There are very of these few multileveled, brick townhouses—this one built in 1930—left on Congress Avenue. It's a shame, as they seem like the perfect digs for a certain type of urban dweller—one who likes rooftop decks and balconies overlooking downtown action, exposed brick, and extreme walkability.
It's a bit of a mystery, then, that (according to real estate brokerage firm Redfin) the one at 811 Congress has been on the market for year and a half, has dropped its price $1.5 million during that time—to $6.9 million—and still hasn't sold.
One might go out on a limb and guess that some of the issue could be the decor and staging. It's quite the hodgepodge of frosted glass stairwells, overstuffed (and midcentury-style!) leather furniture, 90s mosaic tile, and those travel-trunk tables that Pottery Barn once made so popular.
(These places can be harder to style than one would think, it's true. The best version we've seen was, unexpectedly, kind of minimalist-midcentury, with terrazzo floors and lots of matte metals—kind of like a 1960s airport.)
Still, take away the dizzying eclecticness of it all, and you have nice brick walls (if you like that sort of thing), five bedrooms, five full bathrooms and three half-baths, three living and two dining areas, a rooftop spa, and a fantastic terrace three blocks from the Capitol. Yeah, maybe we have a soft spot for this place, but, really, what's not to love?
• 811 Congress Avenue [Gottesman]
• 811 Congress Avenue [Redfin]