House of the Day: 325 East 17th Street
Corcoran must have used an entire case of Pledge shining up the woodwork for the photos of 325 East 17th Street. The Beverley Square East Victorian has lots of original woodwork and inherent charm but the renovation (which must be pretty recent) feels a little overdone to us in places (a 48-inch commercial stove?) and…
Corcoran must have used an entire case of Pledge shining up the woodwork for the photos of 325 East 17th Street. The Beverley Square East Victorian has lots of original woodwork and inherent charm but the renovation (which must be pretty recent) feels a little overdone to us in places (a 48-inch commercial stove?) and lacking in taste in others (what’s up with that fence). It’s like the owner is trying to force an attractive middle-class house and put it on steroids in the hopes of selling it for top dollar. It’ll be interest to see how the asking price of $1,695,000 goes over. This is east of the tracks, after all, a far cry from Westminster or Argyle Road when it comes to property values. There was an open house yesterday—did anyone check it out?
325 East 17th Street [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
2:36–my question was about that particular block, because of potential future development. I have no problem with the neighborhood–I like it a lot. My point was, that while areas of Ditmas are protected and landmarked, I don’t know if this block is, and hence, can imagine future developers paying for those huge houses and knocking them down, because they’re in great disrepair.
1:48: i think some of your complaints about that block could be said for most of the blocks in Ditmas Park. Most of the blocks i have seen contain many large houses that are in various stages of disrepair. Many with lots of satellite dishes which probably came about from renting out parts of the houses. I guess the point is, do you think the block is a gamble or the entire neighborhood?
There were more knights, but they salvaged the armor for the kitchen appliances.
The house’s style seems disjointed but Im digging the knight in shiny armor in the parlor. I bet that’s not in any “designed to sell” guidebook. 🙂
Yowza, that’s a dining room!
But I agree that parts of the reno are
over the top and other parts, like the concrete steps to the back porch are under done. The fence is ugly but probably extremely useful.
I like the house, but it will not get near the ask. 1.4 would be my guess.
For a couple of hundred thou less, you can get this couple’s other listing on Park Place in Crown Heights. That house was move in ready, completely upgraded, and very spacious and beautiful, and tons of detail. A better buy, I think. It was an Open House listing here a couple of weeks ago.
http://www.corcoran.com/property/listing.aspx?Region=NYC&ListingID=1112969
I agree with you, Mr. B, on the design choices. The living room and dining room are cool, but I would brighten up all of that dark wood with color, and better lighting. Crystal chandeliers don’t go with Craftsman detail anyway. The kitchen is very oppressive. Why choose such dark cabinets, and so many of them? I’d either go for glass faced cabs, or open shelves, or at least paint them white. I’d go with simple Craftsman cabinets, too, not these anybody’s kitchen Home Depot specials. As much as I love wood, if those beams are original, I think I’d have to paint them too. I have a feeling they were added, tho. Stove is definitely overkill. Fence – blech!
Anyway, those are personal choices. Price is really high anyway, but owner might come closer with renos that better complement the age and style of the house. No one is going to like that kitchen, for one reason or another. I agree, they should have just kept it a nice middle class house with some nice detail, instead of trying to make it something that it’s not.
I checked out the block and area last week, but did not return for the open house. It’s right off Cortelyou, which is good. But the particular block this house is on is kind of a gamble, I think. I don’t know if it falls within the historic area (?) but there is a very unattractive older fedders-type building across the street, and an empty lot towards Beverley, and the houses on this block are huge but in great disrepair. I would like to learn what the future development angle is for this area, since it would be a disaster to buy and then watch your neighbors’ homes sold & torn down by developers. The houses are so massive that it’s understandable how some owners can’t keep up with the repairs and maintenance.
Anyway, this house looked enormous from the outside. The exterior needs cosmetic and maybe some roof work. Lots of satellite dishes on this and surrounding homes. My experience with houses in this area has been that the pictures make the details and woodwork look amazing, but once inside, you discover the tremendous amount of work that is needed.
I don’t know, 1:36. That house needed hundreds of thousands of dollars of work. I get the feeling it was more “I got an offer! Take it!”, then a correction for this neighborhood. You kind of have to judge by a top-end, move-in condition house’s selling price to judge any correction. BTW, I agree this house is overdone. It won’t sell above 1.55 but again, wouldn’t take that as a sign of correction. There’s a handful of really special properties out there in the hood that would be better judges of where the market is.