Tasteful friends: handsome 1848 Gothic Revival townhouse in Albany, NY. $799,000
One of a rare row of Gothic Revival townhouses, the house is the surviving residential half of Madison Place, originally a boulevarded triangle of which Bleecker Park also survives. Between 1965-1972, the area just beyond Bleeker Park to the Northeast was redeveloped as Empire State Plaza, part of Nelson Rockefeller's plan for a consolidated, modern state capital complex.
The house has 6776 square feet arranged over four floors with a high raised basement level, principal rooms on the raised main floor, then two floors of bedrooms and artist studio above. The house was restored in 2005 and has a great Gothic Revival facade which detailing continues throughout the main spaces of the raised ground floor.
The house next door to the right clearly had a nearly identical facade but for the oriel window at the 2nd floor above the main door; it's still recognizably Gothic Revival but you can see that the windows have been simplified and the cornice likely simplified as well (the oriel above its door is slightly different.)
The facade and the main floor are terrific. I don't mind the galley kitchen at all, in fact I think they are ideal for everyday use, but I would change the flooring to something better and replace the countertops in butcherblock probably, or marble. The succession of spaces living room--dining room--family room/breakfast nook is very good. Aside from repainting, I would repaint the gothic woodwork on the main floor and extending up through the stairhall: the reflectivity of the white loses a lot of the gothic detailing. The principal bedroom suite occupies all of the second floor. It's huge but aside from the front window nothing exceptional; removing all that wall-to-wall carpeting would improve the space. The top floor has four main spaces and a bathroom. Now used as extra bedrooms and artists studio, you could use the rooms as you please, and likewise the raised basement level which appears to be in use as an AirBnB type space with separate entrances front and back.
Google Streetview shows an alley and brick garage behind the house though this is not mentioned in the listing; perhaps subdivided from the original parcel? There is one photo of a pleasant brick patio at the rear. The listing describes the neighborhood as part of the 'Mansion Area" with Albany's downtown area on the other side of Bleecker Park..
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | April 25, 2024 2:11 PM
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Lovely old home, and yes almost all the original detail is still present and correct, it really doesnt need much done to it bar some aesthetic changes to bring it back to its original look. And its great value for money given the size and quality. I think you are right about the garaging, it is behind the property and opens out to the small street behind Madison Place, called Elm Street, and seems to have its own street address, perhaps you have to lease this separately which would be a bit of a pain in the ass but manageable given how good the property is otherwise.
I wouldnt bother doing anything to the kitchen, its adequate as it is, and adequate is more than good enough for me, I'm not a dedicated cook/chef like Greg, I'm only going to be making salads and opening the odd can or microwaved meal. First thing I'd do is address the horrible griege that has been used absolutely everywhere on the walls. To make it worse the carpet is griege as well but that's doable as it can be covered with Persian or other heavily patterned rugs. The other thing is the lighting fixtures in the living room and family room - they arent terrible but they are rather underwhelming for the spaces they're in. Weirdly enough there is a wonderful chandelier in the walk in wardrobe of all places, I'd just swap that with one of those and get something similar for the other room. I dont know if I'd rush to repaint the beautiful gothic woodwork, the white is OK, although it probably should be brought back to the original wood finish if thats what it had new. I'd be more inclined to deal with the griege walls first they dull the place down, and it desparately needs more colour and pattern to really bring it to life.
Needless to say the crap furniture its staged with will be going anyway, if it did come with the place I'd Ebay it or sell as a bulk lot and hit up local antique stores with the money.
| by Anonymous | reply 1 | April 25, 2024 12:59 PM
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Oh wow! It's absolutely stunning! I even like 99% of the furnishings as well. Gorgeous. Only critique I have is their artwork would look better framed. One of the nicest Tasteful Friends I've seen in 20 years OP. I don't know if it's located in a nice area but I would live there right now as is. Wasn't Albany, NY where that shooting was?
| by Anonymous | reply 2 | April 25, 2024 1:10 PM
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Overpriced for that neighborhood. There are much nicer brownstone neighborhoods in that city.
| by Anonymous | reply 4 | April 25, 2024 1:49 PM
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Love it...even Mary Richards' kitchen!
| by Anonymous | reply 5 | April 25, 2024 2:11 PM
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