Results tagged “brownstone”

Yesterday we posted an old photo of a lone brownstone located somewhere in the East 60s, which in 1959 was about to be demolished for a future development. So where was the brownstone when it met its end? Our commenters figured it out... good job! The building was at 215 East 68th Street.

We happened upon this photo in the LIFE magazine archives. The caption reads: "Construction in NYC: land being cleared for 20 story building in East 60s — still occupied brownstone is soon to go." It was still occupied! The photo was taken in 1959... any guesses as to what block it was on?

Step right up, this beauty could be yours. Owner Bernie Henry coated his four-story brownstone on Garfield Place with this Pepto-pink color just three years ago (about 47 years after he moved in). The retired tailor told the Daily News, "I'm 92. It's time to get rid of it. It's a lot of money to keep it up ... I'm going to buy a smaller house around the corner." He says his new home will not get the same color treatment; in fact, he tells the paper he never meant to paint this one in such a garish hue, saying: "They sent me the wrong paint. It was painted this color accidentally."

Brownstone Brooklyn, you never cease to amaze us. Long story short: Man buys brownstone in recently landmarked district of Prospect Heights from old woman. Old woman continues to live in the garden apartment. Man decides he wants to put a garage in there. LPC says they have no applications for Landmark approval for the address.

Jeffrey and Michelle Feig's charming Central Park West apartment has gone from urban oasis to noisy nightmare, and someone's got to pay. In a $4.5 million lawsuit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, the Feigs accuse the neighbor, Michel Kadoe, of turning his backyard into a "shantytown," by renting out the garden apartment in his brownstone to unruly tourists.

Is your home safe from deed fraud? Oh, you rent? Well, is your landlord's home safe? New York prosecutors say deed fraud is on the rise, and they're citing one recent indictment as proof: Brooklyn contractor Enrique Castillo has been charged with forging documents claiming that the deceased owner of a vacant Harlem brownstone had signed the deed over to him. Manhattan DA Robert Morgenthau says, "He wanted to make money on the property by selling it," and accuses Castillo of also filing fake mortgage records with the city. According to Morgethau, "This mortgage, in which no money actually changed hands, was in effect a lien on the building so nobody else could get it, sell it." Castillo was caught, prosecutors say, after he tried filing bogus power of attorney forms with the city to wrest control of the brownstone from the dead woman's cousin, who had inherited it. That backfired, and he faces up to seven years in prison if convicted. The scheme is reminiscent of that stunt in which a Daily News reporter forged documents to transfer ownership of the Empire State Building to a non-existent company, just to teach people a lesson... People like Castillo.

It's never been a better time to be a nerd in CUNY's Honors College; besides the free tuition, the free admission to dozens of institutions like the Metropolitan Opera and the Museum of Modern Art, the braniacs now get to take classes at a fancy four-story brownstone on the Upper West Side. The university bought the Gothic revival Steinhardt Building (pictured) from the 92nd Street Y and started holding seminars there this semester. According to the Times, this is the first Manhattan outpost for the Honors College, which this year accepted 320 new students out of 3,200 applicants. For reference, first year students in the program have an average SAT score of 1399.

The Observer, keeping with their trend-watching, is reporting that 20-somethings are moving back in with their parents after college...that is, if the parents own prime New York real estate (aka: Brownstone Boomers). Didn't we all see this coming with The Royal Tenenbaums?