We pass by 344 West 123rd Street all the time and noticed that the brownstone was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal. The SRO property between Manhattan and Morningside Avenue sits by a stalled development project but really is in one of the great secret locations of South Harlem. Many might even see these blocks adjacent to Morningside Park as an extension of Morningside Heights and the many shaded side streets are completely lined with brownstones. As the article points out, the Wall Street Jounal editor Julia Angwin and her husband recently purchased the property for the reasonable price of $800K and plan to have it totally gut renovated. The new home owners point out they barely know how to switch out a light bulb but have gotten a good estimate from a contractor to renovate the place. The final quote was at $100 per square foot so seeing that most modest brownstones are around 3,500 square feet, the job should run around $350K. See the additional photos on the WSJ site:
LINK. We recently did a story on cast iron handrail renovations on the same block so this couple might want to check it out:
LINK
We pass by 344 West 123rd Street all the time and noticed that the brownstone was recently featured in the Wall Street Journal. The SRO property between Manhattan and Morningside Avenue sits by a stalled development project but really is in one of the great secret locations of South Harlem. Many might even see these blocks adjacent to Morningside Park as an extension of Morningside Heights and the many shaded side streets are completely lined with brownstones. As the article points out, the Wall Street Jounal editor Julia Angwin and her husband recently purchased the property for the reasonable price of $800K and plan to have it totally gut renovated. The new home owners point out they barely know how to switch out a light bulb but have gotten a good estimate from a contractor to renovate the place. The final quote was at $100 per square foot so seeing that most modest brownstones are around 3,500 square feet, the job should run around $350K. See the additional photos on the WSJ site: LINK. We recently did a story on cast iron handrail renovations on the same block so this couple might want to check it out: LINK
I hope this reasonable quote involves preserving historic details, I can see some great crown moldings and a grand mantle in this photo, hope they survive the contractor.
ReplyDeleteI wish them well and hope the building has a certificate of no harassment. $100/sq. ft. usually gets you a pretty soulless renovation with no input from an architect. Most architects will tell you it takes $200/sq. ft.
ReplyDeleteI live down the block from this building and was excited to see earlier in the week that the gutting was in full effect. Thanks Harlem+Bespoke for immediately satiating my curiosity. Wishing our new neighbors luck and much patience. It's a beautiful block and so convenient to everything.
ReplyDeleteI know this family, and believe that it will work out for them in the long haul. Although, it may be a very long haul.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the WSJ link.
I don't know about preserving the historic details. See the latest WSJ article in this series... (Hint--- for a crazy reason, the author and husband decided to have all but one of 7 fireplaces taken out, along with carved woodwork around doors,...)
ReplyDeleteOuch! I read the article. I for one lean more toward the sterile minimal modernistic designs and yes it's their house and should do with whatever they please but if I moved into a brownstone with details such as those I couldn't bare being responsible for letting those details go and would manage to incorporate my vision into what already exists. I know a lot of people have difficulty doing this.
ReplyDeleteAlso, folks tend to move away from reason when fear and budgetary constraint is involved. Fear of their children being exposed to lead poisoining and budgetary restrictions which forced the decision not to restore 6 fireplaces. I hate to be a killjoy for the new owners but starting with a 350k budget spearheaded the challenge that even any of your family and friends who couldn't talk you out of it couldn't anticipate.
Nothing makes me cringe like the words 'gut renovation.' The place looks beautiful as is. What were they thinking?
ReplyDelete