Hello all -
My family and I recently got ourselves into an 1890-1900ish (not there in 1870, definitely there in 1909) four-story brick townhouse in the Bronx, NY. It's gorgeous (to us) and survived much better than many of its seriously muddled neighbors... though there are some lovely victorians barely hanging on, if anyone wants a big project near Yankee stadium. Narrow (17.5') and not too deep (~45') with a central stair and skylight, it has the most beautiful light of anywhere I've ever lived.
So, we're hooked, and after the initial slap-dash bare-bones GC work to get it habitable, we're working on undoing some of their work and fixing decades of indifference. Slowly. (anyone want to come over and strip paint??)
Brad
Hello from The Bronx
Hello from The Bronx
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- A bit of what it looks like
- housefront.jpg (127.99 KiB) Viewed 912 times
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mattswabb
- Shakes a cane at new house owners
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Re: Hello from The Bronx
Welcome to the forum and don't be shy with the pics.
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lisascenic
- Stalwart
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Re: Hello from The Bronx
Nice to meet you! I think you'll find everyone very helpful and friendly.
Re: Hello from The Bronx
hey everyone, let's give brad a bronx cheer! oh, wait a minute, maybe not....
welcome to wavyglass, a great community of like minded old house lovers...
...jade
welcome to wavyglass, a great community of like minded old house lovers...
...jade
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CS in Low Hud
- Forgotten more than most know
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Re: Hello from The Bronx
Hello, and welcome! I live about ten miles north of you in Dobbs Ferry. Looks like it'll be a fun project!
Chris
Chris
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Gothichome
- Moderator
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Re: Hello from The Bronx
I too will say hello and welcome to Wavyglass. we have a couple other folks with town houses who visit us from time to time. Tell us more about your home, also would that be considered a brownstone? For those of us who are hard of hearing, we love pictures.
Re: Hello from The Bronx
Very cool house! Welcome.
Re: Hello from The Bronx
Thanks! It isn't technically a brownstone; they're made of out of a particular sandstone(?), which apparently was pink on quarrying and then weathered quickly to brown. Though the term seems to have gotten more flexible. (and CS - Dobbs Ferry looks gorgeous!)
The house was in surprisingly good condition; a lot of abuse, but nobody had bothered to really mess it up. The wiring was vintage 30s, so that was redone, and the plumbing was basically just pouring water onto the floor, which meant the baths and kitchens (such as they were) had to be gutted before we could move in (it was a 203k loan, so we couldn't do the work ourselves and had to use their guys... plus we're sadly not captains of industry. The GCs were incredibly quick and fairly inexpensive, but not people you would choose if you had any other option... things like ripping out perfectly reasonable old mortise locks, filling the hole with joint compound, and then drilling giant holes the mahogany doors to install $13 home depot locksets. Boils my blood daily.)
It used to have a wonderful wooden porch bit over the door, which was torn down possibly within the last 15 years... we can see it in the tax photo from the 80s. Perhaps that will be redone before we keel over in 40 years, perhaps not.
The house was in surprisingly good condition; a lot of abuse, but nobody had bothered to really mess it up. The wiring was vintage 30s, so that was redone, and the plumbing was basically just pouring water onto the floor, which meant the baths and kitchens (such as they were) had to be gutted before we could move in (it was a 203k loan, so we couldn't do the work ourselves and had to use their guys... plus we're sadly not captains of industry. The GCs were incredibly quick and fairly inexpensive, but not people you would choose if you had any other option... things like ripping out perfectly reasonable old mortise locks, filling the hole with joint compound, and then drilling giant holes the mahogany doors to install $13 home depot locksets. Boils my blood daily.)
It used to have a wonderful wooden porch bit over the door, which was torn down possibly within the last 15 years... we can see it in the tax photo from the 80s. Perhaps that will be redone before we keel over in 40 years, perhaps not.
- Panorama on the parlour level, before the GCs did their hasty work. Alas, but the coke machine was removed before we closed.
- parlourmid_old.jpg (107.93 KiB) Viewed 874 times
- After GCs; stairs and floors are nicer, but the whiteness is a bit oppressive. Currently working on the pocket doors to get them up and running again.
- 2013_Snapshots_10781 Panorama.jpg (71.13 KiB) Viewed 874 times
- There's a center spiral staircase (a bit wobbly in parts) that divides the top three floors into front/back, and lets light into the middle of the house. Amazingly, no missing spindles, though of course they all have a million coats of paint on them.
- 2013_Snapshots_10870.jpg (106.37 KiB) Viewed 874 times
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lisascenic
- Stalwart
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- Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2015 5:55 pm
Re: Hello from The Bronx
What a great place!
I see that I'm not the only one here using panoramic photos to show the interior of my house. (Which one do you use?)
As for the million layers of paint on the spindles, I have to tell you that I paint theatrical scenery for a living, and for some reason we've been doing a lot of shows with staircases. One thing I do to make newly-built staircases look "real" is too build up layers of fake paint (using a mix of joint compound, paint and glue). Spindles often look a bit strange without the historic layers of paint on them.
I see that I'm not the only one here using panoramic photos to show the interior of my house. (Which one do you use?)
As for the million layers of paint on the spindles, I have to tell you that I paint theatrical scenery for a living, and for some reason we've been doing a lot of shows with staircases. One thing I do to make newly-built staircases look "real" is too build up layers of fake paint (using a mix of joint compound, paint and glue). Spindles often look a bit strange without the historic layers of paint on them.
Re: Hello from The Bronx
Heh. They're probably 1/16" diameter under all that paint.
For the panos, I use two different methods. In both, for convenience/speed, I'm using small jpegs I've processed out from my larger raw files. Sometimes I'll just use Photoshop (File -> Automate -> Photomerge) but I've been using a program called PTGui Pro (http://www.ptgui.com/) when I need a bit more control. What are you using??
I also have a crazy pano head from reallyrightstuff in CA that allows me to do great single-row panoramas with almost no parallax, though it doesn't get the same look. (http://bradfarwell.com/proj/afterimage/index.html)
For the panos, I use two different methods. In both, for convenience/speed, I'm using small jpegs I've processed out from my larger raw files. Sometimes I'll just use Photoshop (File -> Automate -> Photomerge) but I've been using a program called PTGui Pro (http://www.ptgui.com/) when I need a bit more control. What are you using??
I also have a crazy pano head from reallyrightstuff in CA that allows me to do great single-row panoramas with almost no parallax, though it doesn't get the same look. (http://bradfarwell.com/proj/afterimage/index.html)