House of the Day: 280 Washington Avenue
As close watchers of the market will remember, this mansion at 280 Washington Avenue, one of a pair built by the Pfizers in 1888, was listed at $3.595 million in January 2005 before disappearing a couple months later. Now it has resurfaced, again with Corcoran, at the asking price of $3.995 million, which is a…
As close watchers of the market will remember, this mansion at 280 Washington Avenue, one of a pair built by the Pfizers in 1888, was listed at $3.595 million in January 2005 before disappearing a couple months later. Now it has resurfaced, again with Corcoran, at the asking price of $3.995 million, which is a smaller percentage increase than the overall Clinton Hill market in the past year. The house is mind-blowing in its detail, grandeur and condition. The real constraining factor is whether there are any people wealthy enough to buy it who are cool enough to be down with Clinton Hill!
280 Washington Avenue [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
Pfizer Mansion Hitting Market [Brownstoner]
The place really is an amazing combination of historical splendour and kitsch. Those bathrooms gotta go, especially the one with the twin aquariums. I love a good Morroccan theme, if done right, but those rooms are suffering from disco ball fever.. Too bad there are no pix of the kitchens or bedrooms (so many to choose from) I’m not understanding the verandas (assuming on the roof of theback extension) or the packyard parking either. I couldn’t get a good idea from either Property Shark or Zillow. I’m going to go by the back one day just to satisy my own curiousity.
Speaking of which, I checked out the sister house’s listing. Is that $4000 a month for the whole house, or just a part of it? That place looks really interesting too. Are the brick walls through the window part of the Pfizer place? The Queen Anne mentioned suffered from a lack of relevant photographs. I don’t understand how high end brokers think they can sell a million dollar plus house with two lousy photos, one being the facade. Mybe because I am, as a friend told me, a house voyeur, but if I were trolling the net looking for a house in that price catagory, I’d want to see lots of pictures before I even called the RE agent.
I think the house has sat because even if you paid this much for the property, the understanding is that you would still have to pluck down $500,000 plus to renovate and bring the property up to date and stable condition. If I’m paying this much for a home, I want central air! It probably needs new mechanical, electrical, lighting, sound and plumbing systems which would require substantial, delicate and very expensive demolition work – for you preservationist. The facade and exterior stairs are also in need of major repair. Not sure about the condition of the roof. Further, from the pics you can see that the garden level is in need of a complete makeover/overhaul. Now you’re talking $4.5m all in and counting. And now you’re revisiting homes in BH, PS and Manhattan. Better deals are probably out there. Wow!! Did I just talk myself out of buying my dream house?!?! 😮
“Lastly, what makes CH so undesirable that someone wouldn’t pay this price to live in an awesome house, on a great block and in a thriving community?”
I dunno, but there must be something, seeing as how nobody bought the place when it was on the market cheaper, no?
Maybe it’s that people with this kind of money have a lot of other choices, and have chosen elsewhere. Maybe it would seem discomfiting and weird to sign up to be Mr. Potter — the richest guy in town, living in a castle in a neighborhood where (correct me if I’m wrong) no one else has spent within a million dollars of you. People who can afford $4M houses tend to seek out the company of others who can afford them, right?
Not judging, but facts are facts — there’s got to be some reason this mansion has gone begging. And it must be more than the ignorance of us on this blog, because it doesn’t sound like any of us can afford it.
BrownBomber, I think the reason these houses have big ol’ stairways is probably solely for the WOW factor that they cause when a guest enters.The stairs look like they go up and on forever, and what an entrance you would make. Wealthy Victorians were all about impressing, not necessarily practicality, which was left to those of lesser means.
I’ll let you all know how it feels after I win MegaMillions and buy the place. It’s a nice little cottage, I could do something with it!
(Laughs maniacally)
My father toured it in 1989 or so (last time it was for sale) and said
-bottom floor has three gigantic parlors and a chapel at the end. You need roller skates, and the place is quite dark.
-The house has a coal bin so big that you could plaster the sides and make a swimming pool.
-Total monster for repairs, heat, et.
For the price, you could get two really nice brownstones in Ft. Greene
To the person who claims a $4MM house in clinton hill is a “better deal” than a $5MM house in Brooklyn Heights, you must be kidding. Whether or not you like Brooklyn Heights, it is a more expensive location than Clinton Hill. Isn’t that too obvious to even mention?
If you go to pshark and click on the map of the back of the property on waverly, you can see that the property doesn’t have a garage but actually a driveway (behind 282 is a small building with a garage but it’s unrelated).
With respect to the backyard space, you can reduce the driveway and build out the backyard some and create a nice garden. However, the backyard gets very poor sunlight as the property is almost completely surrounded by high buildings.
See Zillow for aerial view.
http://www.zillow.com/search/Search.z?addrstrthood=280+washington+avenue&citystatezip=brooklyn%2C+ny&mode=search
On another note, can anyone explain why architects of historic brownstone and townhouses would effectively reduce the living space of 25 foot wide homes by installing long staircases and wide hallways? I’ve seen some 20 footers with tightly wound center staircases with larger rooms then some 25 footers simply because they were laid out better and used the full width of the house for certain rooms, especially on the parlor floors and master bedroom suite/levels.
give it time, give it time
They’re creepy and they’re kooky,
Mysterious and spooky,
They’re all together ooky,
The Addams Family.
Their house is a museum
Where people come to see ’em
They really are a scream
The Addams Family.