Architecture And Design

About a month ago we were treated to a lone rendering of Brooklyn’s future tallest tower at 340 Flatbush Avenue Extension (now re-dubbed 9 DeKalb Avenue) that showed its full 1,066-foot height, towering against the rest of Downtown Brooklyn. Now, Curbed has spotted a full set of views, these showing more facade details and close ups of the building's triangular base next to the historic Dime Savings Bank.
All the renderings ahead

March 14, 2016

Former Headquarters of the Christian Brothers Is Now a $15M Hell’s Kitchen Mansion

Spanning 7,000 square feet, with a two-story master bedroom that cantilevers out eight feet over the back garden, a back wall of glass and smart-everything, this single-family modern masterpiece may be mere blocks from the trophy towers of Billionaire's Row, but it outshines any of those eight-figure abodes by a midtown mile. Built in 1910, this six-story, 7,000 square-foot building at 416 West 51st Street was the headquarters of the Christian Brothers, whose main role was to keep neighborhood youth out of trouble, from 1953 until 2011. In the middle days of the 20th century through its end decade, there was trouble aplenty in the rough district known for tenements and street gangs. The neighborhood has come an almost unfathomly long way in recent years, and "the manse," as the listing calls it, is as good a parallel as we've seen. What's now being offered for $15 million is the result of the current owners' four year effort, in collaboration with Suk Design Group, to create a single family home fit more for a heavenly host than the Hell's Kitchen of history. Every inch of the building is wired for comfort and control, and there's a fully-stocked arcade and a "glass-wrapped floating staircase winding around the elevator like a helix," four enormous bedroom suites and that dramatic duplexed master suite.
Tour this unbelievable vertical mansion

March 14, 2016

Clever Bed-Closet Combo Makes Room for Storage and Sleep

Dealing with a closet-sized bedroom or guest room? Optimizing the space for storage and sleep makes the familiar coziness of the tiny NYC bedroom a lot less frustrating, and this compact bed-storage combination from French design company Parisot is a cool solution. Shelves on the side store books and knicknacks, but the real storage solution is within the bed's frame. Lift the mattress to reveal drawers and shelves big enough for seasonal wardrobe items, linens, boxes and anything else you'd like to store out of the way but still have access to in the room.
Find out what's hiding under the bed

March 14, 2016

First Look at Morris Adjmi’s Romanesque Design for Soho’s 134 Wooster Street

This past December, Premier Equities, with Morris Adjmi as the architect of record, filed new building permits to construct a 26,000-square-foot, seven-story office building at 134 Wooster Street. Thanks to an online version of the presentation the team will show to the LPC, we have our first look at Adjmi's design. The Wooster Street facade is articulated by a repeating successions of Roman-arched windows, referencing the area's signature cast-iron fronts. Since the site is squarely situated within the Soho-Cast Iron Historic District, the development team will need to muster the approvals of the Landmarks Preservation Commission to build their vision.
More details ahead

March 13, 2016

Downtown Wonder: How One Chase Manhattan Plaza Changed the New York Skyline

By Diane Pham

This large, boxy skyscraper at 28 Liberty Street may not be ornate or even as attractive as some of the simple glass towers we see sprouting up on the city’s side streets, but One Chase Manhattan Plaza’s architectural significance is profound. Erected in 1960, the building is accredited with bringing forth a downtown renaissance that paved the […]

March 11, 2016

Stéphanie Marin’s Mathematically-Inspired Floor Cushions Insulate and Absorb Sound

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Stéphanie Marin's Les Angles is a set of oversized floor cushions that can be arranged to form a faceted landscape within the home. The furniture collection was designed as part of Marin's brand Smaring and consists of oversized shapes that work as both a seating area and decorative living space. It's composed of eight elements interconnected by a lacing technique to form a flexible pavement able to cover the floor, ceiling, or walls. And it's perfect for drafty or noisy NYC apartments, as the pieces have insulating and acoustic properties.
Learn more about this outer-space for the home

March 11, 2016

This $1.2M Row House Is in a Charming Historic Oasis Amid the Rooftop Pools of LIC

We may most often think of the Hunters Point section of Long Island City as the home of a decade-plus building boom that has resulted in a neighborhood of glassy luxury condo and rental towers with amenities galore. But the sleek, vertical community also has an historic district and streets lined with 19th-century row houses. Built in 1887 as one of six brick houses, the two-story-plus-basement row house at 21-24 45th Avenue is among the neighborhood's historic finds, and it's currently for sale asking $1.2 million. The listing notes that the building is being delivered as-is with SRO tenants. It's currently set up as a five-unit rental property with a vacant sixth (studio) unit.
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March 11, 2016

New Renderings of Boerum Hill’s Nevins Condominium, Teaser Site Launched

Walk down any of Downtown Brooklyn's high streets -- Court, Fulton, or Atlantic Avenue -- and you'll experience a palpable energy that can now rival any American downtown. Thanks to its cost advantages relative to Manhattan, the surging city economy, and attractive building stock, the district seems to have reached a level of vibrancy worthy of its borough's 2.1 million inhabitants. Since a major upzoning in 2004, the one-gritty hub has attracted thousands of residents and now has more than 41 million square feet of residential, commercial, and institutional space completed, under construction, or in the pipeline, according to an NYU Rudin Center report. Along the district's southern periphery, where its new soaring tower blocks transition into the genteel streetscapes of Boerum Hill, the Nevins condominium rises at 319 Schermerhorn Street. Now Curbed has spotted the first renderings of the 21-story, 73-unit development and the newly launched registration site for prospective buyers.
More details ahead

March 10, 2016

Property Markets Group Shares New Eye Candy of 111 West 57th Street

Here's a new set of images of Property Markets Group's and JDS Development's 111 West 57th Street. In case you haven't been paying attention, the highly-anticipated tower will be among the tallest residential skyscrapers in the world, climbing some 1,421 feet high to its tip. Designed by SHoP Architects, the feathery spire is sheathed in terra cotta, bronze and a glass curtain wall. The tower will be the most slender skyscraper in the world with a height to width ratio of 24:1.
More renderings ahead

Closing Time at 432 Park: A Look at the Numbers at NYC’s Tallest and Most Expensive Building

Closings at Macklowe Properties/CIM Group‘s Billionaires’ Row blockbuster 432 Park Avenue officially commenced just eight days into the new year, and now that enough time has gone by for these sales to be re-listed as rentals, CityRealty has put together an informative infographic that takes a look at the numbers at New York City's tallest and most expensive residential building. There's a lot of fun and fascinating info to be found ahead, but one of the most surprising facts? Of the 141 units available, only 13 have sold to date.
See the full infographic here

March 10, 2016

Indulge Yourself in History at This $15K/Month Park Slope Brownstone Rental

When you think "historic Brooklyn brownstone," this restored Park Slope home is likely to at least come close to what's on your mind–and more likely to hit a bullseye. Perfectly-preserved flourishes and original details frame every room, including decorative moldings, original oak floors and Lincrusta wallcoverings, adding up to elegance you don't usually find in such flawless condition. Yet there's nothing old-fashioned about daily life in this five-bedroom, 3,680-square-foot triplex currently seeking tenants at $15,000 a month. You'll get zoned central air and heat, a laundry room with a washer/dryer, a kitchen that's ready for cooking and entertaining a crowd, baths filled with luxurious details, and countless other ways this pretty period piece has been optimized for modern life.
Take a walk around

March 10, 2016

Take a Siesta in This Folding Taco Bed From Oradoria Design

For those getting-out-of-bed-but-not-really days, the creative minds at Oradoria Design have created the perfect place to snuggle up. Behold the Blandito -- a blanket-meets-taco-meets-futon that looks like a whole lot of fun for the whole family. The soft, structure-free, transformable piece can be affixed in various shapes using natural wooden ball hooks. One day it's a cuddle-extender, another it's a kids' play mat, and another it's a binge-TV HQ. The only drawback we can think of is that being rolled up in a giant taco might make you crave the entire menu at your local food truck.
So what is this thing?

March 10, 2016

S9 Architecture Reveals New Design for Apartment Tower at 111 Varick Street

Late last year 6sqft posted a gallery of renderings visualizing a new high-rise for Madigan Development and Robal Parking Corporation's development site at 111 Varick Street in Hudson Square. Now, on S9 Architecture's recently revamped website, we have a revised look at a different and enlarged design for the site. The published set of images shows a slightly taller tower of similar massing clad in a skin of rippling panels where each band of floors resembles a strip of paper repeatedly folded onto itself and thereafter wrapped around the building envelope.
More details ahead

March 9, 2016

Long-Time Tribeca Sculptor Lists His Quirky Loft for $5M, Sauna and Porch Swing Included

16 Desbrosses Street in Tribeca has quite the artistic pedigree. The former textile warehouse, today a modern-day artists' cooperative, is where Lena Dunham's parents (painter Carroll Dunham and photographer Laurie Simmons), lived until recently and where the actress shot her breakthrough film "Tiny Furniture." It's also been home to architect Peter Moore, writer Zoë Heller and her boyfriend, "Sopranos" and "Boardwalk Empire" screenwriter Lawrence Konner, painter Matthew Ritchie, Seven Stories publisher Dan Simons, and sculptor Harry Rosenzweig, who has just listed his somewhat wacky loft for an impressive $4,970,000. Rosenzweig is best know for his "warriors," the larger-than-life, cartoon-like sculptures of men lined up in the 3,000-square-foot loft where he's lived and worked for the past 13 years. If this wasn't artsy enough for you, he also has a porch swing that faces the wall of windows, a sauna, and, though not mentioned in the listing, the factory's original restrooms, complete with urinals in the men's room.
See the rest

March 9, 2016

Use This Cool Paperweight for Efficient Decision Making

By Rebecca Paul

The city's fast paced environment presents a myriad of challenges on a daily basis -- Should I take the express or local train? Is that apartment worth the extra $300 a month? When should I start looking for a new job? Now, instead of letting the stress eat you alive, make these difficult choices with this cool Decision Paperweight.
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March 9, 2016

First Look At Harlem’s Baldwin Condominiums, Inspired By James Baldwin

In a corner of Harlem hemmed in by a steep ravine within Jackie Robinson Park and the Harlem River, a residential enclave is undergoing a renaissance. Among a string of four recently finished sale buildings, a seven-story, six-unit condominium has begun work at 306 West 148th Street, between Bradhurst Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. Conceived by Bottom Line Construction & Development (no comment), the 10,000-square-foot building is to be called The Baldwin after the eminent Harlem-born novelist, poet, playwright and social critic, James Baldwin. Channeling the author's spirit, the condo will capture in its residences "the sophisticated details and artistic flare of contemporary Harlem living."
Find out more

March 8, 2016

Norah Jones Gets Approval to Renovate ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ Carriage House

According to plans filed with the Department of Buildings, singer/musician/actress Norah Jones is planning to renovate the historic and charming Cobble Hill stable she purchased last fall. Back in September 6sqft reported that Ms. Jones was the buyer of the $6.25 million converted 1840s firehouse that had a cameo role in the Julia Roberts film "Eat, Pray, Love." Permit documentation shows that Ben Baxt of Baxt Ingui Architects has drawn up plans to convert the two-family home into a single-family dwelling and replace an existing rear addition (including the existing solarium) with a new back wall that features a full-height door and sliding glass door on the ground floor and two sets of French doors with Juliette balconies on the floor above. Plans also include six skylights and roof access, among other updates. Landmarks has also given the green light to the proposed rear-facade renovations (h/t Brownstoner).
More on the reno plans this way

March 8, 2016

Beyer Blinder Belle Publishes Renderings of Essex Crossing’s Site 5

By Emrys Fitzgerald

The nine-site Essex Crossing plan underway on the Lower East Side will bring more than 1.9 million square feet of residential, commercial, and community space to the largest undeveloped swath of land in the borough south of 96th Street. The long-tweeked master plan is being developed by an alliance named Delancey Street Associates, which consists of BFC Partners, L+M Development Partners, and Taconic Investment Partners. The plan's site 5, located just a block southwest of the Manhattan entrance of the Williamsburg Bridge at 145 Clinton Street, will bring 211 apartments, 73,000 square feet of retail space, and a 15,000-square-foot park to the full-block parcel between Grand, Clinton, Broome and Suffolk streets. Beyer Blinder Belle Architects & Planners are the designers of the red-brick tower and recently published a set of renderings, first shown to the community in 2015, giving us a more detailed look at the $110 million, 15-story building.
More details and renderings ahead

March 8, 2016

Giant Tic-Tac-Toe Set Transforms Any Patio Into a Playground

By Rebecca Paul

Spring has almost sprung, and we can hardly wait to get out of the apartment and out in the wilds of our backyards—or our friend's backyard. Regardless of how you get there, outdoor gatherings are always better with a friendly game of tic-tac-toe, especially when you're playing with giant Xs and Os. This beautiful set was designed by Jeremy Exley and is sure to bring the right amount of friendly competition to your next outdoor event.
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March 8, 2016

Renderings Revealed of Turkey’s Shiny, New 32-Story Consulate Tower

Though Perkins Eastman's design of Turkey's forthcoming 32-story consulate tower was inspired by a Turkish crescent (a large, ornate, gilded instrument), the firm took a very streamlined approach to their vision, using swooping curves and geometric patterns to "evoke Islamic themes and Turkish art and culture," as 6sqft previously described. The Turkevi Center will rise along Consulate Row, at 821 United Nations Plaza, the corner of 46th Street and First Avenue. According to a press release first spotted by Curbed, it will "feature prominent loggias along the upper floors of the south and east faces, and be stacked atop a podium wrapped in perforated metal paneling." The project had been on the drawing board for more than three years, but Perkins Eastman have now received the green light to move ahead with the building that will house new consulate offices, passport and visa branch offices, conference rooms, a multi-purpose prayer room, fitness center, auditorium, underground parking, and residential space for staff and visitors.
Additional details and renderings ahead

March 8, 2016

Gilded-Age Riverside Drive Mansion With Basement Pool Returns to the Market for $20M

The Philip and Maria Kleeberg House is a stunning, unique and impossibly grand 11,000-square-foot manse overlooking the Hudson River at 3 Riverside Drive. This 19th-century limestone landmark was designed by noted mansion architect C.P.H. Gilbert for the aforementioned wealthy pair. Young Mr. K was something of what today we’d call a serial tech entrepreneur, and the mansion sits on a stretch of the Hudson River that was being developed to rival the grandeur of Fifth Avenue. According to a New York Times article in 2012–when the 18-room home hit the market at $40 million–the home’s current owners, Regina Kislin, a real estate developer, and her husband, photographer Anatoly Siyagine, found it in 1995 in a state of disrepair, bought it for $10 million and embarked on a facelift of epic proportions based on the potential they saw in the regal wreck, which Ms. Kislin says "...reminded my husband of the mansions in St. Petersburg back in Russia.” According to the current listing, "It is as close as a Manhattanite can come to living in a European castle." Several price chops later at $20 million (h/t TRD), it remains a pretty incredible piece of real estate, albeit with a more realistic price tag. In addition to the restoration efforts, modern touches include an elevator and an indoor pool, sauna and gym in the cellar.
Must be seen to be believed, this way

March 7, 2016

360º Views: This Is the Largest Panoramic Photo of New York’s Skyline Ever Taken

By Diane Pham

Just when we thought we'd seen every angle of the New York City skyline possible, here comes a mind-bogglingly detailed panorama courtesy of photographer Jeffrey Martin. According to the Daily Mail, the sweeping (and interactive!) image was the product of two days spent atop the Empire State Building, with Martin wielding a Canon 5Dsr and a 135mm lens shooting more than 2,000 frames that were later painstakingly stitched together. The image is in fact so large and exhaustive that its 20 Gigapixels would give way to a photo that's 57 feet wide and 27 feet tall if printed!
Click here to access the interactive panorama

Architecture And Design

March 7, 2016

New Renderings of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Office Space and Food Hall