One Reader's Comparison Shopping in Clinton Hill

An avid watcher of the Clinton Hill market (who goes by the handle of Mr. Minerva) recently raised an interesting question: Would you rather have a totally deck-out 2,000-square-foot condo in one of the grandest old mansions on the fanciest street in Clinton Hill or, for $110,000 more, an entire house (also recently renovated) with almost twice the square footage on a side street? We’ve included Mr. Minerva’s stream-of-consciousness thoughts on the two houses on the jump. Let’s see if you think he’s on the mark.
66 Clifton Place [Corcoran] GMAP
315 Clinton Avenue [Brown Harris Stevens] GMAP

66 Clifton Place (The House)
It’s been very nicely renovated but it has not really been restored. The facade looks okay because it has been painted – the house is not landmarked, so painting it is no big deal. But check out the left side of that cornice! Yikes. The fireplaces are beautiful (but I don’t think original – they were probably bought from a salvage yard – they look too ornate for the rest of the house), but the rest of the woodwork in the house, from trim to floors, to stairs and bannisters has been painted over. The window and door trim looks ok painted over, the stairs and floors look like crap. I also don’t like the layout, but it is, interestingly, more true to the original layout than what you typically see in a 3 over 1 house in Brooklyn. It’s laid out as a single family (but has a two family c of o, so you could convert it if you wanted/needed) with the kitchen and family room in the basement and double parlor upstairs. It even has plumbing in the back of the parlor floor, so you could conceivably move the whole freakin kitchen up to the parlor level, put a cheap one in the basement and close it off to make it a rental. For the price, though, it’s not half unappealing as a single family. There are plenty of little pluses (built-in stereo throughout the house, central air) and minuses (what’s up with the TV over the fireplace? aforementioned painted-over details?) one could nitpick over, but over all for a very nice house in move-in condition in a marginal neighborhood (it’s not landmarked and check out the abandoned house next door; but it’s 100 ft from a beautiful landmarked district, including the block of Clifton twixt Grand and St. James which is one of the nicest in the nabe) it seems to be a great house for a great price. It can be yours for (probably an offer less than) $1.285M or about $356/sf.

315 Clinton Avenue (The Condo)
They’ve had one open house and I wasn’t able to make it, so I can only nitpick over what I can see on the listing. One, I’d get rid of that horrid “contemporary” fireplace and replace it with something from a salvage joint that is more historically accurate. With the money you could get selling that half-acre of marble, it would probably work out about even. Most of the rest of what you could nitpick about would have to do with the tiny size of the second bedroom and calling that wierd little nook an “office”. And what’s up with the orientation of the fridge? It’s pointing the wrong direction. The biggest advantage of the apartment (it is a condo, afterall) is the mansion it’s in. If one could make the size work, then who wouldn’t want the opportunity to live in one of the grandest mansions on one of the grandest rows of mansions in all of New York City? The official Clinton Hill Historic District report goes on for almost as long about this house as it does for the Pratt mansions. Some highlights: It “is among the major buildings in the Clinton Hill historic district and is one of the outstanding Romanesque Revival style residences in New York City. The house was built in 1888 for wealthy coffee merchant John Arbuckle and was designed by the great Brooklyn architect Montrose Morris.” Other comments: “rich textural contrasts… unusual feature… open piazza… carved foliate frames… original iron hardware… oriel… exquisitely modeled… carved corbel… foliate plaques… balustrade… roundel… quoins and twisted collonades… pilasters… cartouche… corbeled oriels… ogee-arched… extremely handsome…” Somebody get me an architecture dictionary stat! It can be yours for (probably an offer less than) $1.175M or about $587/sf. For comparison purposes, the Greene House condos are asking about $1000/sf.