44 F
New York
Friday, March 29, 2024

New York Real Estate Hiding Right Under Everyone’s Noses

Related Articles

-Advertisement-

Must read

New York may be crowded now but is actually not at historic highs. Subway ridership is steadily declining, and there are more cars than ever taking away huge swaths of public space. There could be more room made for more people if that were truly necessary, like when the city added land to the west side of Manhattan in order to create an extra avenue before tearing it down to build piers, back when ferries were much more common. Another little-known way that people adapted to and took advantage of New York being so crowded around the turn of the 20th century was through the creation of housing hidden behind other housing buildings, according to The New York Post.

If some of the zany apartment and subletting arrangements in the world of high rents, Craigslist, and Airbnb seemed crazy, imagine tenement landlords building entire housing structures hiding in plain sight. The domiciles ranged from small carriage houses to large apartment complexes, oftentimes built and existing without the knowledge or permission of the city. These buildings played an important role in the history of the city and America as immigrants came in through Ellis Island every day and areas like the Lower East Side started getting so cramped that walking down the street for a loaf of bread was challenging. While we can learn and remember from the records and accounts of these buildings, some of them actually still exist, giving us a view into the past during a much different time that wasn’t actually all that long ago.

Greenwich Village is a hip neighborhood that has some hidden treats for those who know where to look, and it’s even where the legendary speakeasy Chumley’s is. Surprising some out-of-town friends by taking them upstairs to a secret bar may be a fun trick, but residents of 112 Waverly Place can take the fun to a whole new level by taking guests to the hidden house in the back of another building. Just about nobody would assume that an old rear home was hiding right behind a nondescript multifamily home in Greenwich Village, which is accessed through a hallway that uses the multifamily building as a portal.

These hidden properties aren’t necessarily glamorous, but the concealed Waverly Place house welcomes guests with a courtyard in front of what The New York Post describes as “a peak-roofed cottage built around 1900 by acclaimed artist Everett Shinn.”

One carriage house hiding in plain sight not far from the Brooklyn Bridge takes cover from one of the oldest houses in Brooklyn Heights. The old house itself can serve as a distraction from what’s hidden behind, but the carriage house hidden in the rear of 24 Middagh St. is listed at a price of $4.3 million, far more money than the original builders and owners of the carriage house could ever imagine the property built between 1790 and 1829 would be worth.

balance of natureDonate

Latest article

- Advertisement -