A nice address for the artists.
In a move sure to roil the blood of reluctant lawyers and in-it-for-the-money bankers, an actress turned novelist and her music curator/documentary producer/novelist husband have managed to buy a pricey property in Park Slope.
Galaxy Craze and Sam Brumbaugh paid $1.8 million for the three-bedroom co-op at 529 First Street, according to city records. We guess this means it's okay to follow (all?) your dreams now?
During the 1990s, Ms. Craze was acting in indie films and Mr. Brumbaugh was writing for the Village Voice, directing music shows at galleries and co-producing a documentary about Townes Van Zandt. Then they both decided to become novelists.
It sounds like the perfect set-up a dark, disappointing denouement, right? But Ms. Craze's first novel By the Shore, was nominated for the Booker Prize. Then Mr. Brumbaugh wrote the well-received Goodbye, Goodness. Then Ms. Craze wrote two more books and now they're buying an apartment in a stately limestone mansion that comes with a Juliet balcony, two wood burning fireplaces and a "state-of-the-art" designer kitchen. We thought that artists only lived in properties like this place, listed with Halstead brokers Marc Wisotsky and Jackie Lew, in the movies!
The house, owned by Kabir and Mary Catherine Singh, sold for just under the $1.9 million ask.
The couple appears to be relocating from Northampton, Mass., where they set a record when they bought a home for $1.2 million back in 2006, according to masslive.com. Well, they won't be setting any price records in Brooklyn, but still, it's handsome property. Perhaps the move back to New York will presage another creative turn for the couple?
kvelsey@observer.com