Firehouse Fixing Tips

Tuesday, March 23, 2010, 1:20 pm

Tips for Anderson Cooper: How to Fix Up Your Firehouse

By Christine Haughney


Anderson Cooper has gotten heat for his plans to turn a former West Village firehouse into a private residence: Preservationists want to landmark the building; a man whose son worked at the firehouse and died in the Sept. 11 attacks wants Mr. Cooper to restore an honorary plaque; and an architect working on the renovation sued Mr. Cooper, saying she fell through the hole where the fire pole used to be.

That might sound like a handful. But while Mr. Cooper’s vision for the 9,000 square-foot building at 84 West Third Street is unusual for its ambition and the attention it has drawn, it is not without precedent. A few other New Yorkers who have turned firehouses into homes were willing to share some advice with Mr. Cooper, although he probably does not lack for consultants.

First, cover up the fire pole hole, and not only because it may eat your architect. When Jose Graneila bought his downtown Brooklyn firehouse in 1981, the poles had been “stolen by drug addicts” and he didn’t want to “replace something with a reproduction.” So he turned it into closet space. He is now trying to sell the firehouse for $4.2 million through Citi Habitats.

It has been reported that Mr. Cooper will adopt a Haitian earthquake victim; he has denied those reports. But if he changed his mind, Jennifer Capala, who bought a firehouse in Greenpoint for $250,000 in 1996, says that a finished firehouse can be family friendly. Her sons loved riding their tricycles and scooters around the renovated 5,500 square-foot property. She also learned that few homes carry more bragging rights on the playground than a firehouse. The couple expects that the property will be available for rent in July with the Corcoran Group.

Mr. Cooper bought the firehouse in September for $4.3 million. It once housed the Fire Patrol, which was separate from the city Fire Department. It was supported by the insurance industry, and its job was to salvage property and try to limit the damage at blazes in commercial buildings. Keith Roma was one of the men who worked there; he died on Sept. 11. The patrol was closed down several years ago. Arnie Roma, Keith Roma’s father, asked Mr. Cooper to restore the plaque that honors his son, which was removed before Mr. Cooper bought the building.

Tom Keaney, a spokesman for Mr. Cooper, said that he planned to preserve the house as a historic building and that there were “no issues” related to landmarking. And a member of Mr. Cooper’s staff spoke with Arnie Roma — who also worked at the firehouse — and said that “Anderson would be happy to display the memorial plaques.” But the staffer declined to comment about the lawsuit from the through-the-hole architect.

Mr. Cooper should not expect that the attention will die down after renovations are completed, said Sharon Liebowitz. She and her husband bought a firehouse in Greenwich Village in 2005 through a Prudential Douglas Elliman broker and said that tourists constantly take photographs of the big red doors. But behind those big red doors, few visitors can peer in, she said.