Glendale runs along Myrtle Avenue and Cooper Avenue in long blocks of brick row houses and frame two-families, with the cemeteries on one side and Forest Park on the other. The houses are older than they look from the street, with narrow bathrooms, kitchens at the back and basements that have been "finished" once already with paneling and drop ceilings. We rebuild those spaces to current standards, and we are close: Glendale is a few minutes from the shop by way of Woodhaven Boulevard.

The housing

Two- and three-story brick row houses on the streets between Myrtle Avenue and Cooper Avenue, built in the early 1900s with shared party walls and railroad-style layouts. Frame and brick two-families with front porches toward Forest Park and the Ridgewood line. Newer attached houses near Atlas Park and along 80th Street. Lots are narrow, so kitchens are often widened by moving a pantry or closet rather than a wall, and bathrooms are stacked on one stack serving both floors.

What we are asked to do here

  • Kitchen Remodeling: Back-of-house kitchens in the row houses off Myrtle Avenue, re-planned to add counter space and a proper range hood vented outside.
  • Basement Finishing: Replacing 1970s paneling and drop ceilings with insulated, properly lit family rooms and laundry areas under two-families near Cooper Avenue.
  • Tile and Flooring: Hardwood refinishing alternatives and new plank flooring through whole floors of narrow row houses, with subfloor leveling first.

Permits and building rules

Glendale is almost all privately owned houses, so there are no boards; the DOB is the only approver. Plumbing, gas and electrical changes need permits pulled by licensed trades, which we coordinate, and any change to a bearing wall needs a plan filed by an engineer or architect. In the row houses, work that touches the party wall or the shared stack calls for a conversation with the neighbor, and we handle that early. Basement conversions to living space follow the city's basement rules; we measure ceiling height and egress before promising anything.