My husband and I stayed here for a week, and it was an incredible week.
First off, Manuel is incredibly responsive and accommodating. Whether it was giving info on the closest PATH train station to the city (Journal Square, 25 min walk), or offering to allow us to leave our bags at the residence while we spent one last day in the city (we had a late flight out of Newark, and didn’t want to lug our suitcases around), he was always quick to answer and help. Yomara, who lives on site, is so very nice and also genuinely friendly and obliging.
It’s a beautiful building, steeped in history, which includes that a duchess lived there with her servants. It’s easy to imagine how many feet have gone up and down the beautiful original floors, hands on the banisters and the newel posts… There are extraneous items in the downstairs foyer (an A/C unit, some fans) but that’s more a reminder that people live here full time, and the building has ongoing projects, than something that bothered me. It could use little touches and improvements here and there to make it even more aesthetically pleasing, but that didn’t detract from my stay.
The rooms on the third floor are spacious and high ceilinged, with beautiful, original crown and base moldings. Everything was sparkling clean. The bed was very comfortable. Two bedrooms with a kitchen in the middle. The bathroom was just across the hall, and the “shower room” was in an original clawfoot tub (I wished I had time to take a bath!) Lots of fluffy towels.
Every morning we walked five minutes down the street to the Snapdragon coffee shop. Dave, the barista, made delicious quad-shot lattes and shared his favorite spaces in the city without rolling his eyes at “tourists” who want to be locals.
The walk to the path train takes you through interesting neighborhoods where you can see century-old modernized remodels sharing a wall with original exteriors. It’s an easy walk. We always walked in the mornings, then took a Lyft at night bc we were tired from walking 10+ miles each day in the city. Every Lyft was quick to arrive, and it was less than ten bucks, and every driver had something interesting to say.
Bottom line: I’d stay here again, in a heartbeat. If you’re looking for some sleek, modern, everything-is-perfectly-painted-and-maintained, stay in a different brownstone that will cost you a lot more money and probably won’t be owned by someone who will do anything to make your stay be perfect. If you want somewhere that is clean and inviting and comfortable and still quite beautiful, with a great property manager/owner, stay here. You won’t regret it.