House of the Day: Caton Park Fixer-Upper
Here’s an interesting one hot off the presses…53 Marlborough Road between Church Ave & Caton Avenue. Not much info on it other than it has good bones, needs a ton of work and is a pretty cheap way ($575,000!) to get your foot in the door in Victorian Flatbush. We doubt anyone’s seen it yet…
Here’s an interesting one hot off the presses…53 Marlborough Road between Church Ave & Caton Avenue. Not much info on it other than it has good bones, needs a ton of work and is a pretty cheap way ($575,000!) to get your foot in the door in Victorian Flatbush. We doubt anyone’s seen it yet but we’ll look forward to hearing feedback.
Caton Park Rare Opp [Mary Kay Gallagher] GMAP P*Shark
and away we go- nope. We went at it with sledgehammers and chisels. Took about a day. Once you break the surface it can go pretty quickly. I like using a cold chisel and tapping with a hammer carefully to get off stubborn pieces. And we wore masks and eye protectors.
Bx2Bklyn, can you tell me how you exposed the brick in your friends’ kitchen. Sandblast? Or did you strip it somehow? I am about to do the same thing.
nryland – glad to see someone is looking at my web page!
This house is cheap for several reasons. Obviously, it needs tons of work – between $300k – $500k, depending on the renovation. It’s a great house for the right person (read: experienced or damn lucky). Caton Park is very close to Prospect Park (it’s on the Parade Grounds), so very near to amenities in Park Slope and Windson Terrace, and also not too far from Cortelyou Road. However, it is also on the doorstep of many large apartment buildings and a busy shopping street (church Ave.) , so it is less tranquil than other parts of Victorian Flatbush. Also, architecturally, it has seen some damage over the years, more so than some other nabes – so you don’t get the same pristine vistas you do in some other sections. Overall though, this is a great deal for the right person, as there are very few “bargains” left in Victorian Flatbush, excluding South Midwood (the Brooklyn College neighborhood)which is a bit far away from brownstoner brooklyn for some people’s taste. Caton Park is certainly very convenient, but there are a few trade-off in terms of noise, architectural unity. Oh, I should mention Caton Park is actively seeking landmark status to combat the expansion of Bobby’s department store at Church and Buckingham (the border of this neighborhood). Bobby’s hoodwinked a long time Caton Park home owner into selling her house to him (he sent in a fake family to pose as buyers – the owner was adament she wouldn’t sell to Bobby’s). Anyway, Bobby’s bought the house, stripped it and sold the good stuff, then tore it down and built a disgusting concrete extension on Buckingham itself. The neighboring home’s foundation was seriously damaged, and the city fined the homeowner! Don’t know how that played out in the end… So there are also some zoning issues along church – commercial overlay, but hopefully an end will be put to that nonsense soon.
Truthfully, theres some stuff I know I can’t do but I love doing the sweat equity thing! There’s something so satisfying about bringing a house back to its former beauty that really grabs the artist in me. It isn’t even about money for me (I have none how can it be an issue?) but doing the work myself. I helped a friend expose the brick in her kitchen- I had a great time doing it, and nothing beats that feeling of accomplishment.
Of course that said, I hope to be able someday to pay someone to put down a tile floor- that wasn’t fun.
Donatella, you’re right. But I do speak from experience and I’m under the impression that CHP knows her stuff as well. Let’s just say that some of us are suckers for this sort of thing.
I love to hear people´s comments but you need a good contractor, a cheap contractor, experience and lots and lots of time and patience. People forget the value of their time when fantasizing about such a project. I would guess without seeing the inside, but if it matches the outside that this is a 2 year hands on job in a raising interest rate market and a slightly softening one. This, however, seductive, falls into my Lotto category, but I hope someone can do it. It looks lovely from the outside.
Yente, Brenda and Nryland, I’m with you. I’m an old house lover, and this house is just the kind of place I would love to fix up. Unfortunately for the house, I’m in act one of a four or five act restoration myself, with lots of sweat equity going on here, and I need to finish one before going nuts over another one. (No money also has something to do with it) I love that area, too. Unless the place is also termite ridden and has severe structural damage, I bet I could come in pretty close to $200 or $250K for a decent restoration, too. I agree, no Home Depot fixtures, either.
Ah well, guess the cookies and lemonaide are going to have to wait, Brenda, unless the Lotto gods are smiling. I hope someone of like mind gets the place, too, and restores it. Wouldn’t it be great to just enjoy sitting on the porch in the summer?
PS…And I’m not talking Home Depot fixtures, baby!