Ugly duckling Queens home selling for a swan-like $3.6 million

It’s been called “The ugliest building in Queens,” and once won a “Frank Lloyd Crap” award.

Now, the “Climate Change Row House” — aka the Lego House — is on the market for $3.6 million.

The 3,487-square-foot property, at 45-12 11th St. in Long Island City, Queens, was originally built in 1903, and rebuilt in 2014 by its owner, architect Thomas Paino, to passive-house standards.

The 3-year renovation elevated the home’s basement out of the floodplain and made it more environmentally friendly.

But it was a new multicolor tile façade that got real estate watchers talking.

The home also includes a rooftop solarium, triple-pane windows for temperature and sound insulation and a hospital-grade air filtration system — a nice selling point during a pandemic.

A bedroom in the Queens home.
One of a handful of bedrooms inside the Long Island City home.
Lifestyle Production Group for Corcoran
The kitchen in the home.
A modern kitchen area inside the Queens charmer.
Lifestyle Production Group for Corcoran

There’s also a solar-heated water system that cuts down on bills and a green roof with 13 planters for gardening. (Around 60 species of birds have already been spotted in the garden.)

The 19½-foot-wide home fits up to six bedrooms and five bathrooms over three floors.

A living area inside the LIC home.
The 3,487-square-foot pad sprawls inside a nearly 120-year-old building.
Lifestyle Production Group for Corcoran
A skyline as seen from the building's rooftop.
Scope out the cityscape from the top floor.
Lifestyle Production Group for Corcoran

The top floor boasts Manhattan and LIC skyline views. 

It’s divided into two separate residences: a three-bedroom owners’ triplex over a garden-level, two-bedroom apartment. A second floor boasts a bedroom converted to library/office use with reclaimed original joists of longleaf pine shelves, from trees that were planted around 1780, according to the listing from Corcoran’s Cary Tamura and Kim Rodriguez.

Paino bought the home with Peter Johnson for $580,000 in 2009, according to property records. 

Post a Comment

Previous Post Next Post