New Berlin, NY’s Pink Victorian House Needs Total Rehab, $38K

  |  October 30, 2020
landmark victorian

This landmark Victorian in Chenango County, NY once graced the pages of a book about Painted Ladies. Now, it needs a hero to rescue it from oblivion.

While we’ve been spending the week exploring the mysterious and spooky side of the listings, this property in New Berlin, NY is more  heartbreak than horror (although, there are certainly horror elements involved here, as evidenced by the photos). The salmon-hued, 4,425-square-foot home was originally built in the 1860s with the highest-quality materials available at that time, like oak and chestnut doors and a slate mansard roof. These days, however, it resembles little of its past, a faded beauty queen with its lipstick askew, bowing before the ravages of time and neglect. Long story short, novice renovators need not apply.

landmark victorian

The listing pictures do nothing to sugarcoat the situation: This house is a big mess. There’s structural and water damage by the boatload, plus a hearty sprinkle of black mold and moss-covered floors just to make things interesting. Just exactly how much of this five-bedroom, three-bath home is salvageable isn’t entirely clear, but expect the worst and hope for being able to save some solid features that seem to have stood the test of time, like the staircase, pocket doors, and window frames and trim.

landmark victorian landmark victorian

The house sits on a 2.5-acre lot just north of New Berlin village. You can’t miss it since it’s the only huge pink Victorian in the area. According to the listing, the house has a hidden room that may have been a hiding place on the Underground Railroad. And, while there are vestiges of an old railroad track off the back of the house, it was most assuredly not part of the Underground Railroad, as the listing purports, since the Underground Railroad had nothing to do with actual trains.

landmark victorian

Got the skills and cash to fix up this landmark Victorian house? Find out more about 5050 State Highway 8, New Berlin, NY here

About Kandy Harris

Kandy is a writer and musician/music teacher living in Saugerties, NY.

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