At Home With: Sarah and Claude in Hoboken

Sarah’s high-powered financial planning career has taken her from Munich to Paris and back to her native London. When she got word late last year that her company was set to transfer her to New York, Sarah and her husband Claude knew exactly what they wanted in a place to live: something just like their roomy townhouse in London.

Claude, originally from Canada, had lived in Tribeca for a stint 15 years ago, but as a married couple, they weren’t keen on the idea of a shoebox-sized downtown apartment. They wanted somewhere with enough room for their overseas family to visit comfortably, and because of Sarah’s hectic work schedule, the commute to downtown Manhattan needed to be minimal. Plus, they had one major, non-negotiable requirement: outdoor space for their two beloved cats. “Basically everything revolves around the boys,” Sarah says with a smile—and she is only half joking.

Sarah and Claude only anticipate being here for the next three years, so Sarah’s company advised them to rent rather than buy. The pair made a trip to New York in November 2013 to check out a few places on the Upper West Side, “but nothing really clicked,” says Claude. Chasing the holy grail of outdoor space, they looked across the river in Hoboken, where Claude, a freelance finance professional, had stayed at the W Hotel on several business trips, and knew there were beautiful brownstone neighborhoods filled with historic properties. “We considered the city for awhile, but we really wanted that garden,” recalls Claude. “And we also wanted a little bit of community.”

Claude and Sarah were underwhelmed by the first few properties they saw. There were several nice apartments with no outdoor space. One large unit had a sizable study where Claude could work from home—but it had no windows. Another vintage house was decked top-to-bottom with wallpaper that gave vintage a bad name. With their impending moving date creeping up on them, the thought of any kind of renovation was unappealing. “We’re so busy that it really had to be move-in ready,” says Claude.

Back in London and continuing to browse properties online, Claude had a good feeling when he saw the listing pop up for a Dixon property, a 1830s townhouse on one of the best blocks in leafy, tree-lined Upper Hoboken. “We looked at a lot of other places,” he says. “And nowhere else even came close.”

Dixon’s in-house acquisitions and leasing agent, Charlaine Mercado, sent Claude finished pictures and floor plans for the three-bedroom townhouse, which is filled with original details like stately wood railings, exposed brick walls, intricate pocket doors, wooden shutters, and a beautiful stained glass skylight. Dixon’s recent renovation complemented the historic charm with a fully modern upgrade, including new floors— stripped down and stained to match the preserved railings—new recessed lighting to replace individual ceiling fixtures, and a sleek white kitchen finished with Carrera marble countertops. The compelling juxtaposition of old and new had Claude hooked—and the sizable back garden was the clincher. In short, “it had all the things we wanted,” he says.

Claude and Sarah already had a trip booked to fly back to New York the following week so they could look at more houses, but when they heard another couple was viewing the Dixon property that weekend, they decided to pull the trigger, sight unseen.

Since moving in this past January, Claude has made a beautiful home office out of the second-level bedroom, a space that fills with sunlight throughout the day, and feels especially airy when the double pocket doors to the adjoining den open up. Sarah, meanwhile, loves commuting to work by ferry. With the stop only a two-minute walk from their home, the door-to-door trip to her office in downtown Manhattan takes just half an hour.

Sarah’s parents recently came for a three-week visit, when the home’s renovated layout came in hand. Originally, the third level had two bedrooms with one common bathroom facing the hallway, but Dixon rethought that, installing two back-to-back en-suites baths. “The quality of the spare room is much better than what we had in London," says Sarah. “It’s like a whole apartment. It was perfect for my parents.”

On weekends, they find few reasons to leave Upper Hoboken. “Everything is within five minutes,” says Claude, from great coffee shops to neighborhood restaurants like Dino and Harry’s Steakhouse just around the corner, to Bin 14 on bustling Washington Street, which serves “the best gluten-free pizza that I’ve ever tasted,” according to Sarah.

After long days at the office, their sleek and spacious kitchen serves as a welcome sanctuary, and in warm weather Claude takes to grilling on the backyard patio.

“I’ve moved so much in my adult life and it’s hard,” continues Sarah. “This time it was so easy—it’s such a welcoming community, and in terms of the house, we really didn’t have to do anything.”

Claude and Sarah’s move was made even easier by the fact that Dixon assigned a personal property manager to make sure their every need is taken care of year-round, from repairs to upgrades and even gardening. “It is so nice to have someone making sure every little thing is attended to,” says Sarah. “We’ve certainly never had that anywhere else.”

At their request, Dixon’s property manager helped make a few modifications—such as installing sensor lights at the entrance, because Sarah often comes home late from work. A gardener will be by soon to plant additional greenery in their backyard, where they did make one small change: installing a microchip-powered cat door that opens for their cats only, so that “the boys” can come in and out freely, making the most of that treasured outdoor space.

View the floor plans for Garden Street