Part four of the apartment-hunt quartet and then we’ll give it a rest.
Sunday morning I saw a historic goodie of a flat in Fort Greene, on a block I was always curious about: the glorious Washington Park, northernmost rim of Fort Greene Park, elegant since Edith Wharton’s day.
It was half the top floor, 2BR for $2,300, overlooking Olmsted and Vaux’s sea of green. The front parlor and attached alcove were good and intact, the back bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom very East Village in the ’70s.
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It was four enormous flights up – and once inside the apartment, the second bedroom is a loft reached by ladder. Not for me, I told the broker, panting – for someone younger. (Not just that – it was very close to Myrtle Avenue and the projects, not the tonier, more beautiful, DeKalb Avenue end. If it was at the other end, I might have gladly climbed those stairs.)
Indeed, there was a young couple looking at the place. I hope they took it.
Then I drove around Clinton Hill, going up and down streets I hadn’t paid much attention to since my days at Pratt in the late ’80s (I’m an architecture-school dropout). On St. James Place and Cambridge Place, above and below, between Lafayette and Greene, I was amazed once again at the architectural richness of this borough.
Stumbled into one of the houses on the Society for Clinton Hill House Tour, below, a wood-porched Victorian relic.
I’m visualizing a nice, wide parlor floor with terrace in that area.
4 comments
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May 5, 2009 at 8:54 am
Clinton Hill
I think you are going to end up living in Clinton Hill or Ft. Greene.
May 6, 2009 at 6:09 am
Mary-Liz
Please don’t stop writing about your adventures house-hunting! They (and the accompanying photos) are fascinating!!! And it is good to know that you are enjoying the process. Good luck!!
May 8, 2009 at 3:38 pm
brooklyn
Shame on you Cara for perpetuating the “project” stereotype. We live directly across from the projects on Wyckoff Street and I can think of no reason why it has been a problem. In fact we use the park, get tons of sunlight, and thanks to narrow minded people like you we ALWAYS get a parking spot right on our block.
May 8, 2009 at 5:39 pm
cara
Thank you for your comment, mqmcc. It is your right to call me on what you see as my anti-project bias. I lived in “the projects” as a child – Ravenswood in Long Island City. In my adult life, and as a single woman, I would prefer to rent an apartment where I feel safe coming home alone at night. Maybe the park also has something to do with it, but I just didn’t get a safe vibe from the corner of Myrtle Avenue and Washington Park.