a bronx tale
I am thoroughly charmed by the story in today’s New York Times about a young couple who bought a fantastically dilapidated 1896 stone mansion in the middle of the Bronx.
In addition to the gorgeous photos (see the slideshow here), I love the couple’s attitude: They fell in love, not just with the house’s potential, but with its history, listening to the stories told by the 91-year-old owner (“People sometimes knock on the door, Mr. Evers warned them, asking to see inside. ‘I would say it is not a museum, this is my home,” he said. “Kids used to think the house was haunted, and I never discouraged that’ “).
The couple are not just infatuated, but committed. “In terms of creating an inheritance and a legacy, and building a family around something, this would be it,” the wife says. “We would never, ever leave this house.”
They’ve also got an appealingly realistic attitude toward the work that will be involved in the house’s care and maintenance: “Renovation and restoration, including redoing all the wiring and plumbing, will cost at least $200,000, according to estimates, though the Deanses expect to go way over budget. They hope to move in in the spring, but finishing the house ‘will probably take us the rest of our lives,’ Mrs. Deans said.”
