Detached Edwardian house in New York State for sale for just £744 or 8,400% less than it cost to build in 1906; it is in the place of Tom Cruise’s birth and was home to a famous German police dog in the 1920s
Whilst an alcoholic drink to fix a hangover is often known as a “hair of the dog,” a 2,061 square foot detached house on a plot of 3,600 square foot that is currently for sale is certainly something that is in need of a great deal of curing.
Situated in the Brighton area of Syracuse, NY, the two-storey house has 4 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and last sold for £734 in 2015 is again offered for the same sum. Its asking price equates to a sum of just £2.80 per square foot – a true bargain compared to the £4,909 figure for a Chelsea Barracks, London apartment we featured in June.
Featured first on the Old Houses Under 50k blog as a “fixer upper” yesterday, 214 Colvin Street East was supposedly built by one C. R. Brown circa 1906 to 1908 and represents a “good investment opportunity” or is equally suitable for owner occupancy. It is offered by the Greater Syracuse Land Bank on the condition the condition that the buyer provides proof of funds of £63,200 to cover purchase and renovation.
According to the blog, the house’s best-known previous resident was a German police dog from the First World War. Of the animal, they state:
“In the 1920s, it was home to a dog known as Jack. Jack was born around 1910 (?) and served as a German police dog during World War I.”
“According to an article in the September 11th, 1921 issue of the Syracuse Herald, Jack was there when the German army withdrew from their position at the Hindenburg line in France in October 1918. The German army left behind a great number of dogs which had been used by them in their offensives.”
“Dr. Scott R. Fisher, a Syracuse resident, was at Hindenurg [sic] working with the Red Cross to care for Americans. When Jack spotted Dr. Fisher, he stuck to him and refused to leave his side – ensuring he found a way to be with Fisher his entire way back to base. Dr. Fisher told the paper that, ‘such devotion deserves reward,’ and decided to take Jack back home with him.”
“According to the article: ‘Jack was stowed away in an overcrowded ship which was bringing American soldiers home and where each man was allowed only a certain poundage of baggage. Dr. Fisher shared his own rations with Jack because dog food was not available in the ship’s stores.” When they arrived back in America, the pair settled here on Syracuse’s Southside.’”
The Numbers – 214 Colvin Street East, Brighton, Southside, Syracuse, New York State, NY 13205, United States of America
September 2020 – For sale for £744 ($1,000, €835 or درهم1,354) on the condition the buyer showing proof of funds of £63,200 ($85,000, €71,000 or درهم115,100) to cover the purchase and renovation.
2017 – 2019 – Assessed for tax for the sum of £14,900 ($20,000, €16,700 or درهم27,100) each year.
February 2015 – Sold for £734 ($1,000, €835 or درهم1,354).
Circa 1906 – 1908 – Built at a cost of £2,600 ($3,500, €2,900 or درهم12,900), the equivalent of £68,100 ($91,600, €76,400 or درهم336,400) today.
The entrance to the house is framed by two Doric columns.A reception room with an especially manky looking door.Another room features two sash windows and a ceiling complete with a gaping hole.The entrance hallway and original staircase (minus a few spindles).The landing ceiling shows further sign of collapses.A bedroom plainly previously inhabited by someone named Minnie.Another room with children’s drawings on the walls (and a buckled floor).A bathroom where one would most certainly not like to bathe.The house stands on a street where those that neighbour it are perfectly well presented.Syracuse is situated to the north of New York and the east of Rochester. Its metropolitan area had a population of 662,000 as of 2010 and has transitioned from a manufacturing area to one primarily focused on higher education, research and healthcare. The city is also well known for its jazz and contemporary music scene.
As art fraudster Inigo Philbrick is arrested and dragged onto a private plane by the FBI, his on-off lover ‘Made in Chelsea’s’ Victoria Baker Harber shows no sympathy for victims; meanwhile fellow art conwoman Angela Gulbenkian has been deservedly detained in Lisbon
‘Mini Madoff’ Inigo Philbrick, ex-Jay Jopling employee and on-off squeeze of gobby ‘Made in Chelsea’ participant Victoria Baker Harber, snared in Vanuatu, Oceania last Friday.
Philbrick had bizarrely spent his time as a fugitive from justice petting “abandoned” dogs.
Fellow socialite and art fraudster Angela Gulbenkian, whose victims include Chelsea based interior designers Percy Bass, snared on the same day in Lisbon.
She traded on her loose connections to one of the richest families in the world, the Gulbenkians. Connected foundations and museums consistently have denied any association with the German born crook.
The two con artists are unconnected in terms of their nefarious activities and victims named thus far, but their paths may likely have crossed given the social circles they operated in and around.
‘The Talented Mr Philbrick’ was how one art newspaper somewhat cornily lauded Inigo Philbrick in the wake of this dastardly double dealer being exposed as a Madoff of the art world. He was snared in Vanuatu in Oceania last Friday whilst on Tuesday in Lisbon, fellow trader-on-a-well-known-name Angela Gulbenkian was taken into “preventative detention” to be extradited back to the UK.
Speaking to The Steeple Times on Friday, Jane Morris, managing director of acclaimed Walton Street interior designers Percy Bass remarked:
“Angela Gulbenkian came to Percy Bass to get her flat decorated. We did the work, but never got paid. She forged a bank transfer note pretending to be part of the Gulbenkian Foundation. Percy Bass had a judgment against her, but she fled abroad.”
Now, in addition and facing charges relating to a £1.1 million ($1.4 million, €1.2 million or درهم5 million) Kusama pumpkin sculpture and a £115,000 ($142,000, €127,000 or درهم522,000) Warhol print of Queen Elizabeth II and the theft of £50,000 ($62,000, €55,000 or درهم227,000) from a woman named Jacqui Ball, 38-year-old socialite Gulbenkian is ludicrously still claiming to be an “art collector” and linked to what she lists as the “Gulbenkian Private Art Collection” on Instagram. She is, in fact, even by her own admission, the owner of “just three works of art” and the daughter of an optometrist from Munich, Germany.
Angela Ischwang (as this shameless swindler was born) supposedly moved to London in the early 2000s to study politics. She subsequently met and married Duarte Gulbenkian, the great-grand nephew of the one-time richest man in the world Calouste Gulbenkian, and went into the art business in around 2016.
Listing herself as someone who “brokers high end arts works” through “valuable contacts,” this crooked conwoman – whose suggestions of links to the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation have been firmly denied by the trustees of those organisations – Gulbenkian is surprisingly linked to only one dissolved company, Doctor Duve Medical Skin Care Ltd. of Southwark Bridge Road, SE1.
Charged in relation to the Kusama pumpkin sculpture and the money stolen from Ball in May last year, Angela Gulbenkian was released on unconditional bail in September 2019 after appearing at Southwark Crown Court. She then failed to appear in May 2020 and a European Arrest Warrant was issued for her arrest. Now, ‘Awful Ange’ – as an embarrassed former friend told us she now calls her – will be rightly returned to face her comeuppance and this time she’ll be unlikely to get bail.
Philbrick meanwhile – who was until recently subject to ‘Where’s Wally?’ like speculation since having disappeared off the face of the planet after last being seen with his brash Made In Chelsea motormouth on-off lover Victoria Baker Harber in Australia in late 2019 – was found last Friday in Port Vila, Vanuata, an island nation in the South Pacific.
“Grabbed” by a mix of uniformed and ununiformed cops, the “startled” 33-year-old crook and estranged son of museum director Harry Philbrick – was “hustled” into a police car and taken to the local airport reported Artnet News on Wednesday. “A large Gulfstream jet was waiting on the tarmac” and this, “under instructions from the FBI,” flew him to New York.
Facing allegations of theft, misappropriation, borrowing money against artworks he did not even own and selling overlapping shares of artworks, Ponzi-like pillock Philbrick had supposedly been hiding out in a “house of an expat who died in a tragic accident.” Bizarrely, he had been busying his days helping “abandoned” dogs and of him one local remarked: “He was always calling me about an animal he found.”
Now in chains for his crimes against amongst others the Reuben family, Philbrick faces not only a real-life trial but also further exposure in the media. One-time friend, but ultimately a victim of the shameless scammer, art writer, curator and dealer Kenny Schachter this week wrote:
“I have no doubt that Inigo will capitalize on our collective financial misfortune and turn it into a multimedia bonanza for himself. As far as my own movie and documentary projects, for which deals will be announced shortly, all I want and/or expect is that they make good on part of the money Inigo took from me.”
Meanwhile last Sunday, dippy dope Victoria Baker Harber showed no regret for her association with Philbrick – a man who ferried her around in a private jet at the expense of others – in retweeting an attack on Schachter by someone named ‘Koogs’ on Twitter on 14th June. They opined: “Who quotes themselves?? Get over it! Your wife is a billionaire! Are you crying about cash or cock?”
Though at around £16.2 million ($20 million, €17.9 million or درهم73.5 million) Inigo Philbrick’s total scam is far bigger than Angela Gulbenkian’s, the effects are the same for the victims of these high society crooks: May the authorities now chuck the book at this rotten pair of ratbags.
Pictured top – Con artist Angela Gulbenkian appeared at Southwark Crown Court in September 2019 “in a blue dress decorated with silver stars and black Christian Louboutin high heels” according to ‘Metro’ (right); art fraudster Inigo Philbrick poses looking startled as television screen loving terror Victoria Baker Harber attempts to look sexually provocative.
Aided by their surnames –Inigo Philbrick duped the art world and the use of the surname he shares with his estranged art curator father certainly aided him in his ‘endeavours’; Angela Gulbenkian traded on her connections to the legendary art collecting, billionaire Gulbenkian family also.You’re snared! – A newspaper frontpage chronicling Inigo Philbrick’s detainment; social media users mocked the former fugitive with one joking: “OK bye now!”The ultimate deceiver – In March, Angela Gulbenkian posted an image accompanied by the caption: “Life is art!” on her Instagram page. She hashtagged it with amongst other things #letsgofar and #successfulwomen, but neglected to add the truth about herself: “My life is the art of deception!” is what it should have read.No sympathy for Philbrick’s victims – Victoria Baker Harber took to Twitter on 14th June to retweet an unpleasant comment mocking one of her on-off lover Inigo Philbrick’s victims, Kenny Schachter.Living the high life – Inigo Philbrick liked private jets and swilling champagne in the company of amongst others Victoria Baker Harber; he’s now getting used to porridge.
Twerp of Twitter, ‘Shady Steph’ – a washed-up wastrel who’ll not be giving Albert Einstein a run for his money any day soon – posted the comment: “Shoot the looters” on Monday, but deleted the remark after being quite correctly reminded she’d been arrested for stealing £1,033 ($1,300) of clothing from Neiman Marcus in May 2006. Whilst in custody this rotten ratbag was also found to be in the possession of drugs.
Reported to Twitter for “inciting violence” and called out a “worthless good for nothing tw*t,” pointless pillock Pratt did not stop there. Further examples of this dumb blonde’s recent social media ‘activity’ follows.
Poor lamb – Pratt highlighted her first world problems in May. She couldn’t find an airline willing to take her and her pooch.Shopped out – In April, this alleged-no-longer-a-junkie tried to claim she’d found a new addiction: Amazon. Anyone got a polygraph machine handy?Music’s not her forte – In March, madam shared news of someone we’ve never heard of writing a song about “the horrible coronavirus.” Her sentiments made sense to just about no one.We’re sure the Queen was touched – In January, Pratt claimed to be “in complete denial” about Prince Harry and his wife quitting royal duties. The reality car wreck most likely hankers after the dastardly duo becoming her new ‘besties.’Cleaned out – In November last year, ‘Shady Steph’ shared news that she cleans her house before her cleaner arrives. Anyone surprised? Anyone guessing she might have a lot of white stuff to hoover up?
Entitled Hamptons brat Jonathan Davis exposed for allegedly squatting during the coronavirus lockdown; it turns out he’s a realtor with NestSeekers
Jonathan Davis is the founder of the Hamptons Brewing Company and the son of a self-declared “power broker” realtor named Tim Davis. Aside from also being a property agent and claiming to have been “born and raised” in the summer colony that the wealthy of New York flock to, on Friday, he was exposed as something else – Mr Davis has now been outed as a pesky squatter who allegedly doesn’t pay his rent and goes around wrecking other peoples’ homes.
In March, Davis, a graduate of Lynn University “with a passion for business,” featured in an interview with Fox Business in which he bragged about how much business he was doing because of the coronavirus pandemic. In the typically brash style expected of a privileged preppy prat and speaking on behalf of his bosses at the NestSeekers brokerage, he declared:
“Rental season is starting earlier now. Instead of Memorial Day, it’s 1st April… It’s a very proactive time… There is just more room to breathe out here and families feel safer… It’s not a bad environment to be quarantined.”
According to Inside Edition, completely modest to his core “like father, like son, greatness never dies” Davis – whom according to his broker profile has sold properties priced as high as £9.3 million ($11.5 million, €10.3 million or درهم42.2 million) and pompously lauds himself as a “well-regarded agent” selling “a lifestyle, not just a dream home” according to posts on his Twitter handle – has himself taken advantage of the pandemic at the expense of someone who rented him a house.
The “prominent real estate agent” and “alleged squatter,” the syndicated news-magazine reports, rented a 3-bedroom property in Sag Harbor from Paula Rosado and now “refuses to move out.” Davis is alleged to owe £12,100 ($15,000, €13,500 or درهم55,100) and has supposedly allowed his two German Shepherd dogs to “tear apart” the building and urinate all over her rugs and “couches” [sic]. Windows are reported broken also and of the situation, Rosado moaned: “It’s horrific. It really is just horrific… This has been a complete nightmare for us, for our family emotionally and financially.”
When confronted by Inside Edition’s cameras, Davis refused to comment. His lawyer, meanwhile, angrily stated: “I’ve got no comments except: GET ORF THE GROUNDS!”
The Steeple Times contacted Jonathan Davis and his bosses at NestSeekers – CEO and founder Eddie Shapiro, Bridgehampton salesperson Dylan Eckardt and associate broker Peggy Zabakolas – for comment on Saturday. They all failed to respond by 11am GMT Monday and thus provided illustration of the “ethics, integrity, loyalty, education, ingenuity and courage” by which Shapiro’s firm operates by. Allow NestSeekers into your home at your peril.
Pictured top: Jonathan Davis looking annoyed alongside his ritzy Land Rover Discovery and a police officer.
The home rented to Jonathan Davis by Paula Rosado.The gardens of the Sag Harbor property now resemble something inhabited by Stig of the Dump. They were supposedly immaculate prior to Jonathan Davis moving in.Property owner Paula Rosado spoke to ‘Inside Edition’ to share her frustrations.On the Instagram page for his brewing company, Jonathan Davis declares: “A good time starts here.” As can be seen from this image, a good time is not being had by his caged dogs.Jonathan Davis’ unnamed legal representative made quite a scene, when asked for a comment.Mr Davis, however, surprisingly for a mouthy realtor, had little to nothing to say.Davis does like to brag about his supposed successes on his NestSeekers broker profile though. One Hamptons local we approached commented: “I wouldn’t trust him with a garden hoe.”
Power of social media proven after the senseless murder of James Scurlock in Omaha, Nebraska allegedly by a bar owner Jake Gardner who has been photographed with Donald Trump
The true reach and usefulness of social media was illustrated on Sunday after the murder of a 22-year-old unarmed man named James Scurlock in Omaha, Nebraska the previous night.
WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT – This tweet shows video footage of the shooting of James Scurlock allegedly by Jake Gardner.
Whilst initially (at time of publishing at GMT 18:45, just hours after the alleged shooter, a cocktail bar owner named Jake Gardner, had “bailed out [of custody] at 6am” according to one local), no mainstream media outlets were reporting on the story, a GoFundMe page to support Mr Scurlock’s grieving family had gone viral.
It read:
We are creating this fundraiser for James Scurlock and his family.
Who is James Scurlock?
A 22 years old young black man who showed his dedication a love for his people every single day.
James was passionate for Justice, but today his fight ended as he was shot and killed downtown Omaha while protesting for the same Justice he deserves.
May you Rest In Peace James.
Within just seven hours of being made live, the page had raised over £32,000 ($40,000) for the late Mr Scurlock’s family whilst elsewhere on Twitter, filmed footage of the incident had gone viral. In it, gunshot can clearly be heard whilst other images shared include one of the alleged killer Jake Gardner posing with President Donald Trump.
James Scurlock died of his injuries soon after being shot.Jake Gardner’s bar, The Hive, is situated at 1207 Harney Street in Omaha, Nebraska. It is described as an “old-school bar with live music and a dance floor” that serves “cocktails, whisky and canned beer.” Here Mr Gardner is pictured outside it with his dog.Prior to the shooting, Jake Gardner posted on social media about “[having] to pull 48 hours of military style firewatch.”Jake Gardner posted a photograph of himself and his dog with President Donald Trump on Facebook on 25th September 2017. In the wake of the shooting, that image has gone viral on Twitter.Mr Gardner shared this image of himself on his Facebook page in July 2018 at the Republican National Convention with the Fox News commentator Jesse Watters in the background.Mr Gardner has a dog named LeBRON. It has its own Instagram account with 2,300 followers. Here it is pictured sporting Trump campaign materials.Another image of Jake Gardner shared on Twitter in the hours after the shooting shows him posing in one of his bars.This photograph of Mr Gardner with the comedian Adam DeVine has also been shared widely.
Owned by the amusingly named Darren Chick, a Brit living in America, Nigel disappeared from his home in Torrance, California in 2010 and was presumed dead.
Nigel, it turns out, was found four years later in 2014 by Julia Sperling, a dog grooming parlour owner. Nobody knew where he’d been but his accent had gone. It was replaced with him: “Singing without control [and barking] like the dogs” in a Spanish accent.
Sperling handed the bird to a vet who realised ‘Larry’ – as the parrot kept calling out – had a microchip. He traced Mr Chick and returned the errant bird to its rightful owner.
You just couldn’t make it up and frankly on a day when we’re stuck with yet more Brexit woes, thank goodness for a bit of lighthearted amusement.
Whackjob Wetherspoons owner Tim Martin has followed up on banning foreign booze including Moët & Chandon and now banned dogs from his entire chain of pubs
Pro-Brexit publican Tim Martin has landed himself quite literally in dogshit.
According to a report in Friday’s Mirror, Martin’s pub chain, Wetherspoon, will ban dogs from both the inside and outside areas of his 880 pubs from Monday 10th September 2018. The reason? “The group’s hard-working staff had grown tired of picking up poop.”
Back in June, this king of ‘making a dog’s dinner of it’ scored another own goal when he banned European alcohol such as Moët & Chandon champagne from his premises also. At the time, this multi-millionaire commented: “The EU’s customs union is a protectionist system which is widely misunderstood. The products we are now introducing are at lower prices than the EU products they are replacing.”
In April, plainly showing how much he likes to ban things, Martin ordered his staff to delete all the firm’s social media profiles. Whatever next? Will he ban his very own customers?
Quirky 1995 Rolls-Royce estate car for sale for just shy of £100,000; it’s perfect for picnics and conveying posh pooches
A 1995 special edition Rolls-Royce Flying Spur converted to an estate car in recent years from a Silver Spur III with just 25,000 miles on the clock is currently for sale for £99,000 ($138,000, €112,000 or درهم508,000).
Redesigned by West Coast Customs for an American music company executive circa 2011 for use in California, the vehicle offered features a “raked roof-line” and is finished in British Racing Green with light green over. It has just 25,000 miles on the clock, a tan leather interior and a boot with acres of space for dogs, picnics and goodness knows what else.
The 6.8-litre, turbocharged V8 engine, automatic, right-hand drive car – one of just 134 Silver Spur III’s – is offered by Desmond J. Smail of Olney, Buckinghamshire, England.
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Theresa May has a perfect right to go to church but why can’t she worship privately?
Week after week, every Sunday, Theresa May appears outside her local church. She is photographed with her garden gnome-like husband and often even a dog.
That Britain’s most incompetent leader ever chooses to believe in the Anglican faith is entirely her right, but that she rams this down the nation’s throat every Sunday is frankly grating. It is time that Mrs May realised that this country, in fact, is now a multi-faith society and it is time that she learnt to respect that.
Elsewhere, talk of a coup to oust the out-of-control Mrs May is gaining momentum. This is hardly surprising given this vicar’s daughter’s true uselessness, but that such talk united contributors to the Daily Mail and The Guardian over the weekend is telling. It’s time the Conservative Party got its act into gear and it’s time to #MakeFebruaryTheEndOfMay.
Follow The Steeple Times on Twitter at @SteepleTimes.
Gold wrapped van advertising “elite” dogs parks opposite the Ecuadorian Embassy ‘home’ of bail skipper Julian Assange
The silly season has come early in Knightsbridge: Sighted Sunday evening and parked, rather appropriately, opposite the Embassy of Ecuador ‘home’ of the fugitive bail skipper Julian Assange, was a gold wrapped van advertising protection and guard dogs for sale.
A visit to the website of Elite Protection Dogs London is a revelation. The “superdogs” offered by the firm are described as having “elite genes”, “military bloodlines” and the “highest IQs”. They are marketed as costing in the staggering range of £10,000 to £20,000 ($13,000 to $26,000, €11,000 to €22,000 or درهم48,000 to درهم96,000) and take up to six months to train.
A YouTube video – which bizarrely illustrates the “spa service” for the dogs concerned – follows. They are described as “intelligent warriors” and pictured “perfecting their biting skills” even.
