A couple with 3 kids tore down this perfectly lovely 3600 sq ft home in Forest Hills Gardens to build one that's 6000 sq ft with 7 bedrooms and 5 1/2 baths.
The new house was finished in 2006 and decorated lavishly (including a "French brothel" bedroom). Now, 4 years and millions of dollars later, the owners "plan to move to a smaller place in Manhattan". Read all about it here.You gotta love weirdos.
37 comments:
Where is "Forrest Hills"? I guess the WSJ created a new neighborhood.
easy come,easy go .
Rich Juden!
the house is beautiful
you sound jealous
It's a nice house but I like the charm of the old house. And at 3600 sq. feet I wouldn't say it was a small house....
The old house was lovely, but at least the new house doesn't look like your typical McMansion garbage people build these days.
Ditto on the "Forrest Hills" comment.
I thought I would hate the new home, but there are things there that were tastefully done and in the same style as the neighborhood.
Yeah I guess that basement garage that is too steep is not an issue... Can you say FLOODING?
Such an extra-wide driveway. Is it legal?
How did someone get away with building what is most likely illegal in size in an area like Forest Hills Gardens, which is covenanted???
The whole inside of the house looks like a brothel. Nice house, also wonder about that driveway and flooding. It could have been decorated a little more toned down.
Did the original house burn down? I think they addressed the flooding. There's a huge grate that runs the mouth of the garage door and probably hooks up to a sump pump. With the money they put in to it, I'm sure they took care of it. And it does pretty much fit in with the Gardens' style.
"You gotta love weirdos"
2.5 million to build it and they are looking to sell it for 6 million.
Doesn't sound too weird to me.
They had to buy it first, pay to have the old one torn down, and $6M is the asking price they know they aren't getting, especially in this economy.
Not to mention the cost they incurred living elsewhere while the old home was torn down and before the new one was built...
They had to buy it first, pay to have the old one torn down, and $6M is the asking price they know they aren't getting, especially in this economy.
Not everyone middle class Crappy. Why do you care what someone does with their money? Haters gonna hate.
Hey I'm not saying they shouldn't do it, just that it wasn't economically advantageous for them to have taken 7 years to build a bigger dream house and then move out after only spending 4 years in it.
If they want to throw money away like that, by all means please do so! It keeps others like me entertained.
I saw the slideshow and that dining room sticks out so ugly.
If I were able to build an original, quality dreamhouse, I think i would like to keep it for the rest of my life.
Why 2 johnny bowls in bathroom, see through shower an bathtub like chicka de stripteas club ?
kitsch.
The house is nice but of an architecture seen built in these parts before by other gaudy folks with too much money and time on their hands - a flavor of medieval, cathedral and Cord Meyer German. Gotta have the turret room, stained glass, heavy double dungeon front doors etc. I don't like the interior at all and it does not surprise me to see how it is decorated.
They probably needed to abandon the house because the mortgage or loan on the house under water and are have difficulty with the economy.
Perhaps this was Guccione's summer home? Perhaps the French design came with a French maid.
The bedroom was in a "French brothel style". Well, maybe that's just what needed to finance the sale of this monstrosity. At least the hopefully-former owners had some sound financial ideas!!
"The whole first floor is very elegant".
That's elegant in the sense that the cast of Jersey Shore use the word elegant.
To be honest, this doesn't bother me at all. Sure, they tore down a beautiful home, but they rebuilt a home just as beautiful. I was expecting to scroll down and see Queens crap in the next photo, but the home fits with the character of the neighborhood. I will say, the inside is pretty hideous though ;)
Crappy said: "They had to buy it first, pay to have the old one torn down, and $6M is the asking price they know they aren't getting, especially in this economy."
Maybe they will get at least 5M..and yes in this economy. This is Queens where the RE price still stands, unlike the suffolk county of Long Island where it dropped big. I know people who bought a $ million house with CASH in Great Neck and Forest Hills and many others who are still able to get loans because my spouse works in the insurance industry so she comes in contact with these people who buys home insurance from her.
Also If they bought this original for 1 M, built for 2.5 M, and even get at least 4 M, they still gain. Think of them as developers.. maybe that was their hidden purpose instead of saying they want to downgrade.. Or like others said, it's true maybe because the basement floods all the time and made this forest hill house foundation to be eventually unstable.
The outside design looks better than the old house I think and I don't think there anything wrong with the inside design except for the bathrooms and the sink.. Heck, I would live in this design and this house than many other 'normal' houses in Queens!
Sorry, your scenario doesn't fly.
A house in FHG went for a hell of a lot more than $1M even in 1999.
Why 2 johnny bowls in bathroom, see through shower an bathtub like chicka de stripteas club ?
1. I don't see any photo of a bathroom with two "bowls." There are 2 photos of 2 different bathrooms. The one with the tub actually shows a bidet, and not a toilet.
2. The "see through shower" as you put it is very contemporary and current in bathroom designs. Easy to clean and maintain.
3. The tub is classic and in line with the rest of that bathroom.
Clearly you've never left Ridgewood or Glendale and seen anything with style.
Um, style? The owners themselves brag about the French brothel design. Makes you wonder...
I'll take working class housing in Ridgewood or Glendale anyday. It was built for people with simple, classic tastes. Not pretentious assholes using Queens as a stopover to Manhattan.
The houses in Ridgewood and Glendale also were built to last.
"Sorry, your scenario doesn't fly.
A house in FHG went for a hell of a lot more than $1M even in 1999."
Sorry, but I don't buy YOUR scenario.
Do you have prove of that STATISTICALLY. if so, can you point it out..or is that only based on ONE house you saw out of MANY that cost 2 million in 1999. (btw, hell of a lot more means double the price at least.. even if it's 1.5 million, they made a profit).
There are houses that are less than 1 million in FHG. My coworker bought one for 650k in 2003 and it's pretty big..so how can it be 'hell of a lot more than $1M even in 1999". Where is your stats?
From the look of that house, I don't think it was worth MUCH MORE than 1 million in 1999. If you have hardcore number for that house, I would love to see it so it will settle all rumors and opinions.
"Sorry, your scenario doesn't fly.
A house in FHG went for a hell of a lot more than $1M even in 1999."
Sorry, but I don't buy YOUR scenario.
Do you have prove of that STATISTICALLY. if so, can you point it out..or is that only based on ONE house you saw out of MANY that cost 2 million in 1999. (btw, hell of a lot more means double the price at least.. even if it's 1.5 million, they made a profit).
There are houses that are less than 1 million in FHG. My coworker bought one for 650k in 2003 that is 3500 sq feet .so how can it be 'hell of a lot more than $1M even in 1999". Where is your stats?
From the look of that house, I don't think it was worth MUCH MORE than 1 million in 1999. If you have hardcore number for that house, I would love to see it so it will settle all rumors and opinions.
They haven't sold it. They haven't profited. A house in Queens worth 500K in 1999 is going to go for $6M in a shitty economy? I think not.
From an article on FHG in the Times 6/2010:
"...there are 32 houses on the market right now. In general, Ms. Conway said, town houses cost $1.2 million to $1.6 million, and “right now, it’s a buyer’s market.”
As for free-standing houses, the price range can be quite wide. This average is somewhere around $1.7 million, Mr. Hof said, but they can go much higher; his wife and business partner, Susanna Hof, pointed out that a rare new-construction house on Tennis Place with seven bedrooms and five and a half baths is on the market for $5.9 million. Of the Hofs’ 2010 sales, a Spanish-style house on Olive Place with five bedrooms and a finished basement sold in March for $2.093 million."
So, no one has bought the house since this article was written in June, the price is going to go down-down-down because 1) it's a buyer's market 2) this house is way overpriced and 3) the average price in the Gardens for a large house is $1.7M-$2.
Sounds like a money loser to me!
Immigrant Jews in the "import" business with more money than taste. What a surprise.
OK, lets see pics of the rat holes you people live in and then this discussion can continue. I bet half of you will have a picture of a subway train.
Ostentatious greed. Exactly what's wrong with this country.
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