Real Estate

Spacious Midwood Prewar With Sunken Living Room, Five Closets Asks $2,500 a Month

In Midwood, this rental in a prewar elevator building offers a practical, spacious layout with plentiful closet space and a bit of late Art Deco styling.

by Susan De Vries

09/03/2020 4 minute 0

In Midwood, this rental in a prewar elevator building offers a practical, spacious layout with plentiful closet space and a bit of late Art Deco styling. It’s on the fifth floor of a six-story building at 1615 Avenue I.

Tenants started moving into the new building, known as The Terrace Gardens, in 1941. Designed by prolific apartment house architects Kavy & Kavovitt, the streamlined brick building nods to Colonial Revival on the exterior with keystoned lintels and quonining mixed with curving Art Deco corner balconies. An advertising brochure for the building pitched the apartments as being spacious and “superbly arranged for convenience and cross ventilation.” The apartments had “dropped studio living rooms,” wrought-iron railings around dining areas, Colonial-style light fixtures, arched doorways and “more closets than rooms.” More amenities were promised in the building itself, with a billiard room, darkroom and garage on the premises.

The floor plans in an early brochure show all the apartments centered around foyers, and this unit is no exception. The foyer stretches almost the full width of the apartment and includes two closets and a built-in niche. Directly off the foyer is the sunken living room, fit into an angled bay, with wood floors and simple moldings. Original iron railings and an arched opening separate it from the dining area.

The windowed galley kitchen looks to be in good shape with wood cabinets, generous counter space and white appliances.

A bit of extra privacy is given to the bedrooms, which are reached via a small hallway off the foyer. There’s a bedroom on either end of the hall with a full bath in between. The larger bedroom has windows on two exposures and two closets. The bath has had a bit of remodeling so not much of its late Art Deco style survives, although it does have its original built-in shower as well as a separate tub.

The 132-unit building is now a co-op, and while that original darkroom is probably long gone, it does have a live-in super, laundry room and bike storage for $5 a month. There’s a wait list for indoor parking, although according to the listing it’s a “short” wait for a $130-per-month spot.

The unit is listed for $2,500 a month with Geraldine Greenberg, Alexander Boriskin and Michael Lorber of Douglas Elliman. The same team also has the apartment listed for sale at $500,000 if it really piques your interest. What do you think?

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[Listing: 1615 Avenue I, APT 512 | Broker: Compass] GMAP