Then there are the truly contentious subjects — like the fireplace tiles that used to be in Carla Weisberg's apartment on West 12th Street in Greenwich Village.
As for the fireplace tiles, her father saved some and a friend made a side table out of them, so he could have a keepsake of the old apartment.
"Of course I'd seen many, many fireplace tiles over the years, but never anything like this," said Andrew S. Dolkart, director of the historic preservation program at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University.
Even so, the house is filled with original details: first-cut oak hardwood floors and oak and cherry moldings; fireplace tiles; paneled doors; period light fixtures; cabinetry testifying to the architect's previous life as a shipbuilder; and a stained-glass triptych at the base of the curving staircase that depicts a rising phoenix.
The 3,000-square-foot 3,000-square-foot 3,000-square-footlaces, tile and pine floors, a sunroom and a covered veranda.
On the ground floor of the west wing, there is a paneled master suite in cream tones, a master bathroom with shower, bath and Murano mirrors, and a large study/dressing room with floor-to-ceiling closets inset between bookcases, a 19th century stone fireplace and tile floors.
$900,000 to $1.2 million Long Beach $995,0002633 National Boulevard Number of bedrooms: 8 Number of full bathrooms: 4 Number of half bathrooms: 0 Time on the market: 6 months 79-year-old stucco center-hall colonial; eat-in kitchen, dining room, attic, front porch, patio, deck, c/a, fireplace, Spanish tile roof, 80-by-100-ft.
Leaded-glass windows, wood-burning fireplaces with tile surrounds, built-in wardrobes and crown moldings are original.
The more-than-three-acre property features a main house with five fireplaces, stone tile floors, a kitchen with an island, a breakfast nook, a formal dining room with floor-to-ceiling windows, a theater, a gym, a wine cellar, five bedrooms and six bathrooms.
