The Astor Row Houses that line the south side of West 130th Street between Lenox and Fifth Avenue are quite unique but they also have some interesting neighbors just across the street. A series of 5-story brownstone townhouse with mansard roofs line the west end of the block and stand out because of other various reasons. For the most part, the Astor Row houses are kept in good condition since Brooke Astor funded a grant to restore them back in the 1990s but the neighbors were not so fortunate.
As for as the mansard townhouses on the north side of the street are concerned, one out of the original eight apparently had been demolished completely at some point in time and two are currently boarded up shells. Number 57 and 63 seems to have been set up for some sort of renovations about five years ago but nothing much has happened since. Does anyone know what is going on with these buildings? Read more on Astor Row in our past post:
LINK
#57 is owned by an architect and his wife, who is, I think, a video producer. When they bought the property, it was an SRO with a numbers den operating out of the basement. They had trouble getting a certificate of nonharassment after clearing out the tenants, but this was all long enough ago and I suspect they could get one now. #63 is owned by a Spanish woman, I think, who turned down a number of bids at the top of the market. Then the facade collapsed. If they had in mind getting $2 million (or whatever) for the house a few years ago, I have to guess they're not going to sell at current prices. Summary: absentee owners with low cost bases, nothing going on for now. Many of the mansard houses are in better shape than might be suggested by the exteriors. They're 20 feet wide, five stories, and typically 51-55 feet deep. I don't think any have changed hands in the last five years, but the church at the end of the block owns two that I think they are considering selling.
ReplyDelete