Real Estate

Greenpoint Row House With Black Clapboard, Three Working Fireplaces Wants $3.495 Million

Here’s a wood frame row house with a singular renovation that blends modern minimalist updates with historic Greek Revival details.

by Hannah Frishberg

05/23/2018 0

Here’s a wood frame row house with a singular renovation that’s given it something of a modern beach house or farmhouse vibe. Located at 163 Eckford Street in Greenpoint — an area in which but a handful or two of houses come up for sale in a given year — it blends the rustic and streamlined with the historic and modish.

The new black clapboard exterior is an arresting sight, should you stumble upon it, in the midst of pastel aluminum and red brick buildings. The house was built in the Greek Revival style in the mid 19th century, and its modern canopy, window surrounds and cornice riff on that simple and classic spirit. The house numbers are spelled out in white neon tubing above the new front door.

Inside, the owners seem to have taken pains to preserve and restore what original detail remained in the house, while going in the completely opposite direction with the rest of the renovation. The original pine floors have been refinished, and the original staircase, moldings, window surrounds and ceiling medallions remain.

The house is wide at 25 feet and set up as a single family, although legally it’s a two, according to public records.

The parlor is rustic and refined with original moldings, pine floors and a stark new custom steel flush fireplace surround. It is open to the combined kitchen-dining room beyond, though it can be closed off with new modern-rustic slatted wood pocket doors, which hide a reading nook with built-in seating and bookshelves.

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A steel beam has opened up two rear rooms to create the combined kitchen-dining room, which extends the full width of the house and retains its original moldings and medallions. A dining table with a marble counter at one end serves as prep and eating space. The appliances and gear are housed in minimalist enclosures, and the mantel is another flush steel number, surrounding one of the house’s three working fireplaces.

A sunny space in an extension that could be fitted out as an office, library or guest bedroom leads out to stairs and down into the back patio and garden.

Upstairs are three bedrooms and two of the home’s three bathrooms, all quite modern in style. The master has a working fireplace with a modern marble surround and a home-office sized dressing room. Its huge en suite bath has a freestanding mirrored tub and a massive separate walk-in shower that nearly constitutes its own room.

The other two bedrooms share a sleek yet rustic bathroom in the rear wing overlooking the garden. Other modern touches include tropical leaf print wallpaper in the entry and Flos lighting fixtures throughout. There is new central heating and cooling.

The windowed basement contains washer and dryer, mechanicals, a large rec room and storage. The basement level of the three-story extension has been kitted out with a sleeping nook and wood paneling.

The home is a block from busy McGuinness Boulevard but snug on one of Greenpoint’s quiet residential side streets. It’s 2.5 blocks from the Nassau Avenue G train station and 3.5 blocks from McCarren Park.

The home last changed hands in 2014 for $1.29 million. Corcoran’s Deborah Rieders has the listing, which is asking $3.495 million. What do you think of the house and the price?

[Listing: 163 Eckford Street | Broker: Corcoran] GMAP