House of the Day: 266 Berkeley Place
The four-story brownstone at 266 Berkeley Place is a prime property, don’t get us wrong, but the $3,250,000 asking price strikes us as rather out-of-sync with the current market, especially gi. First of all, it appears to not be configured for the most likely family buyer in the this location: The listing calls the house…
The four-story brownstone at 266 Berkeley Place is a prime property, don’t get us wrong, but the $3,250,000 asking price strikes us as rather out-of-sync with the current market, especially gi. First of all, it appears to not be configured for the most likely family buyer in the this location: The listing calls the house “multi-family” while PropertyShark says it’s a two-family. Secondly, the kitchen and bathroom renovations don’t, in our opinion, rise to the level of the rest of the house. (And there’s also the issue of the recessed lighting on the parlor floor—just say no!) While these may seem like nits, most people gearing up to pay the estimated $27,000 a month (that’s per the listing not us) in carrying costs will care about every last detail.
266 Berkeley Place [Bellmarc] GMAP P*Shark
You’re right, 8:48, Mr. 6:21 is a tad nutsy. I mean, com’on already…even right-wingers are selling to save their positions! We’re in a cycle and voila…end of story. Things are not good and the divergence of rich and poor has grown massive since 1980 (beginning of the “Reagan Era”) and keeps on going, middle class is being pushed down…etc., etc. Hunger is a major issue in the US…it’s all there.
I have been saying for years that we were backpedaling into the age of the robber barons and I think I’ve been right.
Nonetheless, I hope and also think the recession will not be the end of “civilization”. Heck, we have to manage to live at least 4 or 5 more decades to help pay off this huge government debt! To be honest, I am eager to finish out the process of handing money blindly up the chain…trickle up is where it’s at! Slow stealing is so much more palatable.
[tongue in cheek]
6:21 – you sound like a Bush loving nut job, but read the papers – even your beloved Bush is admitting that hard economic times are falling on us…
I dislike recessed lighting too and complain too when it is slapped into parlor floor ceilings or other rooms that have elaborate plaster mouldings…
FACE IT, it makes the house suddenly look more like a wedding palace. Yuck! “Celebrate your wedding at La Manoir where your guests can stuff themselves and look at cheezy interiors…exits signs next to ro-co-co…”
The worst is a crystal chandelier (usually historically and taste-wisely inappropriate) WITH recessed lighting all in the same room AND having it all blasting at night like a movie shoot is going on inside. Looks t-e-r-r-i-b-l-e from outside and inside is enough to give one major eye strain!
AND…ready… this coming from someone who actually had recessed lighting installed in the rental (hallway, kitchen and bath). Hey…it works…but NOT downstairs thank you very much! Makes for a McMansion look or something from the 80’s. Might as well have “exposed†brick and ice-skating rink poly’d floors to match. P.U.
Frankly, there ARE great recessed lighting fixtures, wall washers, accent lights, and they all look much better away from either original old detail or current historicizing creations. Much better in mod settings. And if you really get away from the old boring recessed lighting and get crazy, you can spend a mint.
Certain lighting schemes (wall and ceiling washers and cabinet lighting especially) can actually help create a great “mid-century” look.
And to the person who referred to these houses all having gas lighting original: Sorry, but our house would have had oil lamps when it was built and residents also probably relied a lot on candles (tallow or wax). The family’s one or two main oil lamps were probably kept on the parlor floor, considered investments and probably objects of pride…those styles and technology changed so fast many expensive lamps were rendered démodé a decade after their manufacture.
Gas wasn’t added until later in the century. Somehow, they were able to run the gas pipes to the medallions without completely busting up the plasterwork and keeping crown mouldings, walls, etc. all looking like they hadn’t been touched. I guess they were good at replastering back then too. They did a much better job than your typical contractor or electrician could ever dream of doing these days!
Originally, only large free-standing homes and institutional buildings had gas-lighting when it remained a novelty. It was relatively MUCH cleaner-buring and bright. The gas was often produced on the property by heating coal (much as “they” are proposing to do in the near future and on a large scale since the US produces much less “natural gas†than it now uses). The gas from the heated coal was piped into the house….there WERE accidents.
As I mentioned, fast-changing technology and changing fuel supplies made the development of interior lighting a dynamic one in the 1800’s.
BTW, the trusty ol’ kerosene lamp was a later development after gas was already being piped into many urban homes.
Kerosene as a fuel developed later. It was a very cheap fuel compared to the earlier whale oil or course and served many homes that were off the grid all over the US through the 1940’s and beyond. In fact, many of us in our lifetime have been to remote houses that still rely on kerosene for light. In fact, even houses wired with electricity (which would have been much lower than what a typical house “needs” today) were lit with kerosene as a major source of nighttime lighting through the 1940’s.
So, all-in-all, Brownstoner Dude’s right. The unimaginative recessed lighting on the parlor floor makes it look like a contractor special.
Interior pics (including recessed lighting) look very similar to 106 Lincoln place and brownstoner liked that one months ago when it first listed. Of course, it has not sold. Perhaps recessed lighting turned buyers away?
As a would be buyer in a different economic climate, curious to know if it is a bad idea to buy a house with modern vs. traditional elements-in terms of resale? I am curious to see sale prices for three houses in contract on Brown Harris website (park slope 1st street 4th street and 130 Lincoln Place). I wonder if they sold at ask or lower? We just won;t know what is happening in this markt for a while.
Interior pics (including recessed lighting) look very similar to 106 Lincoln place and brownstoner liked that one months ago when it first listed. Of course, it has not sold. Perhaps recessed lighting turned buyers away?
As a would be buyer in a different economic climate, curious to know if it is a bad idea to buy a house with modern vs. traditional elements-in terms of resale? I am curious to see sale prices for three houses in contract on Brown Harris website (park slope 1st street 4th street and 130 Lincoln Place). I wonder if they sold at ask or lower? We just won;t know what is happening in this markt for a while.
I’ve always said NO to recessed lighting – just a gut reaction. To my eye it looks so barren and soul less. Like wearing an elegant evening gown with matted hair and no earrings.
I’ve always said NO to recessed lighting – just a gut reaction. To my eye it looks so barren and soul less. Like having an evening gown own with matted hair and no earrings.
I said it once, I’ll say it again: there are many folks here and in politics and certainly in the liberal media who will stop at nothing to downplay the economy. This being a political year, a recession is exactly what the doctor ordered for the democrats to get into the white house, even if the pesky economy won’t cooperate with negative GDP. In case anyone missed it, the economy grew this first quarter of 2008, despite the doom and gloom, despite the “housing meltdown”, despite the long dark winter, despite so many posters here predicting armageddon. So now you have some objective numbers to actually listen to. That is, of course, until the inevitable conspiracy theorists start talking about how the numbers must be made up. anything to deny the truth at hand, that in fact, there may not be a recession (you need two or more straight quarters of negative GDP), in fact the housing sector is but one fraction of a larger economy which is obviously still growing with low unemployment. No doubt oil and gas prices are too high but try to separate this worldwide problem from the politically motivated bullsh.. being spewed by those who simply want to demonize the current administration at the expense of truth.
5:53 – I agree that those calling our economy right now “a horrific depression” are being hyperbolic, but come on, your post sounds like big-time denial. Our economy is doing poorly, and most predict that we are entering recession. To assume that all will remain as rosy as ever in NYC real estate seems unrealistic. Again, I’m not a drama queen predicting a crash but holding steady is about the best owners/brokers can hope for, or perhaps modest reductions in value. Buyers who are not in a rush and have cash are in a good position in this market.