Architecture And Design

Gary Barnett's Extell Development has become synonymous with sky-high towers, especially those along Billionaires' Row -- the 1,005-foot-tall One57 and the 1,550-foot-tall Central Park Tower -- where it appeared that they were readying to construct a third behemoth that would rise more than 700 feet. However, Crain's reports that Extell has filed plans for the site at 134 West 58th Street (the same block as One57), and they call for a stubby, 18-story, 41-unit condo building that's less than 200 feet tall.
What's the deal?

July 12, 2016

This Luxurious, $15M New Jersey Castle Comes With 32 Acres of Land

By Emily Nonko

New York City is full of incredible properties, but it's not known for its castles. You have to go to New Jersey for that. Over near Bernardsville Mountain, in northern New Jersey, is the Stronghold Castle—probably one of the most impressive homes in the entire state. It's the work of the architect George B. Post, who purchased 104 acres around the mountain in 1871. Soon after, in 1886, Post was commissioned to design a house for James Coleman Drayton, a New York banker and the son-in-law of William Backhouse Astor on one of the highest points in the area. The result? A two-story, stone villa with a tower commanding views of the estate's 128 acres. Over the years, different owners added to the home and it evolved into this modern-day castle. Between 1940 and 1995, it served as a private girl's school. The latest owner, who bought in 2004, restored the castle in all its grandeur while adding modern additions to make it a cozy home. (Or, as cozy as a castle can be.)
Take the grand tour

July 11, 2016

Mark Cuban Opening Upscale Movie Theater at Bjarke Ingels’ Via 57 West

The lucky residents of Bjarke Ingels' Via 57 West tetrahedron will not only get starchitecture bragging rights and access to the 22,000-square-foot courtyard and amenities such as a swimming pool and gold simulator, but they'll also have a state-of-the-art, eight-screen movie theater right in the building. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Durst Organization has teamed up with Landmark Theatres, owned by billionaire entrepreneurs Todd Wagner and Mark Cuban of "Shark Tank" fame. The 30,000-square-foot theater will take up residency within the 45,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space in Via, which will also welcome the American Kennel Club’s dog-care center and a location from Livanos Restaurant Group.
Find out more

July 9, 2016

Win a Pass to the NYT’s Cities for Tomorrow Conference (Worth $950)

Join the world’s leading urban-thinkers for the New York Times’ 3rd annual Cities for Tomorrow conference. 6sqft has teamed up with the Times to give one lucky reader a free pass (worth $950!) to the event happening July 18-19th in Midtown Manhattan. This year’s talks are centered on identifying and dissecting the best ideas that lead to flourishing cities. Speakers on the […]

July 8, 2016

Take to the Seas on a Frank Gehry-Designed Yacht for $100K

In between designing international museums and giving journalists the finger, Frank Gehry likes to unwind at sea. The lifelong yachtsman just last year designed a 74-foot wooden sailboat alongside naval architect Germán Frers for real estate bigwig Richard Cohen. While the yacht has thus far been reserved for Cohen's private use, according to Gehry in an interview with Sotheby's (h/t LLNYC), another wealthy seafarer can now raise its sails for a mere $100,000.
more details here

Architecture And Design

July 8, 2016

TBD Design Studio Converted a 19th Century Williamsburg Firehouse Into a Live/Work Haven

When a photographer recently bought this 19th century firehouse in Williamsburg, its interior was in a complete state of disrepair, though the historic facade was intact. To transform it into a live/work home, the owner brought on Josh Weiselberg and Selin Semaan of TBD Architecture + Design Studio, who turned the garage into a ground-floor photo studio and gallery, created a second-floor residence, and added a rooftop penthouse, lounge, and terrace (h/t designboom). The result is an open and airy haven that's sensitive to the original firehouse, but is also functional for its modern use.
See the entire home

Architecture And Design

July 7, 2016

New Jersey’s Oldest and Largest Frank Lloyd Wright House Listed for $2.2M

During his prolific career, Frank Lloyd Wright built four houses in the Garden State, the first and largest being the 2,000-square-foot James B. Christie House in Bernardsville, which dates to 1940. At the time, Wright, who coined the term "organic architecture," told his client to find a site with "as much individuality as to topography and features—stream, trees, etc. and as much freedom from adjacent buildings as is possible." Christie obliged, and the resulting home sits on seven acres of secluded woodland. For the physical architecture, Wright employed his Usonian principles of simplicity, practicality, and a connection to nature. As Curbed reports, after selling in 2014 to a private buyer for $1,700,000, the Christie House is now on the market for $2.2 million after receiving a new roof and heating system.
Tour the property

July 6, 2016

NYC May Get a Big Ugly Wall Instead of Bjarke Ingels’ Storm Protection System

"Not only is New York City going to build the cheapest, ugliest version of the big dumb wall, there’s a very good possibility that it won’t even be big enough." According to a recent Rolling Stone article titled "Can New York Be Saved in the Era of Global Warming?" the level of storm protection put in place to protect the city from future superstorms may fall short of the elegant solution that was originally promised. According to the story, the city funded a proposal–Danish firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)'s winning submission in the Department of Housing and Urban Development's Rebuild by Design contest–that involved a 10-mile barrier system that would protect Lower Manhattan from the ruinous effects of storm surges and sea-level rise. Called the Big U, the $540 million infrastructure project would be designed to contain parks and public spaces. But because of cost issues, the project may not materialize as planned.
Find out how the proposal may have changed

Playful Moiré Lights Reveal Magical Patterns As They Rotate

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Transform your space from stuffy to spectacular with one of these mesmerizing Moiré Lights by designer David Derksen. This artsy yet functional piece takes lighting to a new level by using perforated discs to create a lamp that projects moving patterns as it rotates and glows. As you may have guessed by the name, the hypnotic visage of each lamp is inspired by the Moiré effect.
Learn more about this magical lamp

July 6, 2016

POLL: Should the New York State Pavilion Get a Creative Makeover?

Yesterday, 6sqft shared some of the best and wackiest proposals from an ideas competition reimagining Philip Johnson's iconic New York State Pavilion. Built for the 1964-65 World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, it's struggled in recent years to find financial support, and the competition is a way to drum up enthusiasm for the necessary $52 restoration. The ideas ranged from the expected (elevated parks, event spaces) to the socially conscious (refugee housing, a homeless shelter) to the totally out there (a cheeseburger museum, a UFO landing pad). And while a new incarnation for the historic site would certainly draw visitors and interest, is that the appropriate way to honor the cultural and architectural merit of a structure that was built for a specific purpose at a very special point in time? Plus, preservationists have already secured close to $6 million for repairs, and the structure got a $3 million paint job last year.
Tell us what you think

Architecture And Design

July 5, 2016

Competition Reimagines New York State Pavilion As a Cheeseburger Museum, Hanging Meadow

Philip Johnson's iconic New York State Pavilion in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was built for the 1964-65 World’s Fair, but has struggled in recent decades to find its purpose. Because of its architectural and cultural merit, however, preservations have made great strides in the past several years: a restoration task force secured $5.8 million for repairs in 2014; it received a $3 million paint job last fall; and now it's creating quite the buzz thanks to an ideas competition put on by the the National Trust for Historic Preservation and People for the Pavilion (h/t WSJ). The competition, which organizers hope could help drum up enough enthusiasm to aid in the $52 million total restoration, has drawn more than 250 submission, including wacky ideas like a cheeseburger museum, a giant time-telling machine, and a UFO landing pad to more practical functions like a brewery, hanging gardens, live-work space for artists, and event venues.
See some of the entries here

Architecture And Design

July 5, 2016

‘Periodic Table of NYC Trash’ Identifies the City’s Garbage and Odors

Easily put a name to New York’s discarded paraphernalia and putrid odors with the help of the Periodic Table of NYC Trash. This nifty design, created by writer Molly Young and graphic designer Teddy Blanks, places 118 recurring New York City elements into a handy tabular array that, like the real periodic table that inspired it, provides a useful framework for analyzing behavior (in this case, that of New Yorkers). All of the trash depicted in the poster was pulled straight off our city's filthy streets and photographed by Young and Blanks. What's featured includes everything from an innocuous Metro Card and stray baby sock to gag-inducing finds like a dead rat and a bottle of pee. Everything has also been handily divvied up into nine different categories that include apparel, beverage, food, hygiene, household, lifestyle, municipal, packing, and vices.
See the full size version here

July 5, 2016

The Shrine Is a Cubic Cabinet That Will Keep Your Valuables Safe

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

We all have those precious items that we want to keep safe -- grandpa's watch, a childhood diary, a stash of foreign money -- but in cramped apartments it's hard to find adequate space to stash them all. Sigurd Larsen's cubic cabinet called the Shrine, however, has plenty of compartments to keep valuables safe. It's simply a wooden box full of drawers and doors of varying sizes that are only accessible with keys.
Learn more about this intricate cabinet of curiosities

Where to Find the Most Incredible Staircases in New York City

Images courtesy of Steven Holl Architects

July 5, 2016

Where to Find the Most Incredible Staircases in New York City

By Jason Carpenter

Stairs let interior designers show off their best combination of form and function. The flagship stores, public works, and designer condos of New York make for the perfect opportunities to test the boundaries of practicality and beauty in design. Here are seven of the most beautiful and interesting staircase designs to be found in New York City.
See our staircase gallery here

July 4, 2016

See Inside This 1833 West Village Townhouse, Now Asking $5.975 Million

By Emily Nonko

232 West 10th Street is a brick townhouse in the West Village, constructed way back in 1833. The builder was John C. Blauvelt, who was earning a living as a cartman and built his home "typical of the Federal-style homes being built at the time" according to Daytonian in Manhattan. All these years later the brick facade has remained remarkably in tact. And now that it's on the market, asking nearly $6 million, we can take a peek inside the well-preserved interior, too.
Check it out

July 1, 2016

Own a Collection of Eight Private Islands off the Connecticut Coast for $78 Million

Hey, big spender...before you close on that trophy penthouse condo or townhouse duo, take a look at this extraordinary listing. When you've got billions–or even lots of millions–your real estate options are many. From a penthouse in the sky in a Billionaire's Row skyscraper to a townhouse or two on the Upper East Side or a Hamptons manse with acres of beachfront property, modern-day palaces await. For that eight-figure outlay, this listing is unusual even among the real estate deals of the superrich. The Post tells us of a private archipelago off the Connecticut coastline, owned by Christine and Edmund Stoecklein, on the market for $78 million. Known as the Thimble Islands, this surprising collection of eight islands boasts beautiful restored 19th century mansions, pools, guest houses, docking for yachts both small and large, a commercial-level greenhouse facility, tennis courts and a golf putting green and tees designed by Jack Nicklaus. The property is at most a ten-minute boat ride from the Connecticut shoreline or a twenty minute helicopter jaunt from Manhattan.
What you'll find on these secret island enclaves

July 1, 2016

Gene Kaufman’s Church-Incorporating Hotel Rises on West 36th Street

By Ondel Hylton

Over the past decade, developer Sam Chang and his McSam Hotel Group have built an astonishing number of hotels in Manhattan and Brooklyn, and in the process have built up quite the reputation for pockmarking the city with characterless tower blocks that diminish their surroundings. One of the developer's latest ventures is a 26-story, 566-room hotel beginning excavation work at 334 West 36th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. Once occupied by the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health, the mid-block English Gothic structure was built as the Christ Church Memorial Building in 1905. The savvy developer purchased the 15,000-square-foot site in 2013 for $50.8 million in anticipation for yet another hotel. Local preservationists connected with Community Board 4 to convince Chang to save the church facade and incorporate it with the new building. Surprisingly, he obliged, but the Gene Kaufman-designed structure is not quite a miracle.
Find out more

June 30, 2016

Court Temporarily Stops Construction on Barry Diller’s Futuristic Offshore Park

Last summer, a civic group known as City Club of New York slapped Barry Diller's Pier 55 with a lawsuit, claiming he and the Hudson River Park Trust had failed to thoroughly evaluate the environmental impact of the 2.7-acre offshore park. In April of this year, the Manhattan Supreme Court dismissed the case, and later that same month news broke that construction on the $130 million project would begin this summer after gaining regulatory approval from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, DNAinfo reports that today an appellate court issued an injunction that says work must temporarily stop until at least September when the opponents present their case again.
More details ahead

June 30, 2016

INTERVIEW: Deborah Berke on Becoming Dean of Yale Architecture School, and Her New Book

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

July is a big month for Deborah Berke, the founder of the New York-based architecture and design firm Deborah Berke Partners. Not only will Ms. Berke become Dean of the Yale Architecture School on July 1st (the first woman to do so in the school’s 100-year history), taking over for Robert A.M. Stern, but her new […]

June 30, 2016

The Upper East Side Townhouse Where Henry Fonda Married a Countess Asks $11M

This elegant five-story single-family townhouse at 151 East 74th Street has been a home to a president's son (Captain Kermit Roosevelt, son of President Theodore Roosevelt) and Hollywood royalty. The late, great actor Henry Fonda called the nearly 6,000-square-foot townhouse home and hosted his wedding to 23-year-old Italian countess Afdera Franchetti here in 1957. Built in 1878, the brick Colonial Revival style home remains an elegant address, and is on the market for $11.225 million. There have been recent improvements and upgrades, with plenty of potential left for transformation. With that many floors, two decks, a landscaped backyard and a prime Upper East Side location on a gorgeous townhouse block near Central Park, the landmarked home might be just the one for a certain outgoing president who has expressed interest in living in New York City after leaving the White House. There's definitely plenty of room for college kids and their friends, dogs, staff and security personnel.
Tour the townhouse

June 30, 2016

Join the World’s Leading Urban Decision-Makers at the NYT’s Cities for Tomorrow Conference

Rapidly growing populations and increasingly scarce resources are two of the biggest challenges that cities face today. But how are policymakers, developers, entrepreneurs and designers responding to these issues? For the third year in a row, the New York Times’ Cities for Tomorrow conference will bring together the world’s top urban-thinkers to discuss what’s being done to enact change that will […]

June 29, 2016

25 Feet Above Street Level, World Trade Center’s Liberty Park Opens Today

The World Trade Center's Liberty Park, the new one-acre public park at 25 feet above ground level spanning Liberty Street between West and Greenwich Streets, opens today. NYYimby reports that the park is getting the last few finishing touches in preparation for its grand opening dedication ceremony. As part of the landscape design by Joseph E. Brown of architectural and engineering firm Aecom, a 300-foot-long "living wall" composed of 826 panels of varying plant types is a highlight of the new park, which also functions as a pleasant disguise for the entrance to the WTC’s security hub that sits beneath.
More of what you'll find in the new park

June 29, 2016

JDS and SHoP’s Cherry Street Tower Will Be Taller Than Expected, May Reach 1,000 Feet