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 What do you think the facade was originally made of?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
This building is located right on top of the largest underground oil spill in us history.
Also in terms of “amenities,” KeyFood on McGuiness has as large of a selection of better meats and organic produce as any supermarket in lets say the Slope. The Garden on Manhattan Ave is a fantastic whole foods style store. Closer to the Northside and a stretch from Morgan, there are shops opening left and right, a great new kids bookstore with little chairs and rugs to sit, a winebar/coffee bar on Franklin about to open; a great new restaurant also on Franklin called Brooklyn Label much much more….
These are not brick houses, they are frame houses, they share a low attic called a cock loft, this is how fire spreads from one to the other. The first thing you need to do if you buy one of these is to build a firewall at the attic.
Originally they were faced with clapboard, or more likely, wood shingle.
Brownstoners post says there is enough far to build a 4th floor. It is my understanding that you cannot do an addition on a frame house. Am I wrong?
Also, gpt 12:57 there is a big difference between 950 and 1.5 mil even if you do get a brick facade.
Morgan Avneue is WAY over on the far side of the hood. Not a lot of amenities there. Yes, it’s right over the oil spill.
As for what’s under the siding…a lot of the houses, like mine, had very nice clapboard detailing (proof is in the 1940’s tax photos). Unfortunately, back it the ’70s, no one was in the restoration mindframe (people were running out of the city for the burbs as fast as they could) and so homeowners either took it down or just covered it up with siding. It provided a clean look at a reasonable price.
Many current Brownstoner fans and commentators are probably too young to remember what city neighborhoods were like in the ’70s, but believe it or not, the siding actually IMPROVED the look of the neighborhood.
30+ years later, with a different asthetic, mindset and clientele, the neighborhood will once again go thru a transition. i.e. Starbucks is opening at the corner of Manhattan and Greenpoint.
Looks kind of different from the Tax Photo(1940?). Maybe brick facade originally..?
you can buy top quality brick in gpt for $1.5mn. if you have the “scratch” for $950 vinyl, why not buy something nice? this is overpriced for the hood.
What is wrong with people today? Here’s an idea, if you’re not interested, go on to read something else. Or find something else to do. But to start bitching at a writer, or blogger, or whoever, because he’s not typing the exact words on the exact subjects you would like him to…is sad.
But I suppose I’m someone who *is* interested in what’s behind that siding. I’d love to know more about the cretins who at one point in our city’s history were apparently very effective salesmen, encouraging nearly all Greenpoint to cover up what were once probably lovely, if modest, brick buildings with vomit-colored vinyl. I imagine there are some good stories there.
a million dollars does not get you much any more, especially in a high-prestige location like Greenpoint.
Actually there are nicer parts of Greenpoint, but this doesn’t look like one of them.