St. James Place — Clinton Hill Blog: Archives from the Neighborhood

One of my other fav streets in the 'nabe is one I just recently discovered: St. James Place. I happened upon it one evening while walking Mallow and following a sign for an open house. The signs led me to this house:

Looks kinda crappy, right? Well, if they weren't asking close to a mil for it, I might actually try to scrape up the cash to see if I could buy it. While I've always had the pipe dream to someday own a brownstone, lately I've been pining for a unique-looking house to gut and really make my own. Look what these people down the street did with their narrow houses:

Love it.

Since I first happened upon this place, I've been walking there every few days. The buildings there are really unique and dynamic, and many of then are still in disrepair.

Take this beauty - who ever thought it was a good idea to put siding on urban homes? And let's not even analyze the 10 million awnings. With a total renovation, this could be a palace.

Or this home, with the gorgeous stoop that's been painted over a zillion times (but obviously not recently). Picture it with a little love and some modern planters or carved pumpkins at Halloween time.

There are certainly people who have begun renovating and restoring here, but it still seems quiet and under-the-radar. I always feel like I should be tip-toeing down the sidewalk.

Most ironically though, is the fact that this is the street where the Notorious B.I.G. illegedly grew up! I'm pretty sure this is still Clinton Hill technically. Either he wanted more 'cred' to his name, or the mad shadiness crept over into CH back then and it didn't matter where Bed-Stuy started.