Hancock's haunt

When I was a Ghost City Tours tour guide, I'd point out Boston's sole surviving ghost of John Hancock, a little-known landmark sequestered in the shadows of the city's oldest street pattern, the Blackstone Block, as the sole remnant of that pattern's period in history. The Ebenezer Hancock House, which John built in 1767 as the home and office of his younger brother, Deputy Paymaster-General of the Continental Army, has an angular shape unusual for its time, being built within the confines of the skew lanes and cowpaths that defined it. Since it changed hands last month and has an iffy future, perhaps it's time to revisit its architecture, history and backstory.

What makes us stop and stare at it the most is that it thinks outside the box, having no right-angled corners – as well as a cropped corner, which John may have arranged to bring his brother more sunlight or to allow freer passage of cows and horses there. Its iron S-ties secured its structure at another corner, and the stringcourses in its Flemish-bond brickwork defined its floors. Its larger first-floor windows likely illuminated Ebenezer's disbursements of payments to troops during the Revolutionary War. But despite its less-than-erudite form (compared to brother John's manor, which I'll go into later), it can proudly boast that George Washington Slept Here when it was an inn later on, as well as Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette.

In 1778, the house stored a loan of 2 million French silver crowns from Louis XIV of France, negotiated by Benjamin Franklin as Minister to France and brought into Boston by Admiral Charles Henri Hector, Comte d'Estaing, as back payment to Washington's Eastern Continental Army. In 1798, Benjamin Fuller opened America's longest continually operating shoestore on the first floor, which William H. Learnard took over in 1821. It lasted until 1963.

By 1975, the East India Trading Co. antique and souvenir shop was operating in that space. Over the years the house fell into disrepair, even though most of the original interior details remained amazingly intact, probably due to underutilization. I remember walking past it with my father around that time and noticing that its storefront was smashed; my father suspected a break-in. Later the house was "left vacant following a serious car accident in the 1970s, which nearly destroyed the storefront at the corner of the building,” wrote city archaeologist Joseph M. Bagley in Boston’s Oldest Buildings and Where to Find Them. Swartz & Swartz came to the rescue, acquiring it as their law office and restoring it to its colonial condition, preserving as much interior detail as possible.

And look at what they did...

Of course, the intricate preservation of all those rooms in their original dimensions, materials and structural elements, from hand-hewn beams to wrought-iron cauldrons and andirons to brick walls, necessitated considerable sacrifice of valuable space to conduct their legal business. So they built a modern addition on the back in the parking area, careful to hide it from the view of Freedom Trail tourists and to distinguish its architectural style from the original. 

That parking area once contained a row of houses John Hancock had built on spec to abut Ebenezer's digs. Sadly, they did not survive past the 1950s, leaving the Ebenezer Hancock House as a "holdout" from Boston's Colonial-Revolutionary era:

Hancock Manor (1737-1863), Boston. Photo c.1859.

Engraving of Hancock Manor, Alexander Jackson Davis & Thomas Illman, 1832.

They don't compare in social standing, do they? More than a holdout, the Ebenezer Hancock House is the sole surviving building in Boston associated with its favorite son, due to not only the razing of his spec rowhouses but also the leveling of his own manor, which stood on Beacon Hill on Beacon Street by the site of the Massachusetts State House from 1737 to 1863.

View of Hancock Manor from the Boston Common by Christian Remick, 1768.

Built by Joshua Blanchard for John's merchant uncle Thomas Hancock and later willed to John, this brown Quincy granite manse was bedecked with corner quoins, a gambrel roof balustrade, and a Juliet balcony from a French window capped with baroque volutes, and it commanded a peerless view of the Boston Common's pastureland.

Hancock Manor staircase. Wood engraving from Ballou’s Pictorial
Drawing-Room Companion, March 26, 1859. Courtesy Bostonian Society.

The interior began with a paneled parlor with a bridal stair of carved twisted balusters leading up to a landing with a circular-headed window overlooking the garden of ornamental flower-beds, fruit-bearing box trees, mulberry trees and other exotic plantings. "As you entered the governor's mansion, to the right was the drawing or reception room, with furniture of bird's-eye maple covered with rich damask. Out of this opened the dining-hall [...] in which Hancock gave the famous breakfast to Admiral D'Estaing and his officers," reported Eliza G. Gardner, who lived in the Manor for many years.

Following the house's occupation by Lt.-Gen. Hugh Percy, 2nd Duke of Northumberland, during the British Army's 1775-1776 Siege of Boston and a brief period as General Henry Clinton's headquarters, the Manor 

A West End wonder

Photo by Alexander Tang.

Boston's West End is notorious for being bulldozed into a memory in the 1950s and 1960s, displacing an entire immigrant community with the big-box high-rises of Charles River Park. However, a low-rise gem hides behind a near-jungle on Cambridge Street as a paradigm of how pure geometry can define, shape and organize a quiet study space.

The West End Branch of the Boston Public Library, built in 1968 from an unusual hexagonal design by Eugene Kennedy of Maginnis, Walsh & Kennedy, also presented the hexagon as a considerable exterior space saver and interior space economizer, allowing the placement of books along its perimeters so that they left an open-concept central space for many different kinds of library activities at once, all within a small footprint.

Now, with proposals in the offing to replace the West End Branch Library and top it with 119 units of housing, I had to revisit it before it went the way of the West End.

Its footprint yields acreage for not only parking, but also a peace garden to introduce the entrance with a calming intimation of the peace and quiet one expects in a library.

The garden, the path from the street, the ceiling-high window walls, and the open porch all present us with a very friendly gesture of welcome to the library, giving us an external indication of the generous sitting space and reading light we're in for when we pass the book-sale carts in the vestibule and enter the main room.

Interior, West End Branch, BPL. Photo by Rachel Moon.

Sure enough, the room is one open, bright, fluid atmosphere with light (natural and fluorescent) extending to all, in-the-round displays of over 20,000 books of all subjects extending space to all, a myriad of seating options. and a deluge of activities open to all. These include exercise and tai chi classes, movie discussions, story hours, technology instruction, and origami, LEGO and construction clubs.

Interior, West End Branch, BPL. Photo by Rachel Moon.

Kennedy wisely designed the interior as a hexagon within a hexagon. This created a smaller hexagonal central space with a slightly dropped ceiling installed with circular "moon" lights. Picking up on a mode of lighting in Alvar Aalto's Baker House dormitory at MIT, this scheme shed extra light on the office-reference desk below. The open shelves pick up on the hexagon theme to create mini-hexagon study spaces.

Interior, West End Branch, BPL. Photo by Alexander Tang.

This open-access concept was mirrored in the librarians' accessibility when school paper assignments brought me to the West End Branch Library, a short walk from my Beacon Hill home. For a biology report on hibernation of bears and social studies papers on U.S. westward expansion and Sudbury's colonial settlement, the librarians helpfully supplied me with the books I needed to get an A each time.

Old West Church (1806) as West End Branch Library, c.1920.

Interestingly enough, the modernism of the West End Branch originated in the classicism of the Old West Church, when it was a library from 1896 until the "urban renewal" of the West End forced its closure in 1960. Designed by Asher Benjamin in a Federal style with pilasters, panels and a cupola-crowned clock tower, it was built in 1806 for a Congregational fellowship to replace a church damaged by British forces in 1775. Rev. Charles Lowell, who commissioned the new church, was a major abolitionist who desegregated seating in the church, sheltered renegade slaves in the Underground Railroad before the Civil War, and provided Sunday school for people of all economic backgrounds. In 1887, the congregation dissolved, and Andrew Wheelwright purchased the church to preserve it and turned it over to the city for library use, for which its column-supported open space (below) served it very well – as sort of a model for the columned hexagonal central space of its successor. 

Old West Church, West End Branch Library interior, c.1930.

Jewish Book Weeks and immigrant literacy services were offered at the library for West Enders, courtesy of Fanny Goldstein, its head librarian from 1919 to 1957 and Massachusetts' first Jewish librarian. Shortly before the building's reconversion to a church – this time with a Methodist congregation – John F. Kennedy cast his ballot there on the eve of his historic presidential election in 1960.

The one-story height and generous setback of the West End Branch Library's new home made it a polite neighbor for Cambridge Street's extant historic West End structures, the First Harrison Gray Otis House (1796, Charles Bulfinch) and Old West Church, by virtue of its lowly deference to its elders. By contrast, the library-housing tower proposals for the site look rather corporate and would add to the skyscraperization of the West End by dwarfing its landmark next-door neighbors and making them look even more like "holdouts" from urban renewal. So I'm not too thrilled about it, aside from its provision of much-needed affordable housing in our housing crisis. 

I would preserve the West End Branch Library as a modernist landmark, for its use of innovative geometrics to create a model of the free-to-all inclusiveness that befits a public library design.

Thank you for visiting. I welcome your comments!

Co-op vs. condo

This stately 17-story residence (actually 16-story, not counting the missing 13th floor that would have spooked the superstitious away from buying it) on Park Avenue in New York was built in 1925-26 from a Classical/Georgian Revival design by Henry C. Pelton, before he co-designed NYC's landmark Riverside Church with Allen & Collens in 1930. 

This was my second New York home, where I lived for seven years, from age 3 to age 10, when my family moved to Boston. Here we had it all: 

A green-canopied entry to a mirror-paneled lobby.

A uniformed doorman (Vito) who summoned taxis with the shrill of a whistle.

A superintendent (Mr. Johnson) and a maintenance man (Gus) who took care of everything.

Two elevators, one with an elevator man, until its push-button replacement made him go the way of the milkman.

A side-alley service entrance where gourmet groceries from Fraser-Morris were dropped off to the well-to-do.

Birthday and Halloween parties and musical recitals with great neighbors.

Short walks to school and shopping, movies around the corner, Central Park two blocks away.

This was a co-op.

This equally stately 5-story residence on Beacon Hill in Boston was built in 1911 from a Classical/Federal Revival design by Richard Arnold Fiske as floor-through French flats replacing an 1837 Mt. Vernon Street townhouse and a Pinckney Street rowhouse in the rear. The townhouse had marked the site of the c.1804 home of Jonathan Mason, one of the Mount Vernon Proprietors who had developed Beacon Hill (who also included Charles Bulfinch, architect of the gold-domed Massachusetts State House two blocks away, and the West Front of the U.S. Capitol).

This was my first Boston home, where I lived for two years, from age 10 to age 12 going on 13, when my family relocated to a rent-controlled apartment a block away due to major setbacks in my father's architecture career. Here we had a lot, if not all:

A gated front walk for me to play Catch, Dodgeball, and Red Light/Green Light with the neighbors' kids (one was my first crush).

A well-manicured front garden.

A vintage Otis caged elevator.

A courtyard patio that my father paved with bricks.

Two bedrooms for me.

A loyal, cooperative homeowners' association.

Frontage on what Henry James, who resided at No. 102, called "the most proper street in Boston."

Short walks to school and shopping, the Boston Common two blocks away, the Esplanade at the end of the street.

This was a condominium.

So what's the difference between the two? And which is the better choice for you?

In brief: A co-op involves collective shareholder ownership of the whole building. A condo involves individual ownership of a unit within a collectively maintained residential community and its shared areas and amenities. 

Each is a homeowners association (HOA) in which you share amenities with neighbors, and all are collectively responsible for upkeep of common areas, structural elements and exteriors, the payment of monthly fees to do so, and the minimization of conflicts that can impede the civil living with others under a common umbrella roof that characterizes both HOAs.

So, given each option's pros and cons, which is the better choice for you depends on what assets you're most comfortable with, what liabilities you can best put up with, the degree of autonomy you want over your unit, your long-term home ownership and investment goals, and a host of other considerations. Here's the scoop on each option:

Co-op

 

In a co-op you're not really a homeowner, but a shareholder who buys a share of stock in the corporate entity that owns the building. This grants you the right to occupy your unit according to the terms of a proprietary lease that accompanies the stock certificate you receive upon moving in.

So you don't actually own your unit as physical property, and you may have to get corporation approval to renovate it, depending on the co-op bylaws. 

But that's nicely balanced with other privileges that are unique to a co-op and not always found in a condominium. These include:

• A more streamlined way to pay monthly expenses: one lump-sum fee typically covers insurances, maintenance, salaries for hired staff (doorman, superintendent, etc.), property taxes, and sometimes the whole building's underlying mortgage.
• Potential election to the board that handles the co-op's operations and maintenance expenses, pays insurances and staff wages, and tries to keep the peace in the community.
• Having a say in how the organization is run and maintained, and who can join the co-op.

Which means you actually have a say in who your neighbors-to-be will be, in the framework of fair housing laws. You can cast a 'no' vote for an applicant with a substance abuse issue; a couple engaged in domestic violence; a candidate with an alimony, child support obligation, new car loan or other financial encumbrance; or whoever you have a gut feeling would default on the mortgage and/or monthly fee, spurn the cooperative attitude that defines a co-op, or make an Animal House out of the premises. Depending on what the co-op bylaws state about new occupant approval, anywhere from a majority of nay votes to a single dissenter can blackball undesirables from becoming your new neighbors.

Which could work against you, the applicant, even if your lender has green-lighted your mortgage. A co-op board's screening process for new members can be stringent. You may have to cough up multiple income tax returns, bank/asset statements, credit histories, previous homeownership and/or rental payment records, and other proof of your ability to handle monthly co-op expenses. The board may also look at your loan to determine your loan-to-value ratio (LTV), or the percentage of the co-op share's price the unit buyer may finance. Many co-op boards call for an LTV of under 75%; some may even demand up-front payment of the whole unit price, to ensure that you don't default and are free and clear to make the co-op fee every month. You may even have to have an individual interview with each resident to make sure everyone is comfortable having you aboard.

The board approval process could also stymie your sale of your co-op unit if you decide to move, since each new buyer of a share in the corporate entity must be rubber-stamped by the board. Which is one reason many homebuyers prefer the semi-autonomy of a unit in a...

Condominium

 

In a condominium you're still accountable to the HOA. But this time you're a homeowner, owning title to your unit plus a share of the common areas and amenities—grounds, lobby, gym, lounge, etc. Your ownership is limited to your unit's interior if the condo is a multifamily building, or your entire "house" if the condo is an aggregate of townhouses or freestanding homes. The monthly condo fee is set by the HOA board based on the amounts and costs of common services, e.g., maintenance of grounds, exteriors, gyms, decks and elevators; master insurance on the complex; water and sewer connections; and security, including concierge and doorman. A condo fee is usually lower than a co-op fee, because it doesn't include property taxes, which are individually levied on each unit.

The condo's HOA meets periodically to discuss such issues as expenses, maintenance, bringing a pet into a unit, or any problems anyone has with anyone else. The standard HOA has a board elected by the HOA members; it may include a president, VP, treasurer or comptroller, secretary for recording meeting minutes, etc. 

However, admission to a condo is contingent upon a lender's approval of the homebuyer's loan rather than HOA board approval, so the co-op privilege of picking your neighbors is less common in a condo. Moreover, condo unit owners may sublet their units, which gives you even less say over who you're about to abut. 

For the most control of who your condo neighbors will be, it's best to meet with members of the HOA of the condo you're considering before making an offer on a unit there. Important questions to ask them include: 

• How do you get along?

• How do you resolve conflicts?

• What kinds of conflicts tend to occur?

• How are decisions made on condo fee fund use?

• What is the makeup of the board?

• How often does it meet?

• How are members elected?

• What unit alterations are subject to board approval?

• Are pets allowed? What kinds, and how many?

• Are unit subleasing and guest parking allowed?

As with a co-op, you should also ask to review as many kinds of HOA documents as you can: board meeting minutes, HOA policies and bylaws, HOA rules and regulations, financial statements including invoices and tax audits, insurance policies, and anything else readily available to HOA members.

This review will help you see how issues are discussed, conflicts resolved, funds appropriated, money managed, services rendered and billed, etc., to decide whether a particular HOA is for you. (A section of a standard purchase-and-sale agreement [P&S] gives you the right to do this before going forward with a unit's purchase, and to terminate the P&S if you don't like any HOA policies.)

So which is the better choice for you?

Since I was just a kid when I lived in the aforementioned co-op and condo, I couldn't possibly say which was the better choice for my parents (ultimately neither, owing to my dad's career demise), though both had strong neighbor communities—particularly the condominium, where the neighborhood extended beyond the building to other residences on close-knit Beacon Hill, presenting great opportunities for Halloween trick-or-treating, Christmas caroling, babysitting for the neighbors, garden tours, and other activities. 

But what's best for you, the present homebuyer, depends on your long-term homeownership, investment and social goals. 

For one, keep in mind that interactions with co-op neighbors will probably be more frequent than those with condo neighbors, because the collective responsibility for a co-op's common services and the accountability toward the building-owning corporation demands more continual attention from everyone. 

In a condo, however, it's common to have monthly HOA meetings with your neighbors, say hi to them in the hall during the week, and retreat into the shell of your own unit. So co-ops are not for extreme privacy lovers. But in a co-op you're more likely to get along with your neighbors, since each was pre-approved by the others. And if you plan to stay for a long time, a co-op is a good way to make long-term friends and connections, which the more come-and-go nature of condos tends to impede.

Regarding investment, as I mentioned, in a co-op you do not possess physical property but purchase shares of the stock through which the housing cooperative owns the building. This may limit your unit's equity. 

Leasing co-ops, in which the corporate entity leases but does not own the property, give you no equity.

Limited equity co-ops, in which the board controls the price at which you may buy or sell shares in the co-op, give you just that—limited equity for the limits imposed on your unit's purchase or sale price. 

Market-rate co-ops enable you to buy or sell shares according to their market rates. 

So the appreciation of a co-op unit's value depends on that of its purchased shares of stock in the corporate entity, as well as the housing cooperative's degree of control over their prices. This may not assure you a lucrative sale of your unit if you relocate. (The value of shares could even drop.)

A condo unit, however, is more likely to appreciate in value according to real estate markets rather than stock markets. Besides, the unit can be subleased for rental income while waiting for its market value to rise enough to consider a sale – not an option in a co-op, because of its corporate and financial structure. 

Yet a co-op can stabilize real estate value during recessions or economic downturns by the powers of their boards to reject applicants not financially stable enough to maintain a co-op's fiscal solidity over time. 

This could help a co-op building evade bank foreclosure, allowing its economically viable residents to remain there in good and bad times.

So a co-op may be a better investment in a long-term community and stable housing stock, whereas a condo may be a better real estate investment. Either way, you get community and convenience in addition to the comforts of home. It's up to you!

Thank you for visiting. I welcome your comments!

Sources:

"Co-ops vs. Condos. What's the difference?" The Gold Team at eXp Realty, https://www.thegoldteamny.com/co-ops-vs-condos-whats-the-difference/

Gassett, Bill. "What is a Condominium Homeowners Association (HOA)?" Maximum Exposure Real Estate, January 14, 2014, https://www.maxrealestateexposure.com/condominium-home-owners-association-hoa/#:~:text=A%20condominium%20HOA%20differs%20from%20a%20regular%20homeowners,for%20instance%2C%20shares%20the%20roof%20of%20that%20unit.

Gottlieb, Steven. "Condo, Townhouse or Co-op: Which is Right for You?" U.S. News and World Report, December 11, 2019, https://realestate.usnews.com/real-estate/articles/condo-townhouse-or-co-op-which-is-right-for-you

HOA Manager. "Do Your HOA Board Members Know Which Documents are Open for Review?" Hignell HOA Management, January 24, 2015, https://blog.hignellhoa.com/do-your-hoa-board-members-know-which-documents-are-open-for-review

Mburugu, Charles. "Condo vs. Co-op: Which is the Better Real Estate Investment?" Mashvisor, April 24, 2020, https://www.mashvisor.com/blog/condo-vs-co-op-which-better-investment/

Novoryta, B.J. The Yellow Brick Road to Buying a Home. Sedalia, Colo.: Castle Pines Realty, 2019.

Palumbo, Richard, LLC. "Understanding the Difference Between Condos, Co-ops and HOAs in Rhode Island, Massachusetts and Connecticut." Palumbo Law, August 19, 2020, https://richardpalumbo.com/2020/08/19/understanding-the-difference-between-condos-co-ops-and-hoas-in-rhode-island-massachusetts-and-connecticut/

Sager, Jeanne. "Co-op vs. Condo: What's the Difference Between These Types of Homes?" Realtor.com, November 6, 2017, https://www.realtor.com/advice/buy/condo-vs-co-op/

'Harry Potter' closet rehabs

From the Harry Potter Studio Tour London. Photo courtesy of Amber Primdahl, She's Catching Flights.

That "cupboard under the stairs" Harry Potter was miserably forced to hole up in by his abusive aunt, uncle and cousin until receiving his life-changing letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry can also be a source of misery or wizardry for homeowners, depending on whether they see it as a goldmine for rehab or a gaping hole for nothing. 

Since a stair must hog hall space to provide needed upstairs access, it may vex homeowners with the way the cavern it leaves underneath usurps living space. Or if storage, kitchen, bathroom, sleeping, laundry or whatever space is at a premium, the homeowner may not remember the buried treasure under the treads, awaiting wizardly wisdom for a rework to fulfill a crucial spatial need.

I was thinking about that while looking at a townhouse I was writing about for the now-defunct Boston Homes magazine, and the real estate agent pointed out the "Harry Potter closet" under the main stair. I opened its mysterious arched door to see a bulletin board, nearly flush with the under-stair wall. All very well, but denying the potential for creative use of the space beyond.

Of course, a bedroom like Harry's wouldn't be suitable for that space, because of the poor ventilation, light and leg-room he was given (which clearly didn't concern his extended family). But if the door and part of the wall were taken away, the space could become a comfortable sleeping nook for a child or guest, or perhaps a temporary landing spot for the homeowner if, say, the primary bedroom is being renovated or is recovering from flood or fire damage. 

Who could sleep in this cranny would naturally depend on the length of space the stair allots for it. Higher risers and shorter treads would yield space enough for a small-to-mid-sized child, because it would make the space more vertical. But lower risers and longer treads would put more horizontality into it, suiting it for taller people. 

And it needn't be limited to the bed. This example includes bookshelves and lights, making the space a cozy reading-in-bed retreat.

Photo courtesy of r/CozyPlaces on Reddit.com.

Here's another example of under-stair sleeping/library space, making even more of those tight quarters by sliding storage drawers underneath, possibly for bedding or slippers. It's cozier than the previous example – as little of the wall as possible was removed (probably just the door) for the greater enclosure that grants the hideaway safety we often need for a good night's sleep, but with the entry staying open so we're not Harry Pottered into claustrophobic suffocation.

Photos courtesy of HomeDcorHub.

But if your overflow of books calls for just a library under the stairs, bookshelves are among the easiest to wedge under that wedge of space, because the underbellies of the stairs could act like bookends in themselves, determining where to put the divisions between the shelves. And, depending on the width of the stairs, the library could also become a cozy reading corner (right).

Courtesy of Bria Hammel Interiors, Pinterest.

Photo courtesy of Lee Taylor, Pinterest.

And if your stairs are really wide, their under-space would be deep enough for a library with a built-in couch or upholstered bench for relaxing on while you're reading (left), with books there to grab above you. This is especially an advantage if your home has a curving bridal staircase (right). Its majestic circular sweep will lend sinuous elegance to your understair library/lounge, which may mean it could accommodate even more books and objets d'art, because no perpendicular walls will meet at the corner and possibly obstruct each other's contents.

Photo courtesy of Marina Sofety, Home Decorating Ideas

Since the COVID-19 era of working remotely from home mandated more office space there, what better place to put it than under the stairs? That way, it's remote from living, dining, entertaining and sleeping activities so work and study won't frustrate them, or vice versa, and their use-designated rooms won't disintegrate into multipurpose malfunction and family fracas. With a designer's imagination, an efficient office can be configured within the stair's underbelly. Tighter shelf spaces at the acute angles can accommodate small office-supply or index-card containers. The broader floor area the stair leaves as it descends to the floor can fit the desk, computer, file cabinets and bulletin board. Bookshelves can be stacked by the higher wall the stair creates as it rises to the upper level. 

Of course, this arrangement has its drawbacks: absent a door for light and air's sake, privacy for fuller work concentration and less distraction is also in absentia here. So the best understair office is a "quickie" one for brisker tasks: bill-paying, bookkeeping, looking up info online, emails, etc.

Photo courtesy of TalkDecor

Photo courtesy of Home Designing

If your understair space can be connected to house plumbing (which is easier if it's near the kitchen or a bathroom), it could house a washer and dryer (left), with space to spare for detergent, fabric softener, and maybe a sorting counter.

Or you could wedge in a powder room (right) for guests or any family member needing a quick rest stop before going out, especially if the first floor has no bathroom. Given the privacy a bathroom requires, putting one here would be a good excuse to preserve an understair door, especially if it has historical significance to the house. Or, for better air circulation in the powder room, you could cut away the wall so it just frames the space, and install a new door to fit into the frame.

Photo courtesy of bathrooms.com

It pays to be careful where you put each fixture in a space like this. Since people usually sit down to use the commode, that would best be placed on the side with the lowest headroom. Since all of us stand up to use the sink, that should go under the highest headroom. And, given the darkness and airtightness of this usually windowless space, good lighting and a powerful vent should be installed. (And be sure to leave room for at least one small cabinet for cleaning supplies and deodorant spray.) Again, make sure each fixture, lighting and vent location can be safely linked to your plumbing and electrical networks before deciding to install a powder room in there.

A kitchenette could conceivably be squeezed under the stairs, but that would depend on how broadly they sweep across the space as they go up, and how much headroom they leave for essential elements such as a small fridge or wine cooler, a counter with enough headroom for you to stand up while washing and enough length for a small oven and/or cooktop, and enough shelf/cabinet space for essential tableware. This would be especially handy if the kitchen is on the garden level or upstairs and you need to prepare something fast for guests without troubling them to make them walk up or down stairs, particularly if any of them is mobility-impaired. But, again, be sure a bathroom is near enough so the kitchenette can be plumbed for appliances and sink.

Photo courtesy of Outlook9 Shaw for Under Stairs Wine Cellars

But if all that plumbing isn't feasible for that little space and you still want it to fulfill a kitchenesque function that there isn't room for in your kitchen, your fine selection of libations could go there. Of course, you would have to decide what kinds of spirits would best fit there. If you want to store red wines, you could simply install wine-bottle cubbies and use the space as is, since red wines must be kept at room temperature. 

But if you want to store white wines, champagnes and/or imported beers, you would need refrigeration. So you would have to reconfigure the space for a wine cooler—either a standard-sized Sub-Zero or a deluxe wine-cellar cooler custom-designed to fit into more of the space. The latter would need a controllable thermostat so you can serve your drinks to your guests (or yourself, for an end-of-the-day nightcap by the TV, Super Bowl Sunday, or a pop of the cork to celebrate a milestone with your loved ones) at just their desired temperature. For that, a significant electricity source will have to be installed there, so make sure it can be done.

Not enough wines to fill it all out? Put a wet bar or dry bar in the rest of the space (right), so you can select, serve and swill in one swoop. Make sure to cubby the wine bottles in the lower part of the triangle and build in the bar and shelves in the upper part, to allow space for glassware, shakers, mixes and other bartenders' supplies.

Photos courtesy of AllDayChic

Photo courtesy of Pinterest

But if general storage is more wanting than wine storage—especially when toys, books, magazines, sports equipment, games, puzzles, coffee mugs, clothes, sweats, sneakers, shoes, skates, etc., etc., pile up beyond capacity—that understair cavity is practically made to order for that, since most underutilized, overlooked or wasted spaces tend to become storage receptacles anyway, Understair storage can take too many forms to go into here. But the storage drawers, cabinets, closets or cubbies should always be designed to use as much of that awkward triangular space as possible. 

The pull-out side-loading drawers in the upper left image are a splendid example, with the triangular leftovers functioning as shelves for all those little things that tend to get lost in closets or dresser-drawers. The drawers in the center seem to step up with the stairs, and the residual triangles are nicely paneled as attractive ornaments. The French-doored closets on the right lend domestic elegance to the stair while housing a lot of "storables." 

The shelves in the immediate left image attractively showcase all sorts of things, presenting them as household treasures, and leaving space for whatever is behind the left-hand door.

Yet there's another household treasure that could really use a space like this—especially in colder months—and could adapt to it best of all: your canine companion. The slant in the stairs suggests a doghouse, and one of these examples of indoor doghouses follows the slant as part of its "roof," which your dog may recognize as home if you have an outdoor doghouse. Besides, it's roomier than most doghouses, with space for supper and water dishes, a little play, a lot of sleep, and, first and foremost, total protection against the elements, while still feeling like home.

You can also make a young child feel more at home by carving out a playhouse under your stairs. Here are but six examples of how playful you can make your playhouse, giving children the illusion of coming home to their dream house, and a place to play with their friends in secrecy and autonomy. They can be illuminated, painted and decorated inside to make them more home-like. When your child outgrows the space, a dog could take it over, for a greater sense of dignity than just living "in the doghouse."

Photo courtesy of Odd Stuff Magazine.

But if your budget is limited—money-wise or space-wise—your Harry Potter closet can simply be a space to make or take a phone call in private, like the phone booths of yore. The door could be retained for the sake of confidential conversations, and very minimal furniture and lighting is necessary: a small chair, perhaps a tiny table, and a flashlight if necessary.

That, by the way, was how my college fraternity used its understair space. Being under a very short flight of stairs that introduced the main flight on a right angle with it, it was too cramped for much use. So they installed a permanent phone in there, back when analog landline wall phones with extendable twisted cords were still in vogue (remember the one in your parents' kitchen?). 

"After." Courtesy of Red Door Home.

"Before." Courtesy of Red Door Home.

Yet they attempted to put the space to its most practical (and costly) use of all: a second egress from the basement to comply with fire codes. They sawed out the floor, only to replank it after the frat president never heard from the builder and announced, "The stair is in limbo and may not be built at all." There were likely no funds for it—perhaps because they were later blown on a frivolous gable extension for an upstairs party lounge or studio suite. (Besides, the frat was in arrears with the college and was eventually shut down.)

Which goes to show how a phone closet remains one of the most economical ways to reuse a Harry Potter closet (next to a kids' game of Hide-and-Seek, a teens' game of Seven Minutes in Heaven, or a private place for anyone of any age to have a little cry if they need to).

Yet, as this image and the one way above show, a homeowner whose stair happens to run along the inside of one of the house's outer walls has an opportunity to bring light into this dark corner by adding a window. The "phone booth" benefits from an oculus, and this reading/fainting couch benefits even more from a quarter-circle window handsomely designed to just fit under the stairs and make a showpiece out of that space, as an energy-saving measure in daytime and a dash of elegance in a typically ignored corner.

Photo courtesy of Beautiful Bedrooms, London, UK

If that space is big enough—especially if privileged to be under a windowed mezzanine landing like this—a window could even turn it into a full bedroom or playroom, giving Harry Potter his much-needed light, ventilation and play space, not to mention a more direct escape to Hogwarts School.

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