Architecture And Design

Construction of the Durst Organization’s first development outside of Manhattan, Halletts Point, a $1.5 billion waterfront development in Astoria, is moving full speed ahead. As CityRealty learned, new renderings hanging outside of the construction site reveal two blocky towers covered in glass, with rows of balconies at their corners. Earlier this month, construction topped out on the project’s first two towers at 26-01 1st Street, designed by Dattner Architects. Now, work has officially begun on the second pair of buildings at 26-02 1st Street and 26-40 1st Street.
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September 19, 2017

Williamsburg townhouse gets a ‘mullet’ reno with business in front and a party out back

Yes, you heard that right--the architects characterized this East Williamsburg townhouse renovation as having "a mullet strategy" of a "business/historically correct approach in the front and a party/modern attitude toward the back." The architects, BFDO, were tasked with restoring the facade of a historic wood frame house, while also modernizing and expanding it. The result? A pleasing blend of older historic details with a brightness and openness not often on display in a Brooklyn townhouse.
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Richard Meier’s first NYC skyscraper tops out, clad in black glass

Rendering courtesy of Richard Meier & Partners / Solow / BloomImages

September 19, 2017

Richard Meier’s first NYC skyscraper tops out, clad in black glass

Along the East River just south of the United Nations, Pritzker Prize-winner Richard Meier’s 42-story, 460-foot-tall tower has officially topped out, CityRealty learned. Developed by Sheldon Solow’s East River Realty Development, the skyscraper at 685 First Avenue has an all-black, glassy facade to offer residents privacy and create a uniform appearance on the outside. Upon completion in 2018, the Turtle Bay residential tower will feature 556 rental and condominium apartments, with incredible panoramic waterfront views.
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September 18, 2017

Jersey City’s Harborside boardwalk to get $75M makeover and new food hall

By Dana Schulz

Over the past two decades, the Jersey City waterfront has seen a huge boom in both residential and commercial development, revealing an entirely new skyline of tall, glassy towers. And now real estate investor Mack-Cali wants to embrace this waterfront location in the way that new large-scale developments are doing in Manhattan (Waterline Square) and Brooklyn (Domino Sugar Factory). The firm's $75 million plan will piggyback on next month's opening of a new New York Waterway ferry station there and transform the waterfront promenade in front of their 4.3 million-square-foot Harborside office complex into a "one-of-a-kind cultural district" that will include a beer garden, European-style food hall known as The Marketplace, and the Harborside Atrium, an interconnected series of pedestrian routes and lobbies throughout the buildings that will also serve as cultural event space.
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September 18, 2017

‘American Horror Story’ actor Denis O’Hare lists Fort Greene carriage house condo for $1.6M

Actor Denis O'Hare might be known for taking roles in creepy shows like "American Horror Story" and "True Blood," but his Fort Greene home is anything but. He bought the unique duplex at 159 Carlton Avenue, a landmarked 2,015-square-foot carriage house that was once the Feuchtwanger Stable, for just $175,000 in 1998 when he was still acting on Broadway (h/t WSJ). Over the past 19 years, his husband, interior designer Hugo Redwood, completely renovated the condo, preserving its amazing arched windows that once allowed horses and carriages to enter but creating a more open, loft-like space. And it's now on the market for $1,595,000.
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September 14, 2017

Billionaire sports team owner gets $17M discount on Upper East Side mega-mansion

A massive Upper East Side single-family townhouse at 50 East 69th Street was just wrestled off the market for an equally monumental $45 million, sources have told the New York Post. Joshua Harris, co-founder of Apollo Global Management, owner of the Philadelphia 76ers and part owner of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, just bought the 21,070-square-foot house, which was listed at $72 million last September and reduced to $59 million in June. The 44-foot-wide limestone-clad building, known as the Dommerich Mansion, was built in 1917 in a neo-French classic style by architect Henry C. Pelton for Otto Louis Dommerich, who ran his family's family cotton business. It was most recently being used as a cosmetic surgery facility.
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712-foot observation tower proposed for Central Park would also clean the reservoir

Rendering via DFA

September 14, 2017

712-foot observation tower proposed for Central Park would also clean the reservoir

By Dana Schulz

Local creative studio DFA is proposing a 712-foot public observation tower in Central Park that would double as a sustainable filtration system to clean the decommissioned and hazardous Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir and turn it into a non-toxic, useable freshwater pond. The firm says their idea is "in response to [the] growing demand for public bird’s eye views in the world’s tallest cities and an increasing need for innovative environmental cleanup strategies." Though meant to be temporary, the prefabricated tower would be the world's tallest timber structure if completed, featuring a 56-foot-wide viewing platform and a glass oculus that showcases the tower's functional elements.
All the details and renderings ahead

Barry Diller pulls the plug on $250M Pier 55 offshore park

Photo: Pier 55, Inc./Heatherwick Studio.

September 14, 2017

Barry Diller pulls the plug on $250M Pier 55 offshore park

Barry Diller, the billionaire chairman of IAC, announced he's killing the $250 million project that promised to bring a futuristic offshore park and cultural site to the Hudson River's dilapidated Pier 54. 6sqft previously covered the unfolding saga of the ill-fated project, known as Pier 55 (or sometimes as "Diller Park"), as opposing factions continually blocked its progress and were eventually revealed to be funded by prominent New York real estate developer Douglas Durst. According to the New York Times, Diller said Wednesday that his commitment to build the undulating pier would be coming to an end—an inglorious one for a bold plan that some, and certainly Diller himself, saw as a new Manhattan waterfront icon to rival the nearby High Line.
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September 13, 2017

This renovated Park Slope co-op, asking $995K, has its own Instagram account

If there was a contest for most popular apartments in New York City, this one would be in the running as the winner. Apartment #3L at the Park Slope co-op 749 Union Street has been profiled in Lonny and Architectural Digest. It has its own Instagram account. And it was designed by Dan Mazzarini, the former director of store design at Ralph Lauren who went on to open his own design firm, BHDM. Envisioned as a black-and-white bachelor pad with a sleek, modern kitchen, the apartment is now looking for its next owner at an ask of $995,000.
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Morphosis Architects’ innovative Bloomberg Center at Cornell Tech on Roosevelt Island officially opens

The first building of Cornell Tech's Roosevelt Island campus officially opened on Wednesday, set to be the first net-zero university building in New York City. Known as the Emma and Georgina Bloomberg Center, named after former Mayor Michael Bloomberg who donated $100 million for the project, the four-story 160,000-square foot academic building will be the intellectual nerve center of Cornell Tech. Designed by Morphosis Architects, the building has a photovoltaic canopy and an aluminum-paneled facade.
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September 13, 2017

New renderings of 3 Hudson Boulevard revive the skyscraper’s proposed 300-foot spire

In what seems like a game of hide-and-seek, the 300-foot spire on top of the Moinian Group’s supertall at 3 Hudson Boulevard has returned to renderings, after being absent from them two weeks ago. The spire, which would make the skyscraper the tallest building in Hudson Yards at 1,350 feet tall, first made its appearance in early August, only to disappear a few weeks later. Now, as YIMBY reported, the FXFOWLE-designed building shows the spire’s return, as construction begins at the site.
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September 13, 2017

First look at the 2017 Open House New York sites!

If you love architecture and urban design from historic to contemporary, there has never been a better time to join Open House New York for a rare weekend of access to typically off limits sites. Celebrating its 15th anniversary, this year’s OHNY will take place on Saturday, October 14 and Sunday, October 15, opening up more than 200 buildings and projects across the five boroughs for tours and talks with architects, urban planners, preservationists, and city leaders. OHNY has just released a sneak preview of the program, which includes a tour of SHoP Architects' American Copper Buildings and their iconic skybridge, a peek inside the artifacts and archival gems at the New York Transit Museum Archives, the Bridge at Cornell Tech at the university's new Roosevelt Island Campus, and the new global headquarters of West Elm.
This way for a sneak peak at what’s in store this year for OHNY

September 12, 2017

Loci Architecture took this 1878 Carroll Gardens brownstone and decked it out with wood

The Manhattan-based firm Loci Architecture took plenty of care in the renovation of this historic Carroll Gardens townhouse, which dates back to 1878. (According to the firm, the home was once occupied by the last queen of Sikkim, a northeastern state of India.) In a complete renovation and rear extension, Loci completely decked the interior out with wood--everything from salvaged pine, to Douglass Fir, to reclaimed barn timbers. Wood floors, ceiling beams, built ins, and storage space make for a warm, textural interior.
Now go see the finishes

September 11, 2017

VIDEO: Drone footage shows construction of ODA’s massive Rheingold Brewery site

Slated to be the largest influx of housing created in Bushwick ever, ODA Architect’s two projects on the old Rheingold Brewery site continue to progress. Rabsky Group’s 10 Montieth Street, a nearly 400,000-square-foot, seven-story building with 392 units, just topped out. And All Year Management’s impressive development, totaling one million square feet, at 123 Melrose Street is currently being clad. Overall, the two projects will span three full city blocks.
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September 11, 2017

News journalist Linda Ellerbee lists her historic West Village townhouse for $10.75M

After finding this incredible townhouse at 17 Saint Luke's Place–one of 15 identical Italianate row houses built in the 1850s on land owned by the Trinity Church--in the New York Times real estate section 40+ years ago, legendary journalist Linda Ellerbee knew she had to have it, even though it was above her budget. "I bought the house 30 minutes after touring it," she told LL NYC. "It was like every movie I had ever seen growing up about what it was like to live in Greenwich Village in a brownstone." But now that her children are grown and she plans to spend most of her time in the Berkshires and Puerto Vallarta, she's decided to list the well-renovated and well-preserved home for $10.75 million.
See what's upstairs and downstairs

September 11, 2017

David Rockefeller’s 75-acre Westchester estate asks $22M

Some call it the end of an era of understated wealth. David Rockefeller, philanthropist, art collector and former CEO of Chase Manhattan bank–and the last surviving grandson of oil baron John D. Rockefeller–died in March at the age of 101. His properties have been up for sale since then, including his legendary art collection featuring works by Matisse, Cezanne, Gauguin, Seurat, and Picasso that headed for auction at Christie’s, his Upper East Side townhouse with an ask of $33 million and a retreat in Maine asking $19 million. The billionaire’s treasured Westchester estate, Hudson Pines, has just been listed at $22 million. Only 45 minutes from New York City, the property, which was home to the aforementioned art collection as well as the owner's antique carriage collection and his collection of 250,000 beetle specimens–Rockefeller was an avid entomologist–seems a world away from the bustle of daily life.
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September 11, 2017

Live in an octagon-shaped, Victorian style home in Westchester for $40,000 a month

The listing goes right ahead and calls this "one of the most visually unique homes in the world," and it'd be hard to argue with that. This is known as the Armour–Stiner House, or the Carmer Octagon House, a unique octagon-shaped and domed Victorian style home located in Irvington, a town of Westchester County. It was built in 1860 by financier Paul J. Armour, enlarged between 1872 and 1876, and is now the only known residence constructed in the eight-sided, domed colonnaded shape of a classic Roman Temple. The current owner, Joseph Pell Lombardi, a preservation architect with his own firm, has listed it for rent asking a hefty $40,000 a month.
See the breathtaking interior

Photo via Kev Harb on Flickr

September 8, 2017

Penn Station’s foul bathrooms will get much-needed upgrades

After announcing the official end of the “summer of hell” last week, Amtrak said the next thing on their to-do list is to finally fix the disgusting and dilapidated bathrooms at Penn Station. Both men’s and women’s bathrooms at the busiest transit center in the country will be refurbished beginning this fall, as the New York Times reported.
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New renderings and construction photos reveal full design of Jean Nouvel’s 53W53 ‘MoMA tower’

Central Park View; Rendering by Hayes Davidson

September 7, 2017

New renderings and construction photos reveal full design of Jean Nouvel’s 53W53 ‘MoMA tower’

6sqft checked in almost a year ago on starchitect Jean Nouvel's MoMA-adjacent tower, 53W53 at 53 West 53rd Street, when photos from the Billionaires’ Row construction site showed the building getting the first of its intricate diagrid skin. Construction on the 82-story building recently reached the 58th floor, and newly-released renderings and construction photos show the full design of the 1,050-foot-tall tapered tower, which will have interiors by celebrated designer Thierry Despont, from crown to ground level. The new images also show how the Museum of Modern Art will have three new gallery levels within the tower's base on floors 2, 4 and 5.
Check out the renderings and photos this way

Albo Liberis’ Red Hook office concept proposes a colorful kaleidoscope next to the BQE

All concept renderings via Albo Liberis

September 6, 2017

Albo Liberis’ Red Hook office concept proposes a colorful kaleidoscope next to the BQE

By Dana Schulz

Unusual and flashy aren't words that come to mind when describing the industrial architecture of Red Hook, but a new proposal from the architects at Albo Liberis wants to infuse some colorful personality into the relatively sleepy waterfront 'hood. First spotted by CityRealty, the firm published renderings for a kaleidescope-looking, glassy office building at 150 Mill Street, right next to the BQE and less than a five-minute walk from Ikea and the NYC Ferry stop. And though the renderings are merely conceptual at this point (no permits have been filed), they certainly think outside the box, complete with a festive roof deck, their signature diaganal angles, and ground-floor retail.
More renderings right this way

September 5, 2017

East Village’s $3.5M rooftop cottage finds a buyer in just over a month

6sqft marveled earlier this summer at the utter coolness of the two-unit, three-story property that atop the building at 72 East 1st Street in the East Village. The unit arrived on the market for $3.5 million in June; its top floor is comprised of one of the city’s handful of rare rooftop cabins and cottages. The Nantucket-style cottage is an artists’ studio, with a full-floor penthouse duplex below. Rare and cool clearly count for a lot, because the property has already entered contract at its asking price according to the listing site (h/t Curbed).
Take a look at how these unique homes are laid out

August 31, 2017

Simple geometry connects Janson Goldstein’s sleek Hudson guesthouse with its hillside locale

Nestled within a four-acre hillside property just outside the upstate town of Hudson, this striking guesthouse and pool were built to complement an existing contemporary home. The work is by the design firm Janson Goldstein, who placed the 950-square-foot structure smack dab in the middle of a new meadow. The building is simple, clean and modern, clad in wooden slats, but the locale makes this a visually stunning addition to the property.
Tour the site

Architecture And Design

August 29, 2017

For $1.85M, live in Mark Twain’s former Connecticut farmhouse

Known as “Jean’s Farm,” the 18-acre Connecticut property that literary great Mark Twain bought for his daughter in 1909, is for sale for $1.85 million. Located in Redding, the estate at 325 Redding Road includes a farmhouse built in 1787, an antique barn and a studio. While it has been recently renovated, the sprawling estate maintains its rustic charms (h/t TODAY.com). Residents of the five-bedroom, three and a half bathroom home have access to lots of open space and greenery, as well as a heated gunite pool.
See the sprawling estate

August 29, 2017

Young Projects used interior gardens to combine three floors at a Tribeca penthouse