Lancaster, Pa. | $725,000
A circa-1900 eclectic brick house with seven bedrooms, three full bathrooms and two half bathrooms, on a 0.3-acre lot
This property is in School Lane Hills, a neighborhood about a mile west of the city of Lancaster, so it is within walking distance of Lancaster Central Market, the Fulton Theatre and numerous shops and restaurants. It is a few blocks south of Buchanan Park and the campus of Franklin & Marshall College. Wheatland, the Federal-style house to which President James Buchanan retired after failing to prevent the United States from descending into civil war, is a mile down the road (you can visit the house virtually during the pandemic).
Size: 4,514 square feet
Price per square foot: $161
Indoors: The sellers renovated the house in two phases, followed by updates. In the first phase, from 2002 to 2010, they concentrated on the first-floor public rooms and a second-floor bedroom and study, removing century-old wallpaper, repairing plaster, refinishing floors and cleaning, restoring or replacing period glass, built-ins and lighting. They also did roof repairs, painted interior and exterior woodwork, and renovated the entire third floor.
From 2012 to 2013, they got really serious and renovated five bedrooms, two bathrooms, the sunroom, the grand stairway and the kitchen (with breakfast room). They also rebuilt all three rear entrances, enclosed a porch and a balcony, and landscaped three sides of the house, adding a stone retaining wall and 45 arborvitae trees. They estimate their total renovation investment at more than $500,000.
The entrance is through a deep, covered, wraparound porch, into a vestibule ornamented with chestnut wood and leaded glass, a recurring theme. The foyer that follows has a chestnut fireplace with a tiled surround and hearth and chestnut columns supporting the mirrored overmantel (additional columns introduce the grand chestnut staircase). Turning left upon entering takes you into a living room that has a fireplace with a marble surround. Beyond that is a library with a bay window and floor-to-ceiling shelving. And beyond that is a formal dining room with a paneled wainscot and a crystal chandelier. All of these rooms can be closed off with pocket doors.
Italian marble covers the floor, and granite covers the countertops, in the updated kitchen. The cabinetry is Shaker simple and includes a central island with a sink and dishwasher. A commercial-grade Viking range is tucked into a niche. The breakfast room — effectively a sunroom — is also connected to the dining room (the subfloor here and in the kitchen is heated). A half bathroom is next to a rear staircase.
The second-floor bedrooms extend along a hallway and occupy either end. The primary bedroom includes a bay window, window seat and double closets. Another roomy bedroom has a curved wall of windows. A third bedroom, also spacious, opens to a sunroom. A fourth is fitted out as an office with extensive built-ins, including a closet converted into an inset bookcase. All of these rooms have hardwood floors, doors with transom windows and folding shutters. Of the two hall bathrooms, one has marble floors, a large stained-glass window and a marble counter with double sinks; the second contains a soaking tub.
Two additional large bedrooms, separated by a sitting room, are on the third floor, along with full bathroom. The basement includes a laundry room, a half bathroom and direct access to the rear garden.
Outdoor space: A wrought-iron gate encloses the deep front lawn with its arborvitae border. Additional grassy areas and plantings are in back, along with a detached one-car garage with a matching flared roof.
Taxes: $14,923 (based on a tax assessment of $404,500)
Contact: Anne Lusk, Lusk & Associates Sotheby’s International Realty, 717-291-9101; sothebysrealty.com
New York, N.Y. | $750,000
A one-bedroom, one-bathroom condo in a circa-1900 brownstone on the Upper West Side
The 11 units in this ornate brownstone building are staggered on half floors, and each occupies its own level. This unit is at the front, a flight and a half up from the entrance and facing West 84th Street to the south. The American Museum of Natural History and two subway stations are five minutes away on foot. Restaurants, cafes and shops are strung along nearby Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues. And a highly rated zoned public elementary school is half a block from the front door.
Size: 385 square feet
Price per square foot: $1,948
Indoors: The living-and-dining room has hardwood floors and an exposed-brick wall with open shelving constructed with pipes and boards. At one end is a south-facing window bay; at the other, a galley kitchen with tile floors, wood cabinets, granite countertops and stainless steel appliances.
A rolling ladder takes you up to a sleeping loft above the kitchen and adjacent bathroom (which includes a small vanity and sink and a combined tub and shower).
The bedroom is a windowed 9-by-8-foot room off the living room; it has a closet but currently lacks a door. Free laundry facilities are in the building’s basement.
Outdoor space: This home is less than a block from Central Park, near the 86th Street transverse, a couple of exceptional playgrounds, the Arthur Ross Pinetum and the Great Lawn.
Taxes: $8,700, plus a monthly $506 homeowner fee
Contact: Kimberly Chestone, Compass, 973-670-5536; compass.com
Savannah, Ga. | $750,000
A two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo in an 1873 brick building overlooking Troup Square
Paul Marcarelli, an actor and screenwriter known for asking, “Can you hear me now?” in Verizon Wireless TV ads, has owned this condo with his husband, Ryan Brown, since 2017. The home also has the distinction of being across the street from the Unitarian Universalist Church associated with the composition of “Jingle Bells” (a long and complicated story that involves competing claims from Medford, Mass.).
The building, which has five units, is smack in the middle of the historic district, a couple of blocks from the writer Flannery O’Connor’s childhood home and less than half a mile northeast of Forsyth Park. It is an easy walk from there to the campus of Savannah College of Art and Design.
Size: 1,400 square feet
Price per square foot: $536
Indoors: One enters through a private street door and climbs a flight of marble stairs to reach the second-floor unit. French doors lead into a living room with original heart-pine floorboards, a fireplace with a neo-Classical mantel and a second set of French doors opening to a covered balcony overlooking East Charlton Street. The balcony, which is framed by a brick arch, can also be entered from an adjacent kitchen and dining area with wood cabinets, marble countertops and wood knobs and pulls. (As specified by the apartment’s decorator, Kelly Woodton of New Jersey, the gray-and-green palette was meant to evoke grand country-house kitchens from the Victorian and Edwardian eras.)
On the opposite side of the foyer is a double closet with a stacked washer and dryer, followed by the bedroom wing. The guest room, staged here as an office, has heart-pine floors, marine-blue walls with white trimming and three sash windows with shutters. The guest bathroom, which opens from the hall, includes a tiled tub-and-shower combination. The primary bedroom is white with wood floors and includes a private balcony overlooking Troup Square, an en suite bathroom with a walk-in shower faced in glossy dark-green subway tile and a windowed, walk-in closet.
Outdoor space: Every square in Savannah has its own night for socializing, and Troup Square’s is Thursday. The little park is distinguished by its armillary sphere, which alludes to the cosmos and is supported by six tortoise sculptures. It also has a drinking fountain for dogs.
Taxes: $6,105 (2019, based on a tax assessment of $483,400), plus a monthly $371 homeowner fee
Contact: Staci M. Donegan, Seabolt Real Estate, Christie’s International Real Estate, 912-247-2052; stacidonegan.idxbroker.com
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Source: | This article originally belongs to Nytimes.com
