House of the Day: 226 Baltic Street

Nice place – seems overwhelmingly plain and white on the inside, but I suppose that can easily be fixed with some paint and decorating. The staircase does seem to make the house, I imagine you find excuses to go upstairs and downstairs with a staircase like that.

all the italianate townhouses from this period wer built to have the living rooms a floor above from the entryway. that’s the original plan – the way the front door opens into the small ante room (for visitors to wait to be received) and the central stair takes up the middle there was no way to make a gracious living room on the entry floor. look at the the AAA guide or the like to get the lowdown – these people just followed the plan instead of carving it up. only thing out of plan is the kitchen, since those were always on the sub floor letting into the garden – the wealthy owners never ventured down there, that was the servants territory.

People are so literal. Of course the floorplan labels everything bedrooms. They clearly aren’t all used for sleeping. Are all the rooms in your place bedrooms? I think the layout makes great sense for the house.

Since you could only have 10 feet of living room on the first floor in front, it made sense to move it upstairs. Also nice to have it up, not at ground level – that’s why brownstones developed stoops and parlor floors. It makes sense to leave kitchen and dining on the lower floor. Nice to have access to yard from kitchen. The bedroom near the door is a study or studio. I like having it on the kitchen floor…allows one to work while still keeping track of stuff cooking. And moving the living room allowed for a decent sized bathroom on that floor. I hate the awkward closet-sized half baths on many brownstone kitchen floors – sometimes it is hard to find a good place to put them. And study could act as guest room when needed, as could rec room below.

Nice big living room upstairs. Nice to have it on kitchen floor, but with this narrow house, better to have a large living room, and not at ground level. The room behind clearly isn’t meant to be used as a bedroom, or the bath would be a full bath. Great to have a room to use as second parlor, second study, tv room, family room, music room, sometimes guest room, or whatever.

Bedrooms are upstairs. Laundry is there, where it should be. Great when you have guests…they can be on the three floors below. Great layout choices, in my opinion. This will sell.

Amazing location, beautiful block, not too far drom train, good retail, great public school.

Layout a bit weird but workable. Downstairs “BR” is really an office but strange cause then it forces LR to 2nd floor BUT LR is gorgeous. Stairs are great and make the house feel wide.

Not showing in the photos is that the house is a bit tired – high hat lights older kitchen cabinets, odd dropped ceilings in spots and older bathrooms. Floors slope, etc…

Point is, if you want a house in this area – this could be the one you want. But if you want a move-in, I wouldnt change a thing perfect renovation – this is likely not it.

If they find the right buyer (i.e wants PS 29, wants Cobble Hill over all else), it will go for over ask, if not I figure no less than 2.45.