Hot Properties
It was recently announced that the Tribeca firehouse famous for starring in Ghostbusters is about to get vacated (along with 19 others) due to budget cuts. With news like this in New York City, thoughts turn immediately to real estate: what can be done with this newly available space?
Anderson Cooper paid $4.3 million in 2009 for a circa-1906 firehouse in New York City’s Greenwich Village. The four-story, 8,240 square-foot space (pictured here) still had the fire poles at the time of purchase, but by October, at least one pole had been removed, a fact known because Cooper’s interior decorator fell through the hole then promptly sued. Other than that, it’s not known what the inside of Coop’s firehouse looks like.
However, with photos supplied by Trulia.com, we can offer glimpses into other converted firehouses to show the creative ways they’ve been adapted into residences. Firehouses are a no-brainer for city dwellers who can afford them: they’re unique, spacious, and you are guaranteed ceilings high enough to drive a truck through (at least on the ground level). Plus, if you’re lucky, there’s a fire pole. Click ahead for a look at what some other firehouse owners before Cooper have done.
By Colleen Kane
Posted May 26, 2011
8 Carmel Street, San Francisco, CA
Year Built: 1909
Bedrooms/ Baths: 3/3.5
Square Footage: 2,797
Price: $1,895,000
For the past ten years, the former Engine # 40 has served as two townhouses. The space currently on the market and depicted here is the front half of the building, and includes the original firehouse doors and fire pole. The upstairs master suite has an outdoor patio and views of the downtown skyline, bay and Golden Gate Bridge.
113 East 90th Street, New York, NY
Year Built: 1915
Bedrooms/ Baths: 9 rooms
Square Footage: 5,250
Price: $10,995,000
The property for sale detailed above is one of two units in this former firehouse building. Located in Carnegie Hill, the townhome is zoned for mixed use, it has three entrances, sizeable garden, plus a Manhattan rarity, an outbuilding: a stand-alone two-story ivy-covered stable.
3816 22nd Street, San Francisco CA 94114
Year Built:1906
Bedrooms/ Baths: 4/4.5
Square Footage: 5,814
Price: $4,250,000
This building was a firehouse until 1959 and recently underwent an extensive renovation. Now, concealed behind the traditional exterior and original copper doors, is four floors of modern space with a wine cellar, elevator, reclaimed lumber staircase, a home spa, heated tile floors. The observatory tower offers 360-degree views.
124 Dekalb Avenue, Brooklyn, NY
Year Built: 1925
Bedrooms/ Baths: 9 rooms
Square Footage: 5,775
Price: $3,300,000
The former Engine Company 256 is another example of a firehouse divided into a two-family residence. It was once the site of Brooklyn filmmaker Spike Lee’s Forty Acres & a Mule production company, in the era of the films Jungle Fever, Do The Right Thing, Mo' Better Blues, X, and Crooklyn.
2715 22nd Street Northeast, Washington, DC
Year Built: 1910
Square Footage: 7,000+
Price: $1,000,000
This wood and stucco structure’s past includes two popular types of home conversions—first it was a firehouse, then it served as a church, but now it’s zoned for residential use.
301 South Magnolia Avenue, Tampa, FL
Year Built: 1911
Bedrooms/ Baths: 1/1
Square Footage: 3,234
Price: $1,595,000
This is a different kind of firehouse repurposing. In this case, the living space is a second-floor penthouse apartment, whereas the first floor has been left as a garage area for a car collection. The courtyard features mature trees and an upgraded sound system.
1406 Harvard Avenue, Seattle, WA
Year Built: 1908
Bedrooms/ Baths: 2/2.25
Square Footage: 2,307
Price: off the market
This single-family firehouse residence in Seattle’s Central Business District melds a charming, turn-of-last-century brick exterior with modern design interiors.
229 Oak Street, San Francisco, CA
Year Built: 1913
Price: $1,412,500/ off the market
This recently-sold single-family residence in San Francisco’s Hayes Valley has wood and plaster interiors (and furnishings, as depicted here) that are the most like a traditional house of any of the others in this slideshow.
182 Walnut Street, Wellesley, MA
Year Built: 1903
Bedrooms/ Baths: 2/ 2
Square Footage: 1891
Price: $549,000/ off the market
The former Hose 3 was converted into three modern condos in 2006, and Unit 3, detailed here, features exclusive access to the engine house’s lookout post, with views of town and countryside. That unit also has exclusive access to a landscaped yard with bluestone patio, first-floor 14-foot ceilings, marble counters, cherry cabinets, high-end appliances, hardwood floors, a cedar closet and lots of storage space.
625 North 13th Street, Philadelphia, PA
Square Footage: 5,000
In 2007 this structure, which began as a trolley maintenance garage, then became a firehouse, was transformed to its third identity as an owner-occupied residence and rental loft. The 5,000 square-foot space now features an observation deck over the living room, reclaimed lumber, and the attic was opened into a mezzanine.