Tasteful Friends - knock off of a French Chateau in Brookville NY for under $15 mil

Here's the listing

Move in ready!

I’m not going to live on Long Island.

You live on Long Island.

This house has impressive pedigree.

And was (married) architect Ogden Codman Jr. a downlow homo? Co-authored with Edith Wharton The Decoration of Houses, don't you know.

The dining room, salon, and bedrooms are dreams. Except for the cloud painting in the salon. That can't be from Codman. Other rooms have been gussied up too recently and lost their flavour. The current design around the pool is far too contemporary.

[quote]Move in ready!

R2 it pretty much is as far as I'm concerned

R5 exactly what I thought too. Lose the cloud paining, replace it with something more traditional (unless it is actually original to the house) and the design around the pool is something I'd change too

I love just about everything about it...sumptuous, refined, comfortable, move in ready.

I admire the attention to detail and the color

It's not my taste, but I still think it's pretty great.

However, columns in the kitchen = no very unnecessary.

Not a bad house, except that I have no affection for this sort of French Classicism. The exterior leaves me cold, though the interiors (the principal rooms) are quite good. Redecoration could make them very handsome spaces. R5 is right about the later ceiling of puffy clouds - definitely not Codman. But good.proportions, good scale, and good decoration, and lovely views to the gardens.

The pool house and some of the later works aggravate the Fussy French feel and look too raw and fresh.

Not at all a house for me, though I like some rooms (less the current furnishings and finishes.)

I want another 70 pics. I want pics of the gardens and out buildings. The basement. The rooms in the Cour d'honneur.

They don’t make em like they used to. An older home that’s been renovated well beats a traditional style home that was built post WWII 9,999 times out of 10,000. Exceptional modern and mid-century homes are their own category and can be spectacular.

It’s on 8 acres with mature landscaping. That alone makes a difference.

It’s interesting that “knockoff” chateaus and Tudor and colonial revivals from the early part of the 20th century don’t feel fake or tacky, but the more recent counterparts almost always do. They are either cheap shit construction McMansions or expensive, but Disney World or Vegas fake. A colonial or Tudor built in 1920 is just as much of a knockoff, it’s just executed better. Mediterraneans, that aren’t specifically mimicking a different era, seem to fare better. Especially in California.

I’ve been browsing listings that are not quite commutable from NYC for a while and I’ve noticed a few that might indicate a shift back to the “white elephant” era of the 1970’s when larger homes were out of favor and hard to sell. I’ve only noticed it with properties that need work, though. I’ll post a few.

I feel like the interrupted construction shouldn’t detract because it was going to need work anyway and the possibility of hidden issues are less. Also, you get the benefit of having g the option of working from the sellers plans / ideas or going in your own direction.

Doesn’t need work and is true to its roots, yet somehow modern. I love the foyer and stairs. I’m sure someone with design and architecture training will jump in and correct me, but my amateur eye loves it. Just wish there was a version half the size.

The Tuxedo Park mansion is pretty basic. The classical order is haphazard and there is little elegance. The windows are small, for example. Codman's mansion is the real mccoy, though not especially grand in size.

This one needs more work, but the location seems better, more convenient, the size is slightly closer to manageable and the listing mentions a guest house that isn’t shown.

But the views are what makes this. Those spectacular views, and near a train station!

What is the point of suggesting other houses when the one presented in this thread is fine and dandy? Your ramshackle wooden house at r16 has absolutely nothing in common with this Long Island mansion.

This one is quite manageable and is in walking distance to a nice little lake.

One last example to support my white elephant theory. If the windows are good quality custom and already on site with the flooring, that’s significant. But this still seems very ambitiously priced relative to the larger homes. And the grounds look like they need a lot of work. I get that it’s a smaller, more casual home and formal gardens aren’t expected, but the grounds are a disaster.

Here's a white elephant for you, buster. And it has, like yours, zilch to do with the OP's house and this thread.

R13 that is terrific value for money, even if it needs another couple of million worth of work. I dont like the pebbledash finish on the exterior, although it could be painted I guess. It has great potential, although want a professional structural assessment to make sure theres no hidden dealbreaker issues

R14 the exterior of that house just doesnt do it for me, it isnt as attractive as the others. The interiors though are great, particularly in the first few pics

R16 that place is lovely but will need even more work than the one at R14, and has clearly suffered decades of neglect. The roof leaks and it looks bad in the pics

R19 that is even worse, its not even livable unless you are upgrading from a tent. The price is... extremely ambitious

R20 well to be fair it IS also a Chateau like the joint I posted.

Previous owner is moving it on as they cant afford the maintenance. I can believe that

I like it.

I find that style of decor pretentious and uncomfortable. I could never live in that.

Yes, please, I’ll take it. 🥰😬

[quote] Way to big for me . . .

Oh dear!

Exterior and grounds are nice.

Interior decorating looks like a Russian oligarch told a bad gay decorator to have at it.