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C.F.Brauer house up for auction in September
The C.F.Brauer house will be up for auction on September 14, 2012 at 11AM:
Welcome to the Charles F. Brauer house on Union Hill. Union Hill is a Federal Historic District and the Brauer home is the crown jewel of Union Hill. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Maude Johnson, who ran the Jefferson Park Manor seniors facility, for preserving this Richmond architectural gem so beautifully. The stained glass windows, the pocket doors, art glass fireplace surrounds, wood trim, tin ceiling and front columns are unspoiled , fine examples of Queen Anne Victorian living in Richmond at the turn of the 20th century. You can see the Germanic influence in the accents and trim work.
This home was custom constructed for local confectioner Charles F. Brauer and his family atop Union Hill, affording a view of the city skyline , Union Hill Park at your front door, and convenience to downtown sights and sounds. There is ready access to Shockoe history and eateries, and the ever expanding riverfront development with marinas, walking and biking trails and Rocketts Landing. Walk just 1/4 mile to the Amtrak station. It’s no secret that development has nowhere to go but East of the City and this location is prime for 21st century living/working/playing.
The construction stands the test of time, consisting of THREE layers of brick—two red brick layers covered over by the exterior white egg-speckled brick layer that we see from the street. Plaster walls throughout Ceilings are 13’ downstairs and 11’ up. The front columns were likely bored by Tredegar Ironworks foundry, where canons were fabricated. In addition to the two main living levels, there are 3rd floor former maids quarters with original tin ceiling, and a partial basement, home to the hot water heater and the new Lochinvar boiler installed by Kelleher.
The invisible, expensive renovation components have been completed, to the tune of $189,000~ records have been kept and Federal, State and City Historic tax credits are in place:
– New front porch
– Bricks re-pointed to arrest moisture damage to interior plaster
– Updated electric- 2 electric panel boxes with breakers
– Working radiators throughout powered by a new Lochinvar Knight gas heating boiler w/20 yr warranty installed by Kelleher ($16,000 high efficiency unit)
– Kitchen area floor jacked up and leveled
– Old black iron plumbing pipes replaced with PVC
– Full stained glass restoration on one large panel
– Interior wood trim replaced where needed with hand-milled replicas
The house was for sale in December 2011.
Not sure where I heard this but possible either they were mixed up or mixed up the houses and said the Schwarzschild family lived there too at one point?
I had also heard a story about the current owner had tried to do some restoration, was robbed of tools and shot in the house while working, then just gave up doing any more to it?
And the house was full of stained glass windows – removed and stored I hope since most are gone now from what we can tell from streetside.
Eric
starting bid?
I hope the starting bid is more realistic than the asking price was when they listed a while back. Given the amount of work remaining and the fact that this is so close to Mosby, I don’t see it going for more than $400K.
My guess is it would be worth $500-600K fully restored but will fetch about $350-375K as is. It’s a beautiful home, near a park but most of the people with the ability to spend much more than $300-400 aren’t keen on fixers uppers or living near a project. They’re lucky if they can find one who is ok with both and it would take two of them to go higher at an auction setting.
The MLS pics show the stained glass windows. I heard that the owner got sick and ran out of money – nowhere near as much drama as getting shot and robbed! 🙂
It’s listed at almost 600K on Trulia.
Original sash windows are still intact; behind the plywood for safe keeping. Beautiful stained glass accent windows also intact; behind plywood for safety.
Neither owner or her crew were ever “held up” or had “tools stolen”. That’s fiction.
Owner has decided to not complete the restoration due to personal health issues which have nothing to do with the house.
She’s a beauty of a house, with attractive R63 zoning (its on a corner 🙂 Excited about the auction and hope we have new neighbors soon!
From a conversation last year we heard the owner had gotten very sick (brain tumor?) and could not continue the renovation.
The the story of someone coming in to steal tools and the owner catching them then being shot was an urban legend? 🙂
I hope that the new owners will try and restore to proper original looks and not sell off the stained glass to put clear modern windows in. It is one of the few old “mansions” left in the area.
A house a block over, also on the park, had a “stolen tools and shooting incident” back in 2005:
Arrest in shooting at 21st and Clay
/2005/12/20/arrest-in-shooting-at-21st-and-clay_287/
Thanks John… this isn’t close by the Princess Anne area but could have been the mix-up people were thinking about? Time is about right.
Well, it is sorta Princess Anne area and looking online at the house I believe this is the one people are thinking of about the robbery and the owner quiiting work on. Is also a large brick house and thought it too had stained glass and this one may be the one missing it now?
This is such a beautiful house. I’m excited about the prospect of seeing it inhabited again. I know the people that had been working on it were doing quality work.
Old gem in Union Hill to be sold at auction
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/local-news/2012/sep/07/tdbiz03-biz-to-go-old-gem-in-union-hill-to-be-sold-ar-2184915/
Toured it this AM. It is a grand place but the interior is still very far to go. Stained glass is intact in places and the floors are in reasonably good shape throughtout.
On the to do front: some plaster work needed, kitchen is gutted to studs and subfloor, bathrooms are all in pretty drab shape and need complete renovations. Top floor needs some work and most bedrooms could use a closet addition. Whole place could use some cosmetic touching up and there did look to be some termite damage near one of the windows so some of the window frames might need carpentry work.
Overall the house still felt very solid but to do it justice and make it shine will be quite a project. I’m guessing somewhere in the 300s still.
I have to agree with Alex on this one. Even 300’s may be a stretch for this property. It is stacked with negatives. First and probably most important is its proximity to a project. You won’t find many folks willing to open their wallets to $500-600k to live next to a project. Location, location, location couldn’t be more true in this case.
From what Alex describes, this home may be about $200k away from being complete. Only a high-end reno will make it in that price range. The kitchen alone would suck up $100k.
The comps in the area don’t support any $500, 600 or 700k homes…there’s not a one. This will be challenging if not impossible for financing in this environment. So, now we’re down to the cash buyers who are willing to front the cash only to have to fork out another $200k for a reno. Construction loan…tough to do because of the comps for even a finished project in that neighborhood. The numbers just don’t work. The only way that I think this deal could work is to find a cash buyer and a low price, apply for historic tax credits to fund the reno. Bottom line, this home will have to appraise for the total investment price at the end of the reno. My opinion is that it will be next to impossible to get financing and make the numbers work for a sale price of much more than 200k. Even with this house in a completed state, it may not appraise for much more than 400…and that’s high.
Bottom, line it needs a special buyer who just falls in love with the property, who will be content to just break even or lose money on th reno, and will be content to live next to a project.
“Bidding started at $500,000. But there was only one bid and it was for $110,000, said Linda Terry, the auctioneer with Tranzon Fox.”
Old house draws a lot of interest, but no serious bidders
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/business/2012/sep/15/tdbiz03-old-house-draws-a-lot-of-interest-but-no-s-ar-2206929/
Starting at $500K is delusional. $110K is pretty lowball but probably closer to what it’s worth. Holding an auction on Friday morning is a dumb idea. Most of your prospective buyers will be working then.
Ouch! I really feel for the owner of this property; I suspect this will be an expensive lesson that won’t end well. It appears that she made a purely emotional decision to purchase this house for $395K and sink another $100K in renovations into it. I doubt she sought or listened to a professional about her plan.
This house could be the most fabulous restored gem in the city yet, it will never hold significant value. A house is only worth what a buyer will pay for it…there’s probably a fraction of a percent of the market that would consider this property at this price. There’s no market for it. If the city bulldozed all of those projects behind this place; the whole street would have a much better shot at real value.
The projects are like a noose around the neck sucking the life out of any of the beautiful homes on Princess Anne. It’s really a shame since beautiful homes need significant renovations to keep them viable over time. Because of the projects, very few will be willing to invest serious $ here.