We've noticed this house before on walks from our neighborhood up to Diesel Books. A few weeks ago, Anton noticed that it is for sale! Since we're interested in storefronts and potential live-work spaces, we took a gander. Turns out, the owner is an 80 year old former architect, who, after a quick lunch trip to Wendy's, gave us a very long tour. The bones of the lower storefront building (1918) are wonderful--beautiful details, big windows, and a lot of character. It is divided into three living units--studios and a one-bedroom. They have high ceilings, but are in terrible condition--and are victims of awful architectural interventions by the owner (think lofts with 4 foot high ceilings in which you can't sit up in bed). Bathrooms are molding away into dust. But as ever-optimistic young architects, we somehow look past the dank falling apart-ness, and see a big skylit woodshop, a brightly lit corner design studio, and a cozy one bedroom with a woodstove.
And upstairs...
Atop this charming if tumbling-down building sits a 1920s-era bungalow--according to the owner, that was moved from another part of town and raised up to sit on top of the roof--before he bought it. Incredible! Bizarre! The house is awful, its a mystery how its being supported, and there are no end of cheap, non-permitted add-ons to the original bungalow. All are decrepit and have what one of our realtor friends refers to as 'delayed maintenace' issues. Still, when one follows the creaky owner up the pull-down stairs to one of the additions, and comes to a framed-in attic with views of the hills, its easy to forget the decay below and think only of possibilities.
Just in: price reduced from $700K to $550...
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