House of the Day: 85 State Street
The first and only time we’ve discussed 85 State Street was back in March 2005 when the five-story brick townhouse was listed as an Open House Pick with an asking price of $2,500,000. That turned out to be a very good price for the dude who bought it; six months later he flipped it for…
The first and only time we’ve discussed 85 State Street was back in March 2005 when the five-story brick townhouse was listed as an Open House Pick with an asking price of $2,500,000. That turned out to be a very good price for the dude who bought it; six months later he flipped it for $3,200,000 to a developer who proceeded to do a modern gut renovation of the place. Although we have no reason to doubt the quality of the work in the house, the aesthetic result just doesn’t do it for us. For $5,500,000 (the asking price), we’d want a little more character. If we wanted to spend that kind of dough on something modern, we’d probably opt for something more like this. Apparently, we’re not the only ones: The single-family house has been on the market now on-and-off for more than a year, starting at $5,800,000 with Corcoran, moving to $5,950,000 with Douglas Elliman, before moving to Halstead last November where it’s gradually edged its way down to the current asking price of $5,500,000.
85 State Street [Halstead] GMAP P*Shark
Open House Picks 3/11/05 [Brownstoner]
Hi guys! Love the chatter.
We saw this house about 8 or 9 months ago. It felt about a million overpriced to us, as we whispered it to each other upon leaving.
The house is okay, but we felt kind of sorry for the developer. Some bad choices were made and it just didn’t feel right. Plus the garden felt like a walk-in closet sized prison yard. The stair railing was terrible, and the rooms were all white, boxy and totally devoid of character. The master bath was black, if I remember correctly. I think the upstairs step that Bxgrl referred to served as both a bench and a step up to the deck. Which was nice.
Can’t remember much else
I’m suffering from DFAIMNS (desperate for amenities in my neighborhood syndrome), not to be confused with INSULTS, (Inner Neighborhoods Seeking Upscale Life Trials) which promotes the development of yoghurt shop wars and healthy Thai vs Vietnamese Restaurant competition.
MacD, very valid question. A quick Googling shows 5 ice cream / yogurt shops within the BedStuy boundaries.
http://www.yelp.com/search?find_loc=Brooklyn%2FBedford+Stuyvesant%2C+New+York%2C+NY&cflt=icecream
Of course, because they are all around the periphery, this is bound to lead to a continuation of the great BedStuy / Bedford Corners / Stuy Heights border debate for those suffering from Neighborhood Hypersensitivity Syndrome (NHS).
Hey Biff, come to think of it, when is Bed Stuy getting our damned yoghurt shop? Oops, sorry, wrong thread.
z- I think you’re right. I blew up the photo and it seems to be a picture of 2 rowhouses with the original stoops, so the perspective of the houses and the stoops looks correct but then they photoshopped the door from somplace else since that perspective is different and the door looks like it’s leaning over. And the near side of the doorway is fuzzy, with less detail. sorry- I do this stuff for work and may I say I love photoshop?
In the 2005 photo, the new doorway actually looks a copy of the one from the house next door. Maybe the photo just makes it look out of proportion because you don’t see it with the full height of the building?
Actually Biff, you have hit upon it. The texture of the browstone is reminiscent of mocha cream frozen yogurt.
But come on you guys, the proportions are OK, the overall deign is fine, it is just the workmanship of the stucco that is a little off.
This is the least of this house’s problems.
> But something looks off on the doorway in relationship to the stoop.
The doorway looks gargantuan and out of proportion to the rest of the house. It adds a certain grandiose and McMansionesque quality to the facade.
Let’s all breathe a collective sigh of relief that a yoghurt thread is no longer the leader in number of posts today.
bxgrl, i had the same reaction. my guess is that some photoshopping was done on the stoop photo (maybe to give it more of a “wide angle” look?) that resulted in wavy lines to the left of the door. the bends look similar on both the seam between the brick facades and on the brownstone surrounding the door, which seems unlikely to be the case in reality.