Lester & Agnes' Continental Capsule : Margot of 1939
Real estate never sleeps.
She was listed one week before Christmas in her 79th year. The investment marketplace was holiday-hibernation mode. The competition was cocktailing with out-of office on, meanwhile on 10th Ave the most period-correct original example of a double bungalow we’ve ever seen was listed for sale.
Margot was meant to be. She commanded the care and loving respect of Lester and Agnes for 40 years, only 2 owners since 1939, and her interior evaded the commonly seen abuse and hard usage of rental unit turnover.
It was time to tear the band-aid off so “grip & rip,” we did, executing a daily on-site grueling journey which took her every surface and brought them to a level of finish so warranted by her craftsmanship. Margot was a cherished jewel undercover: wallpaper in nearly every room, shaker kitchens that lacked actual purpose, and worn hardwoods covered in wool shag for the better part of their lives ultimately preserved her bones.
projects like this one aren’t accomplished by armchair-quarterbacks, or monetary-motivated-investors: this was a passionate restoration. One that involved the true dedication of our entire team.
Mitered boxes above and below a chair rail was a curated trim idea from Design in Rare Form. Deidre was shooting for that “Tenenbaum-mood” of storied and trimmed up apartment.
It seems clear that the architect studied the floor plans from the 1915-1929 eras, and was able to create a layout that was more cosmopolitan from the scale and flow perspective.
The lighting spec at Margot was team effort, with Deidre Webster commanding the modern lights, while vintage fill-ins were mainly sourced and repurposed from original 1939 box fitters, the peach cupped five light here was sourced from our supplier Mr. Brass.
The real story behind Ms. Tennenbaum: Enter Agnes & Lester. They took impeccable care as landlords, the garage logic & frugal-farmhand MO was apparent throughout her quarters. At closing, an international harvester inspired homemade radiator bleeder was gifted from Lester to Steve. The light pink 1950’s issue washing machine next to her central gravity boiler served as a reminder of the core foundation of America. (seems light years away from the fast fashion engineered-to-fail appliance market of 2020)
Lester was told by his investor friend that he golfed with, “it’s better to sell your building with one vacant unit.” He proceeded that fall, to give notice to the upper unit, and vacancy was achieved for deed passing to the potential owner occupant. That unit remained vacant for an entire decade, 10 years later, in 2018, Lester finally decided it was time to pass the torch.
This is one of those broker stories, than when shared first hand, you just take it in with a smile, as the basis of for the 40-50 year owner landlord, is such that sometime it warrants a decade long vacancy, just to ensure the flexibility to sell is present, should the day come…
Margot is the absolute textbook example of: “barn-find”, “time-capsule”, “bristol-example”, “well-sorted” original spec late deco era construction.
Her face frames are square & tight.
Her latches grasp their catch with an engineered refinement long gone in residential construction.
Intact original brass hardware is true to each of ten unit doors.
The entry unit doors have the rarely seen jam-sweep option, where a cylinder connects a dropping channeled felt slide, creating a sound and weather barrier under the door sill.
When you strip away the tired finishes, the millwork of the doors went from drab to dreamy.
We would like to thank our trades and design team for pulling off a terrific revival of such a worthy building. Reference our rental page to see availability of the units, as the lower tenants have secured a stately colonial in Lynnhurst, creating a vacancy for a lucky incoming steward- anya@rareformproperties.com for applications and tour scheduling.