GMAP
I agree with CHProud. The wide board floors on the top floor, original parquet below, and tin ceilings are all salvageable; and the groundplan isn’t so awful that you’d have to move walls around. Restoration is the way to go. Once a lot of that 70s stuff is out of there and some missing molding restored, it could shape up nicely. The restoration of the driveway area would be the main chore. I’d reincorporate that space back into the house, and restore the original facade…the Heights is so convenient to everything that no rational person should need to blow a hole through their house to indulge a car habit; and anyone with the bucks to buy this wreck can afford to rent garage space close by if they really need it.
Shahn, I think in areas like Brooklyn Heights the “ambiance” of the neighborhood is just as important as the appliances you put in. I agree with you that in other areas that either-or situation is more or less true, but in historic neighborhoods, especially landmarked ones, living in that district has a huge appeal all its own.
I think the interior is very charming and it would be a great investment for someone who can put the sweat equity in. I do investments (much smaller than $2mil) and I love “ugly” homes that I can get inexpensively because lots of folks lack imagination. I don’t mean anyone on this board, of course! 😉
I don’t see a house slated for demolition when I look at the interiors. ANd who knows what’s under that awful siding? The original clapboard could still be there- you just don’t know. Sure it’s an eyesore now- and I have seen wonderful things done with victorian eyesores too. If the interiors look that good, why couldn’t the restoration be more cosmetic than structural? Why would you want to start from scratch and lose all that charm and personality and history? If someone can afford the price tag I imagine they can afford to restore the exterior. ANd the property value will only go up in that area anyway. If you want to live in a landmark neighborhood, restoration and conservation comes with the territory. If a house is salvageable (and in this case better than that)it should be restored. what would happen to those historic neghborhoods if people simply tore houses down. I don’t see how anyone thinks a homeowner with that much money to spend on a house would be getting off much more cheaply by tearing down and rebuilding? The townhouse next door to me was a gut rehab and it cost them $1,000,000. That’s without having to build a shell. So imagine the cost if you wanted to copy the beautiful exterior. What savings would there be?
i like it. y’all are too hard on it. I’d put in 500k and make it a gem…
CrownHeightsProud – Bklyn Hts had a significant slump in the early 90’s (as did much of the rest of the city)
as for the calls to demo – its academic Landmarks would never allow it.
How much would a renovated house of a similar size and location cost? That must figure into the listing price.
CrownHeightsProud, I think it’s just that none of us are rich enough to be able to wrap our minds around the idea of spending that much money on this building and then restoring it. There is an economics to restoration, unfortunately.
The best restorations happen when someone falls in love with a building and wants to make it their home. This building does have a lot of potential, but in that price range, there are a lot more people who either want a building that someone else has already put love into, or a place where they can start over from scratch.
I could be wrong but the interior looks to be in great shape. It may not have all that victorian detailing we love, but I love the space, the brick walls, the french doors. Seems to me the interior is in far better shape than the awful siding makes it look. It’s a wonderful little gem- I say restore it.