Unexpected gem in South End
Hidden beside the grand stone steps leading to the brick rowhouse at 49 East Concord St. in the South End is a tiny door. Set at ground level and tucked away from passersby, the arch-topped mahogany entrance is strikingly handsome, yet, with its diminutive size and heavy black metal handle, looks like some mythical entrance to a hideaway.
So, it’s pretty easy to dismiss whatever could be behind the door as cramped basement quarters.
It’s those who judge this home by its entrance, however, who will miss out.
Go inside condo No. 1, and you’ll discover a home that seems to defy the rules of mathematics: You feel like you’re actually walking into something much more expansive.
The two-level, threebedroom home deep inside this gorgeous 19th century building is both deceptively roomy and full of rooms. The condo, now on the market for nearly $1.7 million, is also bright, airy and contemporary.
“The building is deep and wide for the South End,” said Ghita Akkar, whose firm gut-rehabbed 49 East Concord. For perspective, the building is 22 feet wide in a neighborhood where similar old buildings are commonly as narrow as 14 feet to 16 feet. The ceilings on this ground-floor and streetlevel condo are also high at eight feet.
Before Akkar began work on the place in December 2016, the space was one floor of living area and basement storage. Now, you enter into the upper floor at street level to find three bedrooms: One room boasting a curvaceous twowindow bay that looks out to East Concord, another smaller room and a third — the big master bedroom suite — at the rear of the building, and with a luxurious bath with a glass-door shower and radiant heat floors. There’s also another stand-alone bath.
Down the milk-andcoffee-colored staircase — a crisp white balustrade topped with a rich, dark railing — is the open living, dining and kitchen hall on the ground floor. Flooded with light from a rear wall that’s essentially glass — two floor-to-ceiling windows and three glass doors — the room opens to a private stone patio outside.
The kitchen is snowy white with quartz Caesarstone countertops and center island, and a massive metal six-burner range.
Off the living room wall is a gas fireplace with a natural stone surround.
Akkar installed white oak floors throughout and skipped moldings to give the place a light feel, she said. She also removed and replaced the old wooden staircase that offers cleaner views of the top and bottom levels.
But as compelling as the place is, there’s still the mystery of that door outside. It’s actually a replica, said Akkar, but if you think it hints of something secretive inside, you’re actually correct. Hidden off the kitchen and half bathroom downstairs are three tunnel-like storage areas that add nearly 200 square feet of extra storage to the nearly 1,800-square-foot home.
“It’s pretty unique to get that kind of storage space in the South End,” she said.
The sale of the condo is being handled by the Steven Cohen Team, 617-8613636. The top-floor condo is slated for completion next month, but the third, middle unit is already sold.