Name: Susannah and Anthony
Location: Tompkinsville
Size: 2000 sqft living floor, 2000 sqft rental apt on 2nd floor, 2000 sqft ground floor (garage), 1800 sqft basement in a semi-converted 19th century firehouse
Years lived in: 2 years
Anthony grew up in Staten Island but spent most of his adult life in a small rental apartment the East Village. He never envisioned returning to his native island but when he heard about a firehouse for sale, he couldn't resist. Now that he and his family are settled in, and Anthony's sister moved around the corner into a great old Victorian, their mother cannot contain her joy.
Anthony bought the firehouse from a couple who did the city a favor in the late-1970's by adopting the abandoned building. At the time, the city was in a dire budget crisis and could not afford to maintain many of its public real estate holdings. Over time, the former owners did some very rudimentary improvements to the building that makes the place livable today. For Anthony, a skilled woodworker, it is definitely a work in progress. He has grand plans for renovating the space including removing the tiled ceiling, creating two additional bedrooms in the main living space via walls made of custom shelving and redoing the kitchen. He will make all the custom cabinetry in his woodshop in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
For now, Anthony and his wife and child have an unheard of amount of living space for New York City. Conveniently, they have a lot of friends who are artists and work with large scale canvases. Anthony hosts as an impromptu gallery for their work, rotating exhibits according to what's on loan.
Anthony is in for the long-haul and sees every step of the renovation in terms of sustainability. He wants to use renewable resources such as cork for the kitchen floor, reclaimed woods for the cabinetry, and good condition but formerly owned furniture whenever possible. On the roof, he'll install solar panels, a water retention system for collecting grey water to use in the building and in the garden, and build a greenhouse for growing veggies in the winter. It's a major project to undertake, but Anthony is fearless and, for the time being, impressively calm.
He loves living next door to a scaffolding storage yard because he assumes it will be about 30 years before the lot transforms into a luxury hi-rise that obstructs his view. By then, the mortgage will be paid off and he and his family can move on. Meanwhile, well under the radar is a slow wave of Manhattan and Brooklyn transplants finding their own version of paradise in Staten Island — within a 10 minute walk of the ferry terminal! Stay tuned for tours of Anthony's neighbors and for updates on his progress in the firehouse!
AT Survey
Style: NYC firehouse
Inspiration: Big open spaces
Favorite Element: Harbor and Verrazano Bridge views
Biggest Challenge: Open loft living vs. family space planning
What Friends Say: “Do you have a pole?”
Biggest Embarrassment: No poles (they were all stolen in the 1970's during the bldg's abandoned status)
Proudest DIY: Kitchen and millwork (in production)
Biggest Indulgence: The 14-car garage
Best Advice: One person’s trash is another’s treasure.
Dream Source: The scrapyard!
Images: (Jill Slater)
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its definitely way cool. I wish i could live there. but why would you choose to use ceiling tiles for the ceiling? There is so much more potential there!
Wow--big heart, big home!
This is my favorite kind of house tour on AT: a real, lived-in, work-in-progress. I hope you'll keep us posted with updates. Great work.
Thanks so much for sharing.
Great space, love the interior veneer walls. I thought the ceiling tiles were a bit odd as well. Perhaps you needed them for acoustical, or they add some insolation or they were a great deal? Anyway, great that you save this old building and made a nice home for your family.
hate that ceiling ...
Amazing that he has the determination and skill to take on such a project.
The comments about the ceiling are neither constructive nor informed. The write-up and the captions clearly state that the ceiling tiles were not his choice and that he plans to remove them. I can see how that may not be #1 on his to do list.
What a fantastic opportunity for your family! As for the bottom floor - part for parking maybe but definitely turn it into some sort of home workshop for carpentry. How ideal to have everything you need right at home....as for the continual remodel definitely seek out salvaged items from other houses/buildings, such as unique light fixtures and doorknobs....
Very cool space. I can't wait to see what you do with this place! As for myself, I would kill to have that kind of garage space for cars and work and storage.
Oh, and awesome Craigslist scores!
What a great space. I love all of the character in the decor. Well done!
Great space! I dream about finding a govt building with oodles of space and turning it into my dream home. Good luck as the project progresses.
This is a great work-in-progress, and looks great so far. Well done to these two for taking on such a big project and good luck with it. Hope that open-plan living agrees with you, it's not for everyone!
My very first thought was... Euugh, the ceiling! So I was pleased to see that it's soon to be a thing of the (tacky!) past.
Nice car, by the way!!!
Awesome space, but the decor is horrible. Get rid of the drop ceiling and expose the duct work.
He obviously inherited the drop ceiling, and based on the age of the building, demoing it now could put his infant's health at risk. It'll be great when he can take the time to get rid of it and perform any necessary mitigation, but that needs to happen when children are FAR AWAY from the home for as long as it takes to make sure there's no asbestos, lead, or other toxic substances swirling around.
It's a fantastic place! Especially the work in progress aspect of it - I love the fact that it doesn't look too designed. To me the ugly ceiling is made invisible by the wawness of the rest of the space.
I think this space is awesome. I love your woodwork and all the incredible artwork. I'm also really into all the shelving, I think it looks really neat. Good luck, looks like you are on your way to a dream mansion!
It looks so masculine. Did the wife have any input?
I am dying to find an old building and repurpose it as a home. I would love an old schoolhouse, firehouse, warehouse, etc. This post is both inspiring and intimidating. What a lot of work!!
Lovely space. The roof is just dreamy.
The building shows incredible promise. I think the unmentioned challenge will be to find a way to scale the furnishings to such a large space so that it looks less institutional and more coherent.
The only major problem I can see is that they probably should have tackled the ceiling and floors before moving in. They are not minimalists, and doing those two elements is going to require packing up their full lives, moving back out, and then moving back in again. It is much more costly and disruptive to do that later rather than up front before the initial move. Once the ceiling and floors are done, everything else can be done with the family residing there, provided they can handle the noise and chaos.
As Chandler Bing might say, could I be any more jealous? They live in an evocative old industrial building and they have exceptionally exquisite taste in art which makes up for the fact that the spaces are only half renovated. When it's finished this place will be staggering.
They also have irritatingly cool friends:
The hook rug gift was presented in kit form as a wedding present.
How kitschtastic is that? If I gave any bride I know a hook rug kit instead of the standard Le Crueset cookware, they'd never speak to me again :(
I know that firehouse! I went to school with the girl who grew up there before this family moved in. I was so jealous of them when I was a kid. Too bad the poles got stolen. Don't publicize how cool Staten Island is though, let's keep it a secret.
www.grecodeco.com
I would love to live in an old firehouse. Wish you the best of luck with your project.
What a great turn around!
It is amazing what can be done with such an unusual place
Beautifully done!
The furniture projects you have done are fantastic. I am surprised you dont want to make the first floor a workshop or eventually a shop to sell your pieces.
best of luck, you should be proud ...
and your kitty is lovely, too.
What a fantastic project!!!
Of course, I am aching to install rubber flooring everywhere (it is a good renewable source like cork, but much more attractive -- comes in fabulous colours, or you can get the kind that is made of recycled tires).
And fabulous artwork!
You have a beautiful space with so much natural light! Completely envious of such a place in the NYC environs. And that view!!
Yeah, I want a browse through the record collection.
One question - why does the artwork hang below the level of the tv?
Not to take away from my admiration of all you have done - it's truly enviable and you can be proud.
i used to live around the corner from here! tompkins circle & ward hill.
woops, forgot to finish the comment. not exactly around the corner, but up a huge hill nearby lol. i grew up on SI, and its nice to see what you have done with this place. I remember it from when I was a kid...it was in total disrepair. great job, great find! good to see people caring about SI.
and AT, "Under the radar, is a slow wave of Manhattan and Brooklyn transplants finding their own version of paradise in Staten Island"??? IS THIS TRUE? if so, you guys should do a feature on this. SI does have the cheapest rents, most parklands and green spaces out of any of the 5 boroughs. i haven't seen this "slow wave"...probably because i live in the miami area now and only visit SI 2x a year LOL