[Stylo]

On the topic of Court Street:

I Love New Haven

[jesse_f]

I used to live in Brooklyn brownstone and loved it - talk about a solid house. Anyway, I always thought it was odd that there aren't more brownstones in CT, considering that's where the brownstone used in NYC buildings generally came from.

Portland Brownstone Quarries - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/23/ny...ownstones.html

[GazelleCT]

Hi!

This thread, though a few weeks old, is just what I needed!

I currently live in Bethany but work in Hartford and am looking to move closer. There is a house for rent on Columbia St and it looks great inside. I drove by and the street itself looks quite nice as did the neighbors, but the surrounding streets, barred windows, and on-street parking make me nervous.
Obviously you will have some risk living inner-city, but can you all who know the area offer me any advice? I am a 29yo female nurse and my roommate is pretty much the same. Sometimes I come home from work at midnight. We both have dogs. Would it be a bad decision, safety-wise, to consider living here?

Thank you all!

Eliza

[Lalalally]

Originally Posted by eschaton

Hey all,

I grew up in Connecticut, although I haven't lived there for a decade now. I was recently back in Connecticut (New Haven) for work. I absolutely love the rowhouses 0n Court Street in New Haven. I didn't realize Connecticut had any buildings of this style at all (brick, attached, minimal setback, 19th century, etc).

Is there anywhere else in the state where such handsome Victorian (or earlier) urban architecture exists? All I remember seeing in Bridgeport and Hartford when I lived in CT was run-down, ugly, detached wooden houses. Obviously most of the older portions of these cities are blighted anyway, but they generally seemed to have been "born ugly" regardless. Maybe just the nice areas were wiped out during urban renewal however. Still, I do think it's funny Connecticut doesn't have a single "urban" neighborhood left.

I love this type of architecture too! Reminds me of the brownstones I grew up with in the city. p.s. The "stoops" were the best place to meet and catch up on the neighborhood goings on ; )

[Stylo]

Originally Posted by GazelleCT

Hi!

This thread, though a few weeks old, is just what I needed!

I currently live in Bethany but work in Hartford and am looking to move closer. There is a house for rent on Columbia St and it looks great inside. I drove by and the street itself looks quite nice as did the neighbors, but the surrounding streets, barred windows, and on-street parking make me nervous.
Obviously you will have some risk living inner-city, but can you all who know the area offer me any advice? I am a 29yo female nurse and my roommate is pretty much the same. Sometimes I come home from work at midnight. We both have dogs. Would it be a bad decision, safety-wise, to consider living here?

Thank you all!

Eliza

That's an OK area but too close to some nasty ones to recommend for a female that will be coming home late.

Why not look in West Hartford?

[RogerAnthony]

Originally Posted by GazelleCT

Hi!
There is a house for rent on Columbia St and it looks great inside. I drove by and the street itself looks quite nice as did the neighbors, but the surrounding streets, barred windows, and on-street parking make me nervous.
Eliza

I love Columbia Street. The architecture is amazing. I also really enjoy the Frog Hollow neighborhood and Park Street nearby. I have been in that are many times during the day and never felt unsafe. However, a female out at night in that area probably would be risking her safety.

[katnip kid]

Much of the city of Philadelphia has row homes. They usually don't have all the plantings, however. That style is also prevalent in the older towns within about 1 to 2 hours of the city. I know, I know, we are talking about CT, but I wanted to mention it anyway. I have

[missionhill]

OK, so the thing is that New England, in general, did not build row houses. That's a mid-Atlantic thing, very much so. Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Brooklyn, and many smaller cities too (Allentown, Bethlehem, New Castle...) were built up with rowhouses. (They call them brownstones in NY but basically the same thing.) New England always went with the wooden free-standing house. It's just a historical cultural difference. I'm not sure why. That's why the dense 19th century housing in New England cities features the three-decker: they were designed to resemble their single-family cousins. People didn't really want rowhouses, they liked the wooden house with porches and windows all around. The three-family houses do the same thing but at much lower cost per unit. Brick rowhouses were built in Boston and Charlestown because land was so scarce but elsewhere mainly wooden houses.

True that after 100+ years the brick rowhouses and brownstones have better maintained their architectural character than wood frame houses, which are more susceptible to aluminum siding, vinyl siding, and other practical interventions that compromise architectural character.

[Stylo]

Lots of rowhouses in Boston.

[GazelleCT]

I've been looking in West Hartford too, but a lot of what I can afford looks fairly dingy and outdated inside. Whereas this Columbia St house is totally updated and upscale.
Ugh. I'm going to check it out in person on Monday.