House of the Day: 1252 Dean Street
This baby’s a beauty: Tons of original woodwork, fireplaces and floors plus a new kitchen. It’s also on one of the best streets in the nabe. Is it worth $1.1 million? To someone, we bet. And that’s all it takes. 1252 Dean Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
This baby’s a beauty: Tons of original woodwork, fireplaces and floors plus a new kitchen. It’s also on one of the best streets in the nabe. Is it worth $1.1 million? To someone, we bet. And that’s all it takes.
1252 Dean Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
First, this house seems very narrow. Anyone else notice that?
Second, I walk to Prospect Park (two blocks away), sit on my stoop at dusk, surf the net using Wifi and buy fresh veggies and fruits and meats in PLG. I’m not sure about Crown Heights or Bed Stuy. They are quite materially different from PLG.
For those who demand only the finest in terms of convenient shopping and the finest products, much of Brooklyn is not for you – at least for the time being.
But that’s fine. If certain neighborhoods lie beyond what you can reasonably tolerate, you should certainly avoid them. I don’t have a problem with my neighborhood (PLG), but then, I’m not very delicate or refined by nature…
You could put a bathroom on the top floor where the trunk room is in the middle of the floor, and perhaps lose the pass through between the 2 bedrooms. It would be pricy to run the pipes up through the house though, very true.
It would be easier to put a powderoom on the ground floor in the extension, or even lose the office for a bathroom.
If you keep the house a one family, and I would hope a new owner does so, you could certainly live in it while putting in any kind of bathroom. They don’t actually have to turn the water off until you are actually connecting the pipes to the main system.
Whether or not that is economically viable depends on the buyer, and also whether they pay full price. This is on one of the primo CHN blocks, and is a good investment, and to get an intact house in this neighborhood (or any other except for PLG) is a wonder, and I think houses in that condition, on those great blocks will be going for the upper reaches of CH property prices, one bathroom or not.
I also think one could leave your door open for a while, and also wander around with a walkman at 9 PM and be fine. I’ve done it, and my block is not as nice. There are also several other white families on that block, a couple of which I have met, and they all love it there, and have been quite welcome.
Parkblocker, I’m glad someone finally followed up on my comment about the bathrooms. I was wondering, looking at the floorplan, how easy it actually is to build another (or 2) bathrooms. It seems as if you’d definitely want at least 2 on the 2 bedroom floors (that is, another one on the top floor), but the plumbing line seems to be in the extension. Would you have to bring plumbing all the way up to the top floor, and would that be difficult/expensive? Putting a powder room on either the ground or parlor floor (where you’d likely also want another one) seems easier and cheaper to do. Does anyone with more expertise know how simple all of this is? And does it mean you can’t live in the house for a while after purchase?
Seriously, llh pointed it out first, but ONE bathroom for the entire house? That’s just silly – especially if there are more than two people who will be living there, let alone if they have guests or want to entertain. For any other neighborhood, $1.1 would be a steal and adding extra bathrooms no big deal but for something like this (beautiful though it is), I can’t imagine it making too much sense.
the sitting on my stoop comment was because I am fond of doing that where I live now – in the middle of cobble hill – but a neighbor who has lived here for donkeys years warned me to not leave the front door open when doing this because there was a recent incident where someone who left their front door open was locked into their closet while their house was ransacked. and this was on the best street in cobble hill! when I pointed out that it seemed a very safe street he pointed to graffiti on the postboxes and said there are still problems from time to time.
So I figured it was likely that in crown heights the influx of people with the means to afford 900k houses would make them more of a target than in boerum hill. Stands to reason to me.
The same comment applies to walking around at 9pm. If I wanna walk around at dusk, do I have to make sure i’m not carrying a wallet, wearing a ipod, or a nice watch? or look like i might have those things? Are you guys trying to tell me that petty street crime is as exactly low per capita in crown heights as it is in the aforementioned “established” suburbs?
Ameraleed and Yente, thank you for the kind words for your new neighborhoods. Both of our neighborhoods may be lacking in amenities, as most on this board know them, and these things will come in time. The genuine feeling of neighborhood has been here for years and is something that cannot be imported in with sushi and radicchio. I am very glad both of you are experiencing what makes both neighborhoods worthy of the fierce loyalty we bring to discussions on these boards. Perfect – no. Problems – yeah, some big ones. But still a great place to live.
Like Ameraleed, I was in the Slope for about 13 years. Now I’m just over the border from this CH beauty, in Bed Stuy. I’ve experienced the very same thing in my neighborhood. It’s like being in a small town…only friendlier. JB, I understand what you’re saying about the lack of amenities, but I really don’t get the “sitting on your stoop” or “stretching your legs” angles. Please do explain what you mean by this, because I do it all the time and I’m quite puzzled by your comments.
This is an exquisite house and, after Ameraleed’s thoughtful response, I’d sure be interested if not already ensconced in Clinton Hill!
JB/StoopSitter,
I have lived in Crown Heights for the last year, between Franklin and Bedford, moved there from Park Slope and have the following to report: There are coffee shops, on Franklin, on Fulton, on Nostrand, they might not have Wifi, but that is probably comming soon. Brower Park is pretty large, and 4 blocks from this house. From where I live it is a 15 min walk to Grand Army Plaza and Prospect Park, closer to the Museum and Bot. garden (is ther Wifi in there cafe?) Add 5 min for this house. I still belong to the Food Coop, and usually get there in 10 minutes on my bike, but I am pretty hard core about loading up the bike with groceries. There is a great butcher near this house and organic produce at a small store on Nostrand, near Prospect. There is a Prospect Heights CSA which would provide plenty of organic produce, and again there is the farmers market, we often walk over. I don’t know about Japanese, but I will be frank and say that we frequent the restaurants in PH on Washington, Vanderbuilt, and Carlton. It makes for a pleasant evening stroll. AS for Strolling in general, I have never had a problem. I went for a long walk on July 4th and received several very friendly/neighborly offers of hot dogs from people barbequing in front of there houses. This is the biggest change from Park Slope, not fear when I walk around, but constant neighborliness. I love it. Everyone else sits on their stoop and says hello as you pass. When I sit on my stoop with the door open (which I rarely did in PS) I have to pay attention to the people passing because 90% of them will say hello. After a year in Crown Heights I know more people on my block then I did after 13 years in PS. Not only do I leave the door open when I sit on the stoop, I can leave it open while I go in to refill my cup of coffee or answer the phone and never has anyone even opened the gate to my front yard.
Crown Heights does not have many execs, but we have kids learning to ride their bikes on the sidewalk, old folks making sure you do the right thing with your trash and lots of eyes on the street. Neighbor is a verb here, and a very active one.