No View, No Garden, Just a Wall
Bridget O’Brian and Barnett J. Brimberg relished the small backyard behind their Upper East Side townhouse, bounded at the far end by a plain wood fence and their next door neighbor’s extensive garden. But when the neighbor died, new owners arrived with big plans: Gut the house, add a fifth floor and build a several-thousand-square-foot extension in back for a new kitchen and a private gym.