House of the Day: 621 Morgan Avenue
At $949,999, this three-family house in Greenpoint might be kinda interesting for a single person or young couple with no immediate space needs to grow into. The existing three floors are a deeper-than-normal 55 feet and there’s still enough FAR that one could build a fourth floor as of right. More interestingly, judging from the…
At $949,999, this three-family house in Greenpoint might be kinda interesting for a single person or young couple with no immediate space needs to grow into. The existing three floors are a deeper-than-normal 55 feet and there’s still enough FAR that one could build a fourth floor as of right. More interestingly, judging from the interior photos, the house has a decent amount of old-world charm, a reminder that the faux siding now on the exterior wasn’t always there. We curious why more people haven’t restored the facades of the houses in this part of town. Presumably, the answer is money, but at some point hopefully one by-product of the upward pressure on prices will be a renewed interest in returning the houses to their original state. What do you think the facade was originally made of?
621 Morgan Avenue [Nest Seekers via Trulia] GMAP P*Shark
Photo by Scott Bintner for Property Shark
Gavajun,
A warm thank you from your fellow Greenpointer. Please post a pic. I’d love to see the work.
Movie theaters…..back in the day –
— the future location of the Starbucks was the Chopin Theater
— Eckerd on Manhattan Ave was a movie theater
— Polonaise on Greenpoint Ave was a movie theater
— Princess Manor on Nassau Ave was a movie theater
Gavajun,
Nice post. 6 fireplaces? I’m envious – would be happy with 1…
I am a Greenpoint home owner. My house is brick foundation up to the first floor and then frame. I believe it is clapboard with an asphalt-like siding that was covered by plastic siding.
The 1940’s photograph showed a lovely (gone) rooftop cornice, striped canvas awnings over every window and a big stoop with big iron railings (gone an replaced with a smaller more modern type).
Inside:
*beautiful plaster moldings
*marble fireplaces
*ceiling medallions
*multi-layered trim around doors and windows
*pocket doors (mine are gone, but I’ve installed some I bought via salvage – look terrific)
*detailed newel post and pretty banisters
*a circular dome at the top of the top stairs landing with a stained glass window on the inside
*a brick mantle
*6 fireplaces/hearthstones
*a pantry
*original tin ceilings
We removed 7+ layers of linoleum/carpeting and sanded and stained the floors…We’ve kept as much as possible with our own newer paint colors.
In time, we will bring back the wooden shingles and replace the siding. A number of buildings are starting to do this and they look amazing. We’ll also create a doorway to the ‘urban courtyard’ so we don’t have to use the ‘squatting window’ in the cellar.
Never judge a book by its cover. If you gut-reno, you lose so much of the beauty and history. Lots of homes in Greenpoint are standing tall and proud behind the blah exteriors. ANd lots of people DON’T want to rip down or build another floor on top of what is there.
Give us time and you will all see the dirty emerald start to sparkle again. Trust me.
Oh yes – lots of amenities, foodie havens, family atmosphere and yes, we are happily awaiting our new Starbucks. You’d be surprised how many non-Yuppies like that kind of thing (sippin and sittin and chattin and readin).
It will keep getting better. Maybe we’ll even see the return of a movie theater!
Gavajun
The stucco movement has come over from Germany, where such treatment is very popular.
oops — I meant to say “at least since the seventies”
some greenpoint houses were originally built with clapboard/shingle outsides, but not all; the convention in the neighbourhood, at least the seventies, has been to cover the buildings with aluminum siding (or brickface of the “garden-state brickface” variety) regardless of the original, usually brick, exterior. Besides a mis-guided and aesthetically challenged attempt to improve the property, there seems to be a real element of peer pressure and a desire to conform within this overwhealingly polish homeowning community. siding’s popularity has lately been eclipsed by synthetic stucco, which can give a building a clean look — ala an italian villa or a days inn motel — neither of which brooklyn has enough of.
“Many current Brownstoner fans and commentators are probably too young to remember what city neighborhoods were like in the ’70s”
Quite possibly – someone who was 20 in 1972 would be 55 now.
Key Food on McGuinness has got better recently – but it’s still a discount supermarket opposite two gas stations, and an auto repair place. There are a couple of passable streets East of McGuinness, but none are worth spending a million on, imvho.
What *are* the bones of houses like this made of? brick? or crapola wood like the facade?
4:48,
yeah, no sh*t people would be knocking the door down at that price, because, first of all, the south slope doesn’t have an out-of-control oil spill and 15 minute walks to the subways…