While lots of city buildings repurposed as homes are cool, there’s just something about a firehouse that makes people smile.
Sure, living in an old Hebrew school like Natasha Lyonne’s ultra hip character from Netflix’s Russian Doll is cool, but in our eyes, living in a firehouse is just well, cooler.
Famous firehouse-dwellers like Anderson Cooper might have something to do with it, but we actually think the nostalgia and cool factor go back even further… who can forget Dan Aykroyd in Ghostbusters?
Amazingly, not all of these places have been scooped up by ghost hunters and CNN anchors. We found four absolutely amazing firehouses that you can still move into by the fall.
1. 411 Kent Avenue, Williamsburg, Brooklyn
Asking: $5,300,000
Square Footage: ~4,600 sq ft
Listing Agent: Chris Cavorti
Listing Brokerage: Corcoran Group
This is one of those dream buildings in NYC that you walk by a million times and daydream about who gets to actually live there. Are they famous artists? Musicians? Retired FDNY? The speculation is almost as fun as finally pulling back the curtain when these rare beauties end up for sale.
Just check out how much SPACE this place has. Turns out that fire trucks, hoses, and Dalmatians needed a lot of room back in the day. Ceilings weren’t high because it looked cool, but because they had to be.
Just think, a lucky owner will get the enviable task of figuring out what to do with all this space. What would you do with wide open spaces in one of Brooklyn’s most sought after neighborhoods?
It’s not all industrial charm though. There’s also a beautiful roof deck for entertaining and views of shiny new developments.
2. Redwood Hose Station 8, 118 Prospect Hill Street Newport, Rhode Island
Asking: $4,200,000
Square Footage: 4,158 sq ft
Listing Agent: Jessica Chase
Listing Brokerage: Sotheby’s International Realty
In Rhode Island’s historic Newport, this drop dead gorgeous stand-alone brick former firehouse ticks all of our daydream boxes and then some. Forgetting the stately bones and ample light and space, this place has a cool name (Redwood Hose Station 8) and perhaps the most coveted firehouse amenity of all, a fireman’s pole to slide down in your pajamas to get to the breakfast table.
As you can see from the glamour shots below, it’s also been tastefully updated to look like a clean, modern luxury home. The best of both worlds!
You still get arched windows and buckets of sunshine, but you also get sleek finishes and super cozy places to relax with a good book. Maybe Fahrenheit 451? Better yet, click on CNN and gloat about how you live in the same kind of cool historic building that Anderson Cooper does. Sadly, the Vanderbilt pedigree is not included with the sale.
We fell in love with the sleek modern reno here. Safe to assume that the place in Williamsburg above will get a similar makeover in the coming months once someone puts ink to paper and snaps it up.
You even get a cool little backyard for your Dalmations to play in. For fun we decided to check for a spotted friend to adopt for this very purpose. None in Rhode Island right now, but plenty of cuties around the country to choose from.
3. 6 Hancock Place, New York, NY 10027
Asking: $9,999,950
Square Footage: 10,000 sq ft
Listing Agent: Phillipe Doh
Listing Brokerage: William Raveis
They say you have to take the A train if you want to get to Harlem, but even lifelong New Yorkers would be forgiven for not recognizing tiny little Hancock Place right above Morningside Park and a quick walk to the world famous Apollo Theater.
For intrepid flaneurs who like to get off the beaten path to the little streets that make Manhattan so unique, the rewards are worth the walk from the train. On Hancock Place you might actually miss this former firehouse what with the towering modern buildings surrounding it.
Inside, of course, you get exactly what you think you’ll get. Space, and lots of it. 10,000+ square feet to be exact. You’ll also get the bragging rights of having a cool name (Hook and Ladder Company 40) as well as the opportunity to open up your very own theater inside your home.
The building also comes with 4,000 square feet of air rights, which means that if you wanted to, you could actually build up a few stories higher to compete with the surrounding modern buildings.
An office with a view.
Off Broadway theater? Classical concerts? A Jazz Club? The choice is yours with your very own theater in your new 10,000 square foot live/work space.
4. 636 East 11th Street Indianapolis, Indiana
Asking: $750,000
Square Footage: 2,028 sq ft on 6,316 sq ft lot
Listing Agent: Mark Branch
Listing Brokerage: CENTURY 21 Scheetz
Out in the Hoosier state across the street from a church and nearby the new industrial space turned to hip lofts and restaurants area called the Bottleworks District, we found this red brick charmer with the ultimate man cave.
Yup. That’s a vintage Pagoda top Mercedes Benz, cool looking old gear, and several motorcyles in your very own cavernous 2 bay garage/living room. Of course, this isn’t the dank, oil-stained cave most people have, it’s all gorgeous gleaming white tile and as clean, fresh and tidy as any living room.
It’s not all man cave though. In fact, the rest of the home is downright cute. It even has a tranquil suburban backyard with this cozy looking dining area.
Inside, there’s wood beams galore, vintage fixtures, and lots of space to turn this into a comfortable and cool home.
Over to You
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