House of the Day: 180 Washington Park
If you’re a Wall Street Journal reader, you may already be familiar with this new listing at 180 Washington Park in Fort Greene—the 22-foot brownstone was featured when it hit the market earlier this month with a price tag of $2,750,000, most likely because it was owned by Spike Lee back in the 1990s. We’re…
If you’re a Wall Street Journal reader, you may already be familiar with this new listing at 180 Washington Park in Fort Greene—the 22-foot brownstone was featured when it hit the market earlier this month with a price tag of $2,750,000, most likely because it was owned by Spike Lee back in the 1990s. We’re certainly digging the location, size and type of the house. There’s also tons of original detail that is right up our alley. The renovation, though, feels too over-the-top to us. Call us old-fashioned, but the glitziness and polish of the whole thing feels a little out of place for Fort Greene. And that yard? What were they thinking? We suspect the sellers would have been better served by a more understated approach, especially when it comes to reselling in these non-boom times.
180 Washington Park [Corcoran] GMAP P*Shark
My clawfoot has a handheld shower which I love but makes my sister run screaming from the room. I don’t like the all around shower curtain- too claustrophobic and snarky’s right. It’s a bit of a pain getting in and out (well, for us short folk)only because it can be a bit slippery.
However, shrilly, can we assume you have to boil the water first and then have your body servant bring it upstairs? Are you still using chamberpots?
> I dug up the bodies of the original house servants…
Heh heh heh.
Whew! Thank goodness the people I bought from had lived here for 70 years & already screwed things up so I didn’t have to be reverential about making changes so I could be comfie!
I don’t have an island in this house.
Just what appliances did you use that will never go out of style???
And what are your countertops made out of??? The ONLY thing that might be more appropriate would be soapstone. If it’s not that then you’ve made some truly bad choices. I have that with a farmers sink in Bucks Co, but it’s very “farmhouse” and not befitting a brownstone.
Are you one of those people who are “afraid” of microwaves as well??
“A truly formal dining room cannot be on the garden level. PERIOD. The homes were built originally with them on the parlour level. Making people dine “below grade” as opposed to within the rooms with the high ceilings, plaster molded crowns and fireplaces is just tacky.”
Brownstones with english basements have the kitchn on the basement level and the dining room on the parlor floor. Brownstones with garden floors have the dining room on the garden level, with a fireplace, wainscotting, and plaster molded crowns (as you put it).
“That’s funny. I wonder which house will sell for more. All things being equal, like the nabe and the sft, the ‘permamently destroyed’ one, or Stoner’s?”
Assuming he waits a few years, DIBS’s house will be practically unsellable due to the out of stlye kitchne island, granite counters, tacky appliances, and the “modern” bathrooms. Mine, which has been renovated and updated from top to bottom in timeless and brownstone-appropriate style, will still be worth a fortune.
A truly formal dining room cannot be on the garden level. PERIOD. The homes were built originally with them on the parlour level. Making people dine “below grade” as opposed to within the rooms with the high ceilings, plaster molded crowns and fireplaces is just tacky.
As far as clawfoot tubs and showercurtains, I cannot think of anything more annoying to deal with. Like I said, those clear plastic shower curtains with the multi colored fish on them are not period to the aesthetic of the building.
bitter retort- well, they better have been wearing their period costumes or I’m going upstairs and whipping the stuffing out of them. Dead servants can be so disrespectful.
gotta agree, cobble, Shrill is a pip! Kinda an architectural luddite though.
> A clawfoot tub is the most comfortable shower around.
Had that in my last apartment. Hated it. Nothing like being enveloped on all sides by shower curtains to aka ya feel comfy.
Climbing in and out was annoying as well, and I’m not even 80 yet. Though my frequent cans shaking on Brownstoner might lead one to believe such.