Tasteful friends: Who doesn't like a porte-cochère? 1899 Schenectady NY house $485,000

The listing

Playing fields = Fraternity Row

Add at least $250K to bring it up to scratch. I shudder to think how much it costs to heat during the winters there.

That woodwork looks like a knock-off from the entry/foyer of my fraternity house. At least our house was designed by Julia Morgan.

Dark and depressing.

How much does Kevin Spacey have left?

Was it a frat house? I expected it to be worse, though I spy one room with the ceiling falling down. The wood is mostly in better shape than it could be. The exterierir and interior all needs a power washing and be humidified and oiled. I suppose the electrical and heating is ancient. It would make a lovely house filled with students, that is for sure.

Do you call a sorority a sore?

I think not, sir.

Looks haunted and probably is.

The property has potential once you’d scrap all of that ginger bread, give it a good coat of white paint.

Me, too, R3.

I'll be praying for her 🤲

All that mill work needs to be stripped and refinished. What strikes me is how piss poor the photography is. Cell phone camera with a dirty lens is no way to present a house in that price bracket.

Thirty seconds of improving a listing picture on an iPhone

Where’s the Ferrari?

I don’t think the photo at R14 is an improvement. It’s washed out and it’s harder to see details. A house that age with unpainted oak paneling is going to feel heavy and dark. I’m not fooled by that photo.

R15 - A guy I know sold his 7 Ferraris to buy a monster house and turned it into a luxe small hotel. It's still open and doing well after 20 something years.

In bumfuck NYS?

Call Charlotte Vale!

She’ll transform that old gloomy bastion of yesteryear into a swell place for guests..and weenies roasts!

R18 - If you are replying to R17, no. It was in the same city where he had been a SVP of a huge international firm and there was an instant and continuous need for housing senior executives for meetings.

The bad chi in that monstrosity would wilt my potherbs and loosen my teeth.

Great old house. I’m crazy about the fantastic entry hall with that terrific staircase. When I was a kid, I used to fantasize about living in a sprawling Victorian house like that, instead of a three-room apartment in Queens.

One of the things I loved about living in Albany/Troy NY was the amazing architecture everywhere . My late partners brother rented the entire ground floor of a gorgeous Victorian row house in Troy . Everything was intact . The woodwork ,leaded glass ,stained glass plaster work ,even the wallpaper was intact ! I was agog,they were all like "meh' . I guess if you see it all the time it sorta fades into the background . Had my husband not starting getting sick we were seriously thinking of buying this darling little red brick Victorian (with the original glass solarium intact ! ) but I kept resisting settling down because I absolutely loathed the winters with a passion . I had hoped something would happen to change our trajectory but I never dreamed of MS then a stroke 2 years later . I couldnt pack up and flee back to Florida fast enough . I was grieving but god was I glad it was over and I was free of the frozen north !

Easy access to the Troy bathhouse?

[quote]All that mill work needs to be stripped and refinished. What strikes me is how piss poor the photography is. Cell phone camera with a dirty lens is no way to present a house in that price bracket.

Indeed; they look like crime scene photos. You have expect to see a dead body in the bath tub.

I've always wanted to live in an old home like this, but unless you're quite rich (or insane), the practicalities of trying to heat/cool a big house like this are just impractical. Never mind the sorry state of the plumbing or the insufficient and dodgy electrical wiring....

R24, I was thinking of visiting RSC in Troy this coming Sunday...

You do that…report back.

(r24) Not far at all - 24 minutes

A big house like that doesn't need that much cooling in Schenectady. You can air condition a few rooms if you must with window units. I lived one summer in a huge victorian that was half stone, in Ithaca. It was hot out but the house had a giant ventilation fan the size of an old airplane propeller in the attic. You kept windows closed from 10am until 8 pm or sunset. Then you could open windows and turn on the fan. Outside air would rush through all the windows of the big house and out the attic. The house became evening hair temperature. then turn the fan down, for slower air change. the it was programmed to come on again at 5 or 6 in the morning to take in the coolest air. Meanwhile if you wanted a cold bedroom, a window unit was fine.

Heating was yes, another issue, I'm sure. This house could be newly insulated where necessary and have good storm windows installed. it would all take money. Probably needs to be rewired. It's a solid house with many more years to live if someone bothers to fix it up.

R4 = FAG

True dat, Matt. Also true that I lived in a Julia Morgan house. And I worked in a Julia Morgan building.

Money pit. You’ll end up spending a million dollars and you’ll still be in Sc . . Sk.. in the middle of nowhere.

But at least all the attractions of Albany are only 20 miles away. Very handy if you need to see the Governor.

Sink another $450,000 into it.

As for heating in the winter, you'd have to do what they did way back when -- close off part of the house.

All its missing is Big Edie and Little Edie. And a few dozen racoons.

I don't understand how places like this get to such a state of disrepair. I did a Google street view of the blocks around it - a lot of nicer homes but many in the same condition. It's right across the street from a college too.

Looks like it's a 3 hour train ride to NYC.

Hard pass.

Nobody is suggesting a this House to a NYC commuter, hun. How do places fall into disrepair? America's unfair income distribution.

It is dark with bad energy. Why is it in such disarray? Was someone squatting there?

The cone roof on the turret is in bad proportion, surely is not original, weakens the visual strength of the turret, and should be removed. Otherwise I rather like the exterior's appearance; proper landscaping would serve it well. Setting aside practical considerations already mentioned (heating, etc.), with deep pockets, aesthetic sense of the original period down to the smallest details, and no hurry, it's an opportunity which could be capitalized upon as an adventure.

Depends on how much water and rot has set in.

Ditto-Crime scene photos.

‘This used to be a very tasteful neighborhood but it’s gotten so run down I’m afraid to go out at night’’

The hints of the unseen damage are a total turn off.