PRIVACY APLENTY IN REBUILT ROXBURY DUPLEX
Lucian McPherson swells with pride whenever he gets the chance to show off the duplex he completely rebuilt at 47 Alpine St. in Roxbury.
“This was dilapidated for at least 10 years,” McPherson said of the old home that occupies the parcel.
“When I first started, it was just me and the raccoons,” he said with a laugh. “We have Boston Heralds from 1908 that we found in the rafters.”
Prior to the tour, McPherson pulled out his phone and flipped through some former photos of the century-old building that was gutted to make way for the big two-condo home.
“We renovated it from the ground up,” said McPherson's friend and colleague, Curtis Howe, the real estate agent who's selling the place.
Although the newly constructed home still has a similar architectural feel to the old building — what McPherson calls a “NeoVictorian” style — it's virtually all new, save for some brick walls in the back.
Two condos are for sale at the site: Unit 1, a big, four-bedroom, two-floor condo listed for $689,900, and unit 2, a smaller one-floor, three-bedroom condo listed for $489,900.
The former, pricier unit is the one that really shines here.
While unassuming from the front, the condo is stunning on the inside. There's the 12-foot ceiling in the handsome first-floor bedroom; the hardwood, dark-stained oak floors throughout; the living area fireplace; the bright, stone and ceramic tile bathrooms; the huge wooden deck out back; the big master bedroom suite downstairs that includes an extra room separated by French doors that could be used as a sitting room, office or nursery; and the home's centerpiece, the sprawling kitchen with granite countertops, high-end stainless steel stove, fridge and dishwasher, custom-made cabinets, and views of the trees outside.
At more than 3,400 square feet, the unit feels too big to be a condo, and the back is overgrown with trees, making you feel like you're abutting Allandale Woods, and not like you're in the middle of Roxbury.
“You forget where you're at,” Howe said. “This offers the kind of space and privacy you just don't get around here.”