The One and Only Original All New and Improved Real Pink Saturday Post

Since we moved to Wooster Square, here in New Haven, I have always been in love with the house that sits opposite us on the square. We knew it had been converted into three apartments - but have never met any of the tenanats, so I was never able to get inside the house. They didn't even come to the front door when I was campaigning for Obama!

Well, the owner passed on, and the inheritor has decided to sell the place! We had our appointment with the real estate agent this afternoon. As we walked across the park, the very first cherry blossoms in the park were starting to pop, so I felt that was a good sign - and the house looks so lovely with all the pink blooms framing it!

This is a shot of the house head-on. It's pink (even pinker than it appears in these photos, since it's a grey overcast day here this afternoon). The trim is a blue that I'm not fond of at all. Even though I like pink, I have always felt this house should be a pale yellow with white trim and gold-leaf accents.
This is the front stairs - notice the absolutely gorgeous cut glass door glass! There is stained glass surrounding the cut glass - but it's the cut glass is really remarkable. Beautiful trims and turnings of course. We also had been told by people who have lived on the square forever that there is a matching staircase in the front hall that goes to the second floor! I was so ready for that!
Look at these magical and enchanting window trims! - and notice that every floor has its own trim design! The first floor has the magnificent cut glass in the windows - but the woodwork on the second floor and lower level are also nothing short of heavenly.
So - why no pictures of the incredible interiors? Because there was nothing to take pictures of. The place has been utterly desecrated by tacky contractors in the 1960's. Although the outside is pristine and in almost perfect historical condition, the inside has been subdivided in bizarre ways; the 18 foot (!) ceilings dropped to 9 foot ceilings; all the interior trims have either been removed or covered over; all the floors were covered over with linoleum; and, finally, every fireplace that had ever been in the home has been removed. Frankly, it doesn't look a lot different on the INSIDE than a college dormitory. The apartments look exactly like 1960's mass produced apartment buildings and there is nothing special about them at all - except that they are housed in this astounding exterior.

So, alas, we won't be putting up everything we own as collateral for a mortgage we would have until six months after we're both dead. The place is being sold as an income property (i.e. a gazillion dollars) - but it would take three more of the same amount to return the place to its former glory.

Oh - the interior staircase was also removed ... there are now two dividing walls down the center of the entrance hall, creating a hallway to access the apartments. Oh - there's not three apartments - there are SIX apartments.

Well, I guess the good thing about it is I don't have to worry about how to pay for - and then furnish! - the place! Or heat it. Or cool it. Or pay for upkeep.

Really - who wants to live in an extravagant, lavish, exquisite mansion anyway?!

I'm going to make something nice - why don't you, too?!