BLOOMFIELD STREET
Elizabeth and Dean Gels had been living in California for 10 years when Dean’s job situation necessitated a move to the East Coast. A former banker, he and Elizabeth now work full time on their business, Hudson Alpaca (hudsonalpaca.dom), a clothing line made from Alpaca fiber. Using sustainable practices and ethical principles, they manufacture the products in Peru.
Elizabeth was pregnant at the time they were looking or a place in Hoboken, so it was Dean who worked with Coldwell Banker’s Jill Biggs of The Jill Biggs Group to find a home.
The town had everything they were looking for.
“Hoboken people are very friendly; they say ‘Hi’ in the street,” Elizabeth says. “It’s nice, you can walk everywhere, and everything’s close. You can leave the house, and restaurants, stores, everything is close by.”
They love to go to Napoli’s because it’s kid-friendly. “It’s right around the corner, and the kids love the pizza,” Elizabeth says. “We love Hoboken, and we don’t want to move again.”
The couple told Jill that they wanted a house with a backyard—their kids are ages 3 and 4. “We enjoy urban living, but we still wanted a house,” Elizabeth says. “Jill was helpful. She showed us a bunch of houses. We liked the house we ended up buying. It had a lot of potential.”
What she means by potential is that they wanted to modernize part of it, while maintaining the integrity of a classic 1892 brownstone. That meant retaining the medallions in the 14-foot ceilings, according to Dean.
The building has three floors with a kitchen, four baths, two living rooms, dining room, and three bedrooms.
“The house was in pretty good condition,” Elizabeth says. “We made the first-floor kitchen all modern and kept the original details on the other two floors.”
It has four fireplaces, two of which work electrically.
The family moved to a Shipyard apartment for six months while the house was being remodeled.
“It was worth it,” Elizabeth says. “We like the fact that we have a nice backyard with green trees all around. From the kitchen, you can see the backyard. Our neighbors have kids. Our backyard goes to theirs. The kids are not watching TV. They’re actually playing with other kids, and I’m happy about that.”
When you see the place in person, a lot of Elizabeth’s description sounds like understatement. Let’s start with that “modern” kitchen. It’s actually huge and quite spectacular. You can tell they’d been living in California. Brownstones can often be dark, but this kitchen is light in color and lets in tons of natural light through the back sliding doors and through two sizeable skylights.
And yes, it does lead to the backyard. I visited in mid-summer. It has a super-size barbecue grill and a very neat kids’ playground. A big shade tree forms the centerpiece surrounded by “grass,” which turned out to be very real-looking Astroturf. The yard is surrounded by a high wooden fence.
A large dining room awaits the time when their kids are more “civilized” diners. Dean points out that the banisters and newel post leading to the second and third floors are all original wood. On the second floor is a parlor with a bar and a guest room. On the third floor each kid has a bedroom, and the three-year-old girl’s “princess” bedroom has its own bath. Elizabeth and Dean’s bedroom is also on the third floor, with an attached bath.
The one thing left to do is renovate the basement. “It’s going to be a playroom,” Liz says.
“Or a man cave,” Dean says.
PARK STREET
Martin and Lauren Bristow were perfectly happy at their Washington Street apartment until they decided they wanted more room, including outdoor space.
In 2003 they found a brownstone on Park that they fell in love with. The structure was perfect. “We loved the bones of it, and it had a lot of potential for expanding at some point down the road,” Lauren says. “We loved being uptown where it’s more residential.” Again the two of them were happy living there the way it was—until their first daughter was born. They have two daughters, ages 9 and 2.
They modernized and updated the house, doing a very extensive gut renovation, expanding on all four floors, including a finished basement.
Between 2007 and 2008 they moved to Jersey City Heights while the renovations were being done.
Like most folks who buy brownstones, the Bristows love the traditional Victorian details. Their house was built in 1901 and has the classic molding and stained glass. “We appreciate something that has some history,” Lauren says. “A modern place is not our style.”
Most people are familiar with the brownstone style—vertical rather than horizontal, usually on about four floors with small rooms that are sometimes dark.
“It was great for a couple living there,” Lauren says. “But we were thinking of having more than one child and needed additional, bigger rooms for them.”
The house has an eat-in kitchen and a dining room on the first floor, with a very open floor plan. There’s a garden in the back. The second floor has two bedrooms and two walk-in closets and a bathroom. The third floor has two bedrooms, a library, and a full bath. In the basement is a room that could be used for an office or bedroom; a playroom; utility room; and full bath.
Martin, who works in IT, is a native of England and had been living in the boonies in New Jersey. He couldn’t wait to get to an urban environment. Lauren, who works in marketing and advertising, is from upstate New York. She agreed. “He definitely wanted to be near the excitement of the city,” Lauren says. “At the time we had a lot of other friends who had settled in the area. They were drawn to Hoboken for that reason; they didn’t love the suburbs.”
Like a lot of people, Lauren had college friends who had moved to Hoboken. “I came to be with friends and capitalize on what Hoboken had to offer,” she says.
Both Martin and Lauren work in the city, so Hoboken is conveniently located for their commute. “We love everything,” Lauren says. “The development on the waterfront is incredible for everybody. We ride bikes in the parks around the waterfront. The bars and restaurants are great.
“For the last couple of years,” she says, “we’ve been taking it all in, enjoying the neighborhood. It’s very much of a community. We feel like we have neighbors who are good friends.”—07030