Reported to have been the one-time home of television personality Barbara Walters, this four-bedroom residence is the picture of pre-war elegance, with soaring coffered ceilings, custom millwork, and dark parquet floors throughout. Located in one of the most prestigious corners of the Upper East Side at 555 Park Avenue, the property is listed at $10,350,000 but is also available for rent at $37,500 a month.
Manhattan
Features, Interiors, Midtown, My SQFT House Tours
Our series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to Blair Russell’s Midtown apartment. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!
Florida native Blair Russell spends half of every month in Miami. And for the other two weeks, Miami comes with him to his New York City apartment. The curator-creative has decked out his Midtown abode, located in a 1910 building formerly home to an upscale children’s apparel store, with fluorescent colors, graffiti art, and international finds, all while mixing in a mid-century modern flair. Blair first bought his home on 35th and 5th one month after September 11, at a time when living next to the Empire State Building wasn’t exactly a selling point. “It used to be called the dirty 30’s when I moved here in 2002,” Blair told us.
A self-described third-generation artist, Blair made a career in Florida by helping developers outfit South Beach properties with art. Later, with housing experience under his belt, he began converting abandoned buildings into affordable housing for local artists. Now with real estate further in his rearview mirror, Blair is focusing on traveling and curating art for clients. “Everything I’ve done, I do it for one to 10 percent of the population. If more than 10 percent like it, it’s probably not going to happen with me,” he said. Ahead, see Blair’s eclectic apartment, from his orange-painted orgy centerpiece done by a Warhol protege to a door he took from the last peep show on 42nd Street.
Architecture, Landscape Architecture, Lower East Side, Urban Design
After years of anticipation, Pier 35 on the East River waterfront is officially open (h/t Curbed). The project, designed by SHoP with Ken Smith Workshop, consists of a new eco-park and an “urban beach” anchoring the northern flank of the East River waterfront esplanade and providing much-needed public space on the waterfront. The park also functions as a habitat restoration feature: “Mussel Beach” was created to replicate the characteristics of the original East River shoreline.
Cool Listings, Historic Homes, More Top Stories, West Village
Photo by Allyson Lubow and Corcoran’s Dean DeCarlo
One of the oldest buildings in the West Village is for sale. Located at 17 Grove Street, the rare, wood-frame townhouse built in 1822 is now on the market for $12 million. The unique property includes the main, three-bedroom house, and a two-story backhouse at 100 Bedford Street. Because the city banned the construction of wooden homes in the area in 1849, 17 Grove Street is one of the oldest remaining wood-frame homes in the Village, although not quite the overall oldest home in the neighborhood.
Celebrities, Cool Listings, Upper West Side
Barbra Streisand’s former penthouse at an Emery Roth-designed building on the Upper West Side is asking $11.25 million. Found at 320 Central Park West in the Ardsley, one of the city’s most notable Art Deco residential towers, the duplex includes four bedrooms, three and a half baths, and 2,500 square feet of terraces. The “EGOT” winner moved to the building in 1963 and remained there for over 30 years, according to the New York Times.
Bushwick, Flatiron, New Developments, Technology
Netflix will open six sound stages and support spaces in Bushwick at 333 Johnson Avenue; photo via Google Streetview
Netflix plans to expand its New York City footprint with new production centers in Brooklyn and Manhattan. Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Thursday that the streaming-service company will take up 100,000 square feet at 888 Broadway in Flatiron and roughly 160,000 square feet at 333 Johnson Avenue in Bushwick. “Netflix is innovative, creative and bold – just like New Yorkers – and the expansion of this cutting-edge company in New York once again demonstrates the Empire State is open for business,” Cuomo said.
Celebrities, Cool Listings, Greenwich Village
Listing images courtesy of Douglas Elliman
Former Yankee pitcher and current commentator David Cone—known for the perfect game he threw in 1999—has just relisted his Greenwich Village apartment at 160 West 12th Street for a slightly reduced $9,900,000, the New York Post reports. Cone scored the four-bedroom pad back in 2016 for $8,130,000 and first listed it in 2017 for $10,500,000. The 2,818-square-foot, floor-through unit is part of the amenity-filled Greenwich Lane, a redevelopment of the historic St. Vincent’s Hospital Campus designed by FXCollaborative.
Features, Greenwich Village, GVSHP, History, immigration
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the designation of the Greenwich Village Historic District. One of the city’s oldest and largest landmark districts, it’s a treasure trove of history, culture, and architecture. Village Preservation is spending 2019 marking this anniversary with events, lectures, and new interactive online resources. This is part of a series of posts about the Greenwich Village Historic District marking its golden anniversary.
Each year, immigrant history week is celebrated in late April, commemorating the day in 1907 when more immigrants came through Ellis Island than any other day in history. More than a few of those immigrants came through Greenwich Village, which has a long and storied history of welcoming newcomers from across the city, country, and globe. Here are just a few of the sites within the Greenwich Village Historic District where landmarks of our nation’s rich and varied immigrant history can be found, from the oldest surviving Jewish cemetery in the country to a hub of “Little Spain.”
Cool Listings, Historic Homes, Upper East Side
Photo credit: Will Ellis of DD Reps, courtesy of The Corcoran Group.
Currently home to Marymount School of New York, this grand–even by Upper East Side standards–12,300-square-foot property at 2 East 82nd Street, asking $32 million, could give new meaning to the term “private school.” Originally built as a residence around 1898 by architect Alexander McMillan Welch of Welch, Smith & Provot, the home’s first owners were Mr. Albert Gould Jennings, owner of a Brooklyn lathe works, and his wife, who lived here until 1940. Behind its landmarked limestone-and-brick facade, many of the original turn-of-the-century details remain, and an elevator services all floors.
affordable housing, Harlem, housing lotteries
Applications are now being accepted for 144 mixed-income apartments at a brand new East Harlem building. Developed by SKA Marin, the building at 1912 First Avenue, called The Gilbert on First, rises 16 stories and contains just over 150 apartments. Qualifying New Yorkers earning between $13,200 and $199,650 annually can apply for the apartments, which range from a $328/month studio to a $3,009/month three-bedroom.
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