Architecture And Design

February 27, 2017

Greenpoint creative hub gets a funky clay factory from design collective Assemble

London-based collective Assemble works across art, architecture, and design "to address the typical disconnection between the public and the process by which places are made." They've employed this philosophy at their first U.S. project--a temporary clay-extruding factory in the courtyard of Greenpoint's A/D/O creative hub, known as "A Factory As It Might Be." As Dezeen explains, the firm first built only a steel roof on top of the brick walls, but after acquiring an industrial clay extruder and electric kiln and finding that of all the vessels and homewares being created the tiles were the most successful, they decided to use the ceramic tiles to create a colorful, geometric facade.
Find out more about the project here

Architecture And Design

February 27, 2017

Upstate waterfront hotel/restaurant with a quirky owner’s apartment asks less than $1M

By Emily Nonko

Now here's an opportunity to own something really unique, if you're willing to decamp New York City to run a historic hotel upstate. The Pleasant Beach Hotel, at 14477 Fancher Avenue in Fairhaven, has hit the market for $975,000. Less than $1 million will get you a nine-room hotel, as well as a bar, restaurant, private pier, and an attached owner's apartment. With incredible views out toward Lake Ontario, this hotel has been in business since 1910... and is looking for its tenth owner to carry on the traditions of the charming waterfront getaway.
Take the grand tour

February 27, 2017

$1.6M Washington Heights row house is on a hidden historic street across from Manhattan’s oldest home

By Michelle Cohen

In the heart of the Jumel Terrace Historic District in Washington Heights, already known for the Morris Jumel Mansion, the oldest house in Manhattan, the quaint row houses of Sylvan Terrace are tucked away on one of the city’s “secret” streets. The mansion is not only famous for being General George Washington's temporary headquarters during the Revolutionary War but for hosting dignitaries from John Adams and Thomas Jefferson to Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton; in more modern times, "Hamilton” fans may know it as being the spot where the musical’s creator Lin-Manuel Miranda penned songs from the Broadway hit. The historic row of houses, built in the 1880s, was restored by the Landmarks Preservation Commission; 16 Sylvan Terrace was further renovated by its current owners and is now on the market for $1.625 million.
Take a peek inside this historic row house

February 27, 2017

Maya Lin-designed Tribeca mansion lists for $35M

By Dana Schulz

Despite the claim by some preservationists that the building looked like "a block of swiss cheese," back in June the Landmarks Preservation Commission approved Maya Lin Studio's design of a contemporary mega-mansion in the heart of Tribeca's historic district. The plans call for a five-story, 20,000-square-foot home at 11 Hubert Street--including incredible amenities such as an 82-foot swimming pool, basketball/squash court, four-car garage, and an open-air courtyard--and, as the Post reports, the corner site has just hit the market for $35 million, though this doesn't include the $15 million it'll cost to actually build the house.
Find out more about this opportunity

February 26, 2017

Steven Gambrel turned a Park Avenue apartment into a sophisticated playground for pastel colors

By Rebecca Paul

When one thinks of a sprawling Park Avenue apartment, what comes to mind is typically muted colors, clean lines, and classic decor, but for this Upper East Side duplex, the Steven Gambrel and the designers at his firm S.R. Gambrel created a home that retains this sophistication while displaying a bevy of cheery pastel hues, geometric patterns, and unexpected accessories.
See the whole home

February 24, 2017

RAH:DESIGN employed modern home-building techniques to design this cool dog house

By Rebecca Paul

While there are many doggie-abodes on the market, the designers at RAH:DESIGN found themselves struggling to find something that fit with their carefully curated home decor. Instead of continuing their search, they decided to take matters into their own hands and launched MDK9 Dog Haus. Not only was it constructed using modern home-building materials, but it includes human-level amenities such as an overhang for shading, metal mesh siding for ventilation, wheels for easy mobility, and a built-in feeder.
READ MORE

February 24, 2017

J.P. Morgan’s 120-year-old ‘Great Camp Uncas’ in the Adirondack wilderness reduced to $2.7M

By Michelle Cohen

A standout even among the region's Great Camps, the secluded Camp Uncas was built in 1895 by Brooklynite William West Durant, who is credited with perfecting the iconic Adirondack Great Camp style. The compound's biggest claim to fame, however, is that it once belonged to financier J.P. Morgan, who purchased the 1,500 acre property from Durant in 1897; for the fifty years that followed, it served as a vacation home for Morgan and his family. Though the property has traded hands several times since, the appeal of its iconic architecture remains as compelling as its history. Designated as a national landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior in 2010, this historically significant piece of the Adirondacks is for sale for $2.7 million, reduced from its original 2015 ask of $3.25M.
Explore this extraordinary historic property

February 23, 2017

Transformable Ollie chair unfurls with the pull of a string

By Michelle Cohen

If you've ever wished an ergonomic, well-designed comfortable chair would materialize when you need it, the Ollie Chair has your back. Ollie is a transformable seat that unfurls and retracts with no more than the pull of a string. Created by Brooklyn Navy Yard-based kinetic furniture company RockPaperRobot, the chair offers a portable, elegant and comfortable solution for today's office-anywhere work style–and its customizable cool design makes it a welcome addition to your decor.
So where can I get one?

February 23, 2017

High Line-style park proposed for a half-mile stretch of abandoned Staten Island rail

By Diane Pham

Although High Line Park visionary Robert Hammond recently expressed remorse for failing to develop a park that was "for the neighborhood"—not the ultra-wealthy that have infiltrated the blocks directly surrounding the elevated marvel—other cities continue to see nothing but financial opportunity in thrusting parkland upward. 6sqft recently reported on Newark, NJ, which will soon break ground on their own version of the High Line in hopes of revitalizing their long-burdened downtown, and now the Staten Island Economic Development Corp. (SIEDC) has announced that Port Richmond is angling for their own High Line magic atop .53 miles of abandoned North Shore rail line.
more details and photos here

Architecture And Design

Richard Meier’s mixed-use Teachers Village development is revitalizing downtown Newark

Residential Building VII, via Scott Frances

February 23, 2017

Richard Meier’s mixed-use Teachers Village development is revitalizing downtown Newark

By Dana Schulz

With Hoboken long gone and Jersey City well in the throes of gentrification, it makes sense that Newark is the next New Jersey city poised for a renaissance. Not only is it easily accessible via both NJ Transit and the PATH, but its wealth of former industrial buildings lend themselves to a DUMBO-esque revitalization. In the up-and-coming downtown area, Newark native Richard Meier is behind Teachers Village, a 23-acre, mixed-use complex that is well on its way to restoring a sense of community to the neighborhood. The $150 million project will encompass three charter schools, ground-level retail, and 204 residential units with a preference given to educators, all located in six new buildings designed in the starchitect's signature style of white materials and gridded facades.
All the renderings and details this way

Design team suggests a new mission-driven gentrification model geared toward artists and small businesses

By Michelle Cohen

We’ve definitely seen a lifetime’s worth of the trajectory that runs from warehouse to art studio to luxury loft, starting with neighborhoods like Soho and picking up speed as developers got into the act, anticipating the next "it" enclave with manageable rents attracting the young and creative. A team of New York-based designers developed a proposal for reaping the benefits of economic growth in the city's industrial areas without pricing out all but the wealthiest players. Soft City reports the details of this “mission-driven gentrification” concept, which suggests an all-new development model for the city's manufacturing neighborhoods (known as M1 districts), helmed by mission-based organizations and a building typology that caters to small businesses and artists.
Bright ideas, this way

Renderings © Neoscape for Studio Gang Architects

February 23, 2017

Jeanne Gang reveals sparkly new renderings of High Line-hugging Solar Carve Tower

By Dana Schulz

Renderings © Neoscape for Studio Gang Architects Just yesterday, 6sqft shared the news that Jeanne Gang's first ground-up project in NYC--the Solar Carve Tower at 40 Tenth Avenue--had begun construction along the High Line. Now, the Post shares new renderings of the jewel-like, glassy structure, which is so named for its employment of the firm's strategy that uses the sun's angles to shape a building. Along with these views of its chiseled edges, connection to the park, terraces, and interior spaces, comes word that developers Aurora Capital and William Gottlieb Real Estate have tapped Bruce Mosler of Cushman & Wakefield to begin leasing the 139,000-square-foot, 12-story boutique office building in anticipation of its 2019 opening.
Lots more details and renderings ahead

February 22, 2017

Oldest home in Brooklyn Heights is on the market for $6.65M

By Dana Schulz

Built in 1824, 24 Middagh Street is a charming, wood-frame, Federal house in Brooklyn Heights that has the distinction of being the oldest home in the neighborhood. And it's just gotten a price chop to $6,650,000 (it first listed this past September for the first time in nearly 60 years, asking $7 million). The listing says most of the original interior details--like wood floors, fireplaces, and moldings--are intact, and the five-bedroom residence even comes with a landscaped backyard and separate, two-bedroom carriage house.
More on the home this way

February 22, 2017

Developer will turn Connecticut lighthouse into a giant playroom for his grandkids

By Dana Schulz

In 2004, New York-based developer and builder Frank Sciame paid $6 million for the 3.4-acre waterfront Connecticut estate of the late Katharine Hepburn. In late 2015, he also dropped $290,000 at auction for the Old Saybrook Breakwater Lighthouse, which is within walking distance to the estate. The 131-year-old lighthouse was built in 1886 to mark a sand bar on the west side of the Connecticut River, but it will soon see a new life as a giant children's playroom. The Post reports that Sciame asked yacht-design architects Persak & Wurmfeld to redesign the structure as a clubhouse for his grandkids, complete with the original cast-iron windows and portholes, watch room and lantern room, and upper wrap-around deck.
Get the full scoop

Architecture And Design

February 22, 2017

Impeccably restored apartment in an 1839 Greek Revival townhouse asks $12,495/month in the Village

By Emily Nonko

The listing brags that this Greenwich Village co-op looks like something out of a movie, and we'd have to agree. A two-year restoration of this apartment, which occupies the third floor of the 1839 Greek Revival townhouse 158 Waverly Place, left the 2,000-square-foot space looking gorgeous. Historic details are paired with both intricate wallpaper patterns and modern amenities. The apartment, too, has hosted a notable crew of residents. The townhouse was built for Lambert Suydam, the former president of Manhattan Gas & Light Co., and then the third floor was later occupied by Oscar winning actress Judy Holliday between 1948 and 1952. The latest owner, Thomas Ruff, is a German photographer who purchased it in 2006 for $1.65 million, according to public records. And now the co-op can be rented for $12,495 a month.
Take a look

Image via Wiki Commons

February 22, 2017

125-year-old Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine finally declared a city landmark

By Michelle Cohen

Image via Wiki Commons On Tuesday the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously to designate the 125-year-old Cathedral Church of St. John The Divine, the world's largest cathedral; in addition, 115 neighboring buildings became the Morningside Heights Historic District. The designated district runs from West 109th to 119th streets between Riverside Drive and Amsterdam Avenue and includes the famously unfinished cathedral and surrounding campus. With the designation, calendared by the LPC in September, comes a 3-D online map that provides more information about the buildings in the district, most of which were constructed between 1900 and 1910, including townhouses dating back to the late 1800s as well as pre-war apartment buildings.
Find out more

February 22, 2017

Inside New York’s little-known graphic design gem, The Herb Lubalin Study Center

By Diane Pham

Icy, metallic, and unabashedly serious is how one might describe The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art building in the East Village. But deep within its mash of raw concrete, steel beams, and metal screens is an unlikely 800-square-foot treasure chest filled with tens of thousands of design and typographical ephemera spanning multiple decades. Known as The Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography, the quaint and cozy space opened in 1985 as an archive dedicated to the work of Herb Lubalin, an American graphic designer best known for his playful art direction at Avant Garde, Eros and Fact magazines, as well as his groundbreaking design work completed between 1950 and 1980 (including the original World Trade Center logo). As one would expect, the center is filled with one-of-a-kind Lubalin works that range from posters, journals, magazines, sketches, and packaging, most of which came from his studio, his employees, or via donation by Lubalin enthusiasts. However, what many will be surprised to know is that Lubalin's materials make up just 20 percent of the center’s entire collection. Indeed, about 80 percent of what's tucked away comes from other influential designers. And those flat files not dedicated to Lubalin are filled with rare works from icons that include Push Pin Studios, Seymour Chwast, Milton Glaser, Lou Dorfsman, and Massimo Vignelli.
go inside here

Architecture And Design

February 22, 2017

Jeanne Gang’s ‘Solar Carve Tower’ begins its rise on the High Line

By Dana Schulz

For an architect who had yet to break into the NYC scene, Jeanne Gang is now moving full steam ahead. Her firm, Studio Gang, received LPC approvals back in October for their much-hyped, $340 million Museum of Natural History expansion, and now, CityRealty tells us that construction has begun on their razor-edged glass tower along the High Line. Dubbed "Solar Carve Tower" for the firm's strategy that "uses the incident angles of the sun’s ray to form the gem-like shape," the 12-story office building will be Gang's first ground-up project when completed.
Find out more

February 22, 2017

$2.5M artist’s townhouse in Clinton Hill has a painter’s studio, full bar, and color everywhere

By Michelle Cohen

This three-story, two-family Clinton Hill townhouse at 578 Myrtle Avenue, zoned to allow a commercial establishment on the ground floor, has plenty of living space and lots of income potential. Asking $2.5 million, the current setup as a painter's single-family home and workspace further underscores the freedom and fun of townhouse living. The light-filled top floor is currently used as a studio for the artist-in-residence (his favorite subjects are "ballet dancers, bullfighters, and women of the night, lounging in opulent bedrooms," as seen above) whose enjoyment of rouge, magenta, blue and beyond can be seen throughout the house.
No, we have no idea what's on the back of that chair

February 21, 2017

Historic Clinton Hill carriage house gets light from a ‘sky volume’ and a courtyard carved into its core

By Michelle Cohen

A thoroughly transformative re-design by New York studio O'Neill McVoy Architects turns a historic red brick townhouse on a slender 24- by 76-foot lot in need of light and air into an ultra-bright and inspiring modern residence for a young family. The Clinton Hill Courtyard House, in a landmarked section of the neighborhood, was built in 1877 as a carriage house for the mansion next door. The historic integrity of the home's exterior was left intact, but inside, three strategic openings–including skylights, a central courtyard, and a perforated interior stair wall--were created to let in light and air everywhere for daily living.
So much sunlight, in so many creative ways

February 17, 2017

A photo-luminescent, solar canopy is coming to MoMA PS1 this summer

By Dana Schulz

It never hurts to think of warmer months on days like today, and MoMA PS1's announcement of whose design will fill their courtyard this summer certainly does the trick. The winner of their 18th annual Young Architects Program is Jenny Sabin Studio. The Ithaca-based experimental architecture studio created "Lumen" in response to the competition's request for a temporary outdoor installation that provides shade, seating, and water, while addressing environmental issues such as sustainability and recycling. The result is a tubular canopy made of "recycled, photo-luminescent, and solar active textiles that absorb, collect, and deliver light."
More renderings and info on Lumen

February 17, 2017

1924 cliffside Riverdale castle-cottage has magical river views, a Broadway pedigree and a $2.6M ask

By Michelle Cohen

In case you need another reason to love New York City, this singular gem of a seven-unit apartment building perched on a wild cliff overlooking the Palisades where the Harlem River meets the mighty Hudson just hit the market. Built in 1924 as a co-operative by a super-literary lawyer/developer who also happened to be the first editor-in-chief of the Harvard Law Review, the Villa Rosa Bonheur at 2395 Palisade Avenue in Riverdale, the Bronx, is one of three; her sister buildings go by Villa Charlotte Brontë and Villa Victoria. Their creator, John J. McKelvey, was looking beyond the bottom line when he built what would be the first apartment buildings in the Bronx. Ms. Rosa is now on the market for a mere $2.595 million. There's more: Her current owners are the family of the late "Beatlemania" creator Robert Rabinowitz.
Get a closer look

February 16, 2017

LOT-EK erects a stunning single-family mega-home from 21 shipping containers in Williamsburg

By Michelle Cohen

It would hardly raise an eyebrow to note that the Brooklyn couple behind the wildly popular Williamsburg barbecue joint Fette Sau hired an architect to build them a 25-by-100-foot home on a corner lot in the neighborhood. But in this case, the architects are Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano of the firm LOT-EK, which means the house in question is likely to cause at least a few double-takes. Rising from that corner lot, this remarkable single-family residence was made from 21 steel shipping containers, tamed and transformed into a sleek and surprisingly livable home.
See more of this unconventional home of corrugated steel and glass

Architecture And Design

February 15, 2017

WXY reveals renderings of the city’s just-announced $136M fashion and film complex in Sunset Park

By Dana Schulz

Last week, 6sqft took an in-depth look at how Sunset Park has become the new frontier for the city's garment industry, thanks to "several industrial conversions [that] offer cheaper rents, better equipped real estate, and a creative, collaborative community." Part of the city's push to revitalize the fashion trade in the burgeoning Brooklyn nabe is a collaboration with its "Made in New York" marketing campaign, which has previously been geared towards promoting film and television productions and technology companies. They'll also be investing $136 million to create the "Made in NYC Campus," a renovation of two waterfront Bush Terminal structures that will provide affordable space for film, fashion, and virtual reality tech companies, as well as a new pedestrian-friendly plazas and streets. The city's Economic Development Corporation has tapped WXY architecture + urban design to design the complex, and the firm has revealed a batch of renderings that showcase the project.
All the renderings and more details ahead

February 15, 2017

The historic Astor Suite at the Plaza is for sale at $39.5M

By Michelle Cohen

The Astor Suite at the Plaza Hotel and Residences at 1 Central Park South just hit the market for an Astor-worthy $39.5 million. The listing calls the 4,284 square-foot, three-bedroom home "one of the most historic homes ever to become available in the United States." Currently owned by Esprit founder and former CEO Jürgen Friedrich, the suite boasts a roster of past residents that includes John Jacob Astor, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor and John F. Kennedy.
Take the tour, find out more

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