Manhattan

As a media sponsor of Archtober–NYC’s annual month-long architecture and design festival of tours, lectures, films, and exhibitions–6sqft has teamed up with the Center for Architecture to explore some of their 70+ partner organizations. In 2012, 40 years after it was conceived by late architect Louis Kahn, Four Freedoms Park opened on four acres on the southern tip of Roosevelt Island. Part park, part memorial to FDR (the first dedicated to the former president in his home state), the site was designed to celebrate the Four Freedoms that Roosevelt outlined in his 1941 State of the Union address--Freedom of speech, of worship, from want, and from fear. In addition to its unique social and cultural position, the Park is set apart architecturally--the memorial is constructed from 7,700 tons of raw granite, for example--and horticulturally--120 Little Leaf Linden trees are all perfectly aligned to form a unified sight line. And with these distinctions comes a special team working to upkeep the grounds and memorial, educate the public, and keep the legacy of both Kahn and Roosevelt at the forefront. To learn a bit more about what it's like to work for the Four Freedoms Park Conservancy, we recently toured the park with Park Director Angela Stangenberg and Director of Strategic Partnerships & Communications Madeline Grimes, who filled us in on their day-to-day tasks, some of their challenges, and several secrets of the beautiful site.
Take the tour!

October 18, 2018

Style icon Beatrix Ost’s $4M Hotel Des Artistes duplex is just as fabulous as you’d imagine

By Annie Doge

Designed as an artist's cooperative apartment building and the largest "studio" building in the city, the Hotel Des Artistes at 1 West 67th Street on the Upper West Side is one of NYC's most famous and illustrious buildings. As one of a constellation of style stars in Ari Seth Cohen's "Advanced Style" universe, former model, artist and muse to fashionistas of all ages Beatrix Ost is beloved for her perfect balance of creativity, confidence and cool. In a rare confluence of New York City fabulousness, the apartment Ost has shared with her husband, Ludwig Kuttner, since 2006 is on the market for $4 million–and the offbeat but ridiculously stylish space is every bit what we'd expect.
Take the tour

October 18, 2018

‘Real Housewife’ Jill Zarin prepares to downsize, lists Upper East Side condo for $3.3M

By Annie Doge

After her late husband, Bobby Zarin, passed away earlier this year, original "Real Housewives of New York" cast member Jill Zarin has put her Upper East Side condo on the market for $3.3 million, after living there for 18 years. Since her daughter is also out of the house, she told Forbes, "it's time for a change of scenery," which likely be warmer weather since she added, "Since I love tennis, I want to spend more time in a climate that is suited for it." Likely in anticipation of selling, Jill renovated the three-bedroom apartment at 401 East 60th Street less than a year ago, working with designers at Schoeller + Darling on a contemporary makeover.
Check it out

Trump name finally gets dumped from Upper West Side apartment building at residents’ request

Photo via Nick Normal’s Flickr

October 18, 2018

Trump name finally gets dumped from Upper West Side apartment building at residents’ request

In May, after a year of resistance from the Trump Organization, a judge ruled that an Upper West Side condo could have the president’s name expunged from the exterior of their 46-story building. Condo owners at 200 Riverside Boulevard voted to remove the bronze letters spelling “TRUMP” on the building, where they have hung for nearly two decades. Today they get their wish as their building joins three neighboring ones in dumping the Trump sign, the New York Times reports. Workers will remove the offending letters from the front and rear facades of 200 Riverside Boulevard; the building will become known merely by its address, like so many others in the city.
Find out how they did it

Policy

October 17, 2018

‘Law & Order’ leading lady Mariska Hargitay lists stylish UWS brownstone for $10.75M

It's hard to believe actress Mariska Hargitay has been starring as NYPD Lieutenant Olivia Benson on "Law & Order: SVU" for nearly two decades, but when it comes to her living situation, she likes to change things up a bit more. She and her husband, actor Peter Hermann, bought a stunning Upper West Side brownstone for $10.7 million in 2012, and they've now put it on the market for $10.75 million. Hermann told the Wall Street Journal that they've decided to sell because their "family needs have changed," but they'd remain in the neighborhood. The six-story, 6,000+ square-foot home is located at 45 West 84th Street, between Central Park West and Columbus, and is "loaded with color and vibrancy,” according to Hermann, thanks to a collaboration with designer Jeffrey Bilhuber.
Take the grand tour

October 17, 2018

Asking $1.35M, this chic Village floor-through with a private garden is two studios waiting to merge

This prime Greenwich Village floor-through home at 19 West 9th Street just off lower Fifth Ave offers a fortunate opportunity: Located on the original garden floor in a row of three adjoining 1870s Italianate townhouses comprising a 16-unit boutique co-op, the space, asking $1.35 million, is currently divided into two studio units. The two apartments had previously been one open floor plan, and rejoining them, according to the listing, is as easy as re-opening a hallway closet to connect front and back.
Take a peek

Distinctive Homes

October 17, 2018

1940s Upper East Side Modernist mansion gets a price chop to $35M

Known as the Sherman Fairchild Mansion, the modern-fronted townhouse at 17 East 65th Street is one of those New York City sights that might cause you to do a double-take in the middle of an otherwise sedate Upper East Side sidewalk. The current façade of this five-story home was designed by William Hamby and George Nelson in 1940 for aviation pioneer/inventor Sherman Fairchild. Well-known architect Michael Graves was commissioned to design yet another facade for the home in 1979, but that version was never built. The 25-foot-wide, 9,440 square-foot modern townhouse has been on and off the market since 2014, beginning last year at $40 million. Now, this unique townhouse has engineered yet another re-debut with a discount, asking $35M.
Have another look inside

West Chelsea’s Starrett-Lehigh building to be expo space, food hall

Rendering courtesy of RXR.

October 17, 2018

West Chelsea’s Starrett-Lehigh building to be expo space, food hall

Plans for the block-deep Starrett-Lehigh building on Manhattan's far west flank just below Hudson Yards have been in discussion since the building was purchased by RXR Realty in 2011. RXR recently announced that the former freight terminal, built in 1931 and named a city landmark in 1986, will get new public life as a huge event and expo space, plus retail and a food hall. The 43,000-square-foot project will be designed by ICRAVE, who brought LeDistrict to downtown and are creating another food hall in nearby Hudson Yards.
Find out why the West Side needs another food hall

Uncategorized

October 16, 2018

A pastel kitchen takes the cake at this sweet East Village co-op, asking $550K

Everything about this East Village co-op can be described as cute, but it's the newly renovated kitchen that really has us swooning. Listed for a surprisingly reasonable $549,000, the one-bedroom pad at 633 East 11th Street also boasts chic whitewashed brick walls, ridiculously charming decor, and windows with rustic shutters.
READ MORE

Distinctive Homes

Reserve tickets to celebrate Halloween with de Blasio at Gracie Mansion

Via de Blasio’s office

October 15, 2018

Reserve tickets to celebrate Halloween with de Blasio at Gracie Mansion

Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray on Friday opened the free ticket giveaway for festivities at Gracie Mansion this Halloween. From Friday, October 26 to Sunday, October 28, guests will be able to tour the historic home decked out in a haunted theme and enjoy activities like face painting, story-telling, a magic show, and arts and crafts. Expect both tricks and treats from the couple at this annual spooky celebration.
Here's how to get tickets

Events & Things To Do

October 15, 2018

15 Hudson Yards reveals model home with shoppable interiors by Neiman Marcus fashion director

The first phase of the Hudson Yards megaproject, including the public square and gardens and its centerpiece, Vessel, as well as The Shops & Restaurants at Hudson Yards, which will be anchored by NYC's first Neiman Marcus store, is preparing to open this March. Now, Fifteen Hudson Yards has announced that that Neiman Marcus fashion director Ken Downing has designed and styled the interiors for a new model home at the 88-story luxury condominium. Furthering the connection between the upper-crust department store and the development's high-end aspirations is a freshly-launched Neiman Marcus microsite that will allow people to purchase select items in the residence.
Interiors you can buy, this way

October 15, 2018

Artist Abby Leigh unloads Upper West Side co-op for $4.8M

Abby Leigh may be famous around the world for her contemporary art, but here in NYC, she's becoming just as well known for her big-ticket real estate wheeling-and-dealing. In June of 2014, just three months after her husband, Tony-winning “Man of La Mancha” composer Mitch Leigh, passed away, she bought a $4.8 million Upper West Side artist co-op at 27 West 67th Street. The following year, she both listed her Upper East Side townhouse for $28 million (it sold for $20.4 million in 2016) and bought an $8 million home in one of the turrets of the former New York Cancer Hospital on the Upper West Side. And perhaps now Leigh has decided she only needs one UWS residence, as she's just unloaded the 67th Street residence for $4.8 million according to property records, breaking even on the sale.
Get a look around

October 15, 2018

The Village’s beloved pink townhouse lists as an $11M fixer-upper

Often noted for its unusual studio window and bright coral hue, the five-story townhouse at 114 Waverly Place was built in 1826 as part of a row of nine houses constructed for Thomas R. Mercein, who was at the time city comptroller and president of New York Equitable Fire Insurance Company. A dramatic overhaul in 1920 designed by William Sanger for portrait painter Murray P. Bewley is responsible for the building's quirkier design elements, which are credited to a German Expressionist style known as Jugendstil, a mix of English Art Nouveau and Japanese applied arts. This unusual Village house is now on the market for $11 million–with a few caveats.
Check it out

Sales launch at Extell’s Central Park Tower, the world’s tallest residential building

Via Extell

October 15, 2018

Sales launch at Extell’s Central Park Tower, the world’s tallest residential building

Sales have launched for Central Park Tower, the tallest residential tower in the world, Extell Development announced Monday. Located at 225 West 57th Street, the 1,550-foot tower is rising on Billionaires' Row, a strip of ultra-luxury residences at the southern end of Central Park in Midtown. While Extell hasn't officially released pricing for its 179 condos, the Real Deal reported last year that 20 of the units have a price tag of $60 million and higher, with a $95 million penthouse being the most expensive. If the building achieves its projected $4 billion sellout, the tower would become the most expensive condo project in New York City.
More here

Real Estate Trends

October 15, 2018

For $29M, an Upper East Side townhouse designed by the historic architects of NYC’s elite

The NYC architectural firm of Delano & Aldrich designed some of the turn-of-the-century's most sophisticated structures, from the Knickerbocker and Colony Clubs to the Rockefeller's upstate estate Kykuit to a slew of uptown mansions. At the time, they veered away from the popular Beaux-Arts style and popularized an Anglo-American mix of Neo-Classical and -Federal designs. One such example is this grand townhouse at 15 East 88th Street, just listed for $28.8 million. As the listing states, it's one of their few intact mansions remaining in private hands. And since it's had only a few owners over the years, it retains its historic details and stately facades.
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Distinctive Homes

How a Greenwich Village brownstone became known as the ‘House of Death’

Photo of 14 West 10th Street via Wikimedia; Photo of Mark Twain via Wikimedia

October 12, 2018

How a Greenwich Village brownstone became known as the ‘House of Death’

Despite its picturesque exterior, the building at 14 West 10th Street in Greenwich Village has a not-so-cute history. Since being constructed in the 1850s near the start of the Civil War, 22 people have died in the home, referred to as the House of Death. And as the New York Post reported, some of their spirits allegedly have never left. Residents have reported sightings of the spirit of Samuel Clemens aka Mark Twain, who lived at the building between 1900 and 1901, and other bone-chilling ghosts who have haunted the Greenwich Village block for over a century.
More on the haunted home here

October 12, 2018

Marvel Architects reveal condo conversion of 200-year-old Nolita school

Marvel Architects has completed its school-to-condo conversion in Nolita, bringing seven condos and one private townhouse to the former site of the Old St. Patrick's School on Prince Street. The project restored the facade of the four-story building, which was built in 1826, as well as its dormer windows and arched doorways. Because the interiors of the building, dubbed the Residences at Prince, were not landmarked, the architects were able to add new modern elements like steel columns and white oak floors while retaining original brick walls and roof timbers.
See it here

October 12, 2018

Nolita loft boasting barrel-vaulted ceilings and exposed brick asks $2.4M

By Emily Nonko

This Nolita loft is open, airy, and spans an impressive 1,800 square feet. The design is spot-on, too, complementing the lofty bones of the apartment that include vaulted, barrel ceilings and exposed brick. The building, 40 Great Jones Street, is believed to be built in the late 1800s. But everything here is thoroughly modern, from the flexible great room to the glass-panelled master bedroom.
Take a look inside

Distinctive Homes

How the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council has kept art thriving through FiDi’s ups and downs

Photo via LMCC

October 12, 2018

How the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council has kept art thriving through FiDi’s ups and downs

By Cait Etherington

When the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) was founded in 1973, it set out to bring the arts to Lower Manhattan, a neighborhood that already had an established reputation for being first and foremost a site of business, not pleasure. What the organization’s founder, Flory Barnett, could not have foreseen at the time of the LMCC’s founding is that over the coming four decades, Lower Manhattan would face more challenges than nearly any other New York City neighborhood. From the attacks on 9/11 to the devastating fallout of the 2008 economic crisis to the occupation of Zuccotti Park in 2011, in recent years, Lower Manhattan has been at the epicenter of some of the city’s and nation’s most historic moments. Throughout these events, the LMCC has persisted and in many respects, played a pivotal role in helping the neighborhood transition into the vibrant and diverse neighborhood it is today: a place where people not only work but also live and spend their leisure time.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

October 12, 2018

A touch of Versailles comes to the Upper East Side in this luxuriant $2.2M co-op

It may not have the size of Versailles but in just 1,200 square feet, this Upper East Side co-op packs an opulent punch that'll have you saying "oui s'il vous plaît." The $2.2 million duplex is located within a former mansion at 8 East 68th Street, just a few buildings in from Central Park. And in addition to location, it boasts intricate crown moldings and ceilings medallions, reclaimed oak herringbone floors, and an incredibly ornate marble fireplace mantle.
Get a look around

Distinctive Homes

October 11, 2018

Troubled Upper East Side mansion tries again for $88M after record-breaking deal fell through

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Fourth time's the charm? A 20,000-square-foot townhouse on the Upper East Side with its own movie theater and a panic room has hit the market again for $88 million. While the palatial home at 12 East 69th Street went into contract last December for $80 million, which at the time would have been the most expensive townhouse ever sold in New York City, the deal fell through this summer. The seven-bedroom home, built in 1884, was previously listed in 2013 for $114 million and then for $98 million in 2014. But if you're not ready to commit permanently to the mansion lifestyle, the home is also available to rent for $175,000.
See inside

Distinctive Homes

October 11, 2018

Open House New York in Greenwich Village: The history of three unique sites

Among the many delights included in this weekend’s Open House New York will be three iconic Greenwich Village buildings--a Gothic Revival church with many architectural firsts, a library that was originally a courthouse which heard the "Trial of the Century," and a groundbreaking artists' housing complex that was formerly home to Bell Telephone Labs and the site where color television was invented. These extraordinary landmarks span three centuries of American history, reflecting the evolution of our city’s spiritual, artistic, industrial, scientific, and civic life.
Learn more about their unique histories

October 11, 2018

Live at 15 Hudson Yards for just $858/month, lottery opens for 107 affordable units

Hudson Yards' first residential building to rise, the 88-story 15 Hudson Yards, has just opened its affordable housing lottery for 107 of its nearly 300 units. Listings for the market-rate condos went live two years ago, ranging from a $3.8 million two-bedroom to a $32 million penthouse. By comparison, the affordable rentals, available to New Yorkers earning 50 or 60 percent of the area median income, range from $858/month studios to $1,350/month two-bedrooms. And in addition to the incredible price point, residents will have access to all of the mega-development's amenities, including new parkland, The Shed performance space, and plenty of retail and restaurant space. Plus, 15 Hudson Yards has a 24-hour attended lobby, two floors of wellness offerings including a gym, yoga studio, and swimming pool, and a skytop lounge with views of the Hudson River and Thomas Heatherwick's huge climbable installation, the Vessel.
Find out if you qualify

Affordable Housing

October 10, 2018

For $895K, this architect-designed co-op is the picture of West Village chic