128 Brewer Ave

Suffolk's West End Historic District doesn't just tolerate old houses - it insists on them. This 1922 Colonial Revival holds its own: true brick, not veneer, under a real slate roof, with a front portico framed by Tuscan columns that has announced this address for over a century. It was built to impress. James L. Bell, whose Bell Hosiery Mill was in the old Factory District, spared nothing in putting this house together- the Historical Society still describes it as built with "the finest of everything." Then the Depression took the mill, and the house moved on to the Ponds, one of the families behind Suffolk's peanut trade, and later to the Januarys, whose menswear store dressed downtown Suffolk for generations. A mill man, a peanut family, a clothier - three of the city's best-known names, one address. What each left behind isn't in the listing photos. It's move-in ready with numerous updates and upgrades. Come see it for yourself - the rest of the story is better told standing in the front hall than read in an ad.
Over $100K in recent updates, top to bottom: slate roof repaired and rated in excellent condition at inspection; wood rot repaired at every eave and window; exterior trim scraped and repainted; brick repointed; new gutters and downspouts with guards; new vinyl privacy fence with two 10-ft gates; custom-built 12x20 shed with loading ramp and double doors. Inside: main-level molding and trim redone; living room, den, dining room, upstairs hall, and sunroom repainted; original unstained hardwood staircase preserved; brand-new HVAC zone for the 2nd and 3rd floors (1st-floor system approx. 5 yrs old); 2nd-floor bath refinished. The former attic is now a 3rd-floor primary suite: walls redone, new carpet, ceiling fans, two new windows, two added closets plus a walk-in, a full bath built from scratch with a tile shower, and its own laundry. Also: whole-house water treatment system, full security system, and a back-stair chairlift that can stay or go.