By Dana Schulz, Wed, September 13, 2017 6sqft’s ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to the Chelsea apartment of food writer Lauren Shockey and hedge fund analyst Ross Fabricant. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!
When they started apartment hunting a few years ago, then newlyweds Lauren Shockey and Ross Fabricant knew they wanted to stay in Chelsea. But they also knew they wanted a place with character and with a layout conducive to cooking and entertaining, as the couple loves hosting dinner parties for their friends and Lauren is a food writer (you may recognize her name as the Village Voice’s restaurant critic from 2010 to 2012 and as the author of the culinary memoir/cookbook “Four Kitchens“). When they happened upon this two-bedroom co-op in a historic Art Deco building, they fell in love with its architectural bones, as well as its brightness, openness, and opportunity for customization. Inspired by the calming, clean aesthetic of hotel design, Lauren and Ross completed a surprisingly smooth renovation that left them with a contemporary home full of colorful, personal touches.
Learn more from Lauren and Ross about the renovation process and check out their space
By Michelle Cohen, Fri, September 1, 2017 Though 634 square feet might not be an endless amount of living space, this one-bedroom Chelsea condo at 133 West 22nd Street packs in a lot of livability, starting with high ceilings, floor-to-ceiling windows, a well-appointed kitchen, a washer-dryer, central air/heating and FIOS wiring. And that’s just the apartment–the building even has an outdoor pool. For $4,650 a month you could look forward to spending next summer poolside.
Get an eyeful, this way
By Devin Gannon, Tue, August 22, 2017 520 West 28th Street via Zaha Hadid Architects
Just last month, closings began on Zaha Hadid’s 520 West 28th Street, a structure 6sqft crowned as Building of the Year in 2016. Now, rental apartments at the luxury residential building have officially hit the market (h/t Curbed NY). The late architect’s signature curved and organic architectural style is complemented with interiors like a marble-clad kitchen island, glass walls and energy-efficient lighting. In total, the building has 39 units, with three currently on the rental market: Units No. 31, No. 17 and No. 18. The three units range from $15,000 per month to $22,500 per month.
Take a peek inside
By Annie Doge, Wed, August 16, 2017 When actor Stephen Dorff put his Chelsea penthouse on the market for $3 million in March of last year, 6sqft described it as “party-ready,” thanks to an 850-square-foot roof terrace complete with wet bar/kitchen and outdoor shower. But it looks like “The Power of One,” “Blade,” and “Somewhere” star is officially saying goodbye to his bachelor pad days, as the Observer reports that he’s unloaded the duplex at 251 West 19th Street for $2.7 million.
Take a tour
By Emily Nonko, Tue, August 15, 2017 Background image via Andrew Malone/Flickr
When it comes to the Chelsea Hotel, Ed Hamilton has seen it all. He and his wife moved to the iconic property in 1995, living among artists and musicians in a 220-square-foot, single-room-occupancy unit. The storied, artistic community nurtured inside the hotel came to an end a decade ago when the building sold for the first time and evictions followed. Since then, the property has traded hands a number of times with talks of boutique hotel development, luxury condos, or some combination of the two. Hamilton started tracking the saga at his blog Living With Legends and published a book, “Legends of the Chelsea Hotel,” in 2007.
After the book’s success, Hamilton wrote a short story collection titled “The Chintz Age: Stories of Love and Loss for a new New York.” Each piece offers a different take on New York’s “hyper gentrification,” as he calls it: a mother unable to afford her lofty East Village apartment, giving it up to a daughter she shares a strained relationship with; a book store owner who confronts his failed writing career as a landlord forces him out of now highly valuable commercial space.
Ultimately, many of the stories were inspired by the characters he met inside the Chelsea Hotel. And his tales offer a new perspective on a changing city, one that focuses on “the personal, day-to-day struggles about the people who are trying to hang onto their place in New York.” With 6sqft, he shares what it’s like writing in the under-construction Chelsea Hotel, what the Chintz Age title means, and the unchanged spots of the city he still treasures.
Read more
By Michelle Cohen, Tue, August 15, 2017 We’ve already covered the fascinating fact that 337 West 20th Street isn’t your average cooperative building: This Chelsea townhouse-turned-co-op was formerly the bakery of Samuel Bath Thomas, the Englishman who introduced New Yorkers to the English Muffin in the early 1900s, earning it the nickname Muffin House–and the original ovens, though no longer working, remain built into the basement. While all other traces of the old bakery are gone, this Chelsea aerie on the top floor of the 1850s townhouse has plenty of historic charm–and the one-bedroom apartment, asking $950,000, comes with private deeded roof rights.
Check it out
By Michelle Cohen, Fri, August 4, 2017 As soon as you move into this 560-square-foot loft-style Chelsea studio at 85 8th Avenue, you’ll be convinced you’ve snagged the coolest apartment in the neighborhood. It was formerly a one-bedroom, it’s just had a full renovation…and the space is divided by a custom-milled wooden wall that runs the length of the bedroom area. Not convinced? There’s also a walk-in closet, a Juliet balcony and Empire State Building views, all for $589,000.
That’s the kind of wall we like to see
By Michelle Cohen, Mon, July 24, 2017 This cute little studio at 410 West 23rd Street in Chelsea has a lot going for it in the looks department thanks to a considered renovation that kept an eye on form as well as function. A massive dressing room/closet makes sure your living space stays uncluttered, and a petite entry foyer adds class to the one-room-living experience.
Get a closer look
By Michelle Cohen, Thu, July 20, 2017 eBay executive and Fab.com shopping site founder Bradford Shellhammer raced back from a vacation weekend to tour the Chelsea home he’s now selling for $2.2 million. He’s looking for more space that’s “more about texture than color,” the New York Post reports. In the years he’s been a resident at 575 Sixth Avenue, Shellhammer has transformed the Chelsea loft into a Memphis-style-meets-mid-century-modern masterpiece in sherbet hues, complete with art by Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. Refinery29 once called the home “The Most Colorful Apartment We’ve EVER seen.”
Have a look
By Michelle Cohen, Mon, July 17, 2017 The architect’s signature curves and organic indoor and outdoor architecture made the late Pritzker Prize winner Zaha Hadid’s 520 West 28th Street 6sqft’s Building of the Year. Now, closings have begun in the stunning Chelsea condo, starting with a pair of two bedroom units. Residences 9, which sold for $6 million, and 14, which sold for $6.2 million, are 2,147-square-foot two-bedroom homes with private balconies.
Find out more
