Manhattan

It would be difficult to pass by the landmarked townhouses of Grove Street and not take notice of this perfectly-preserved snapshot of life in the West Village of the 1800s. Asking $7,500,000, 4 Grove Street is one of four featured on a "Landmarks of New York" plaque that immortalizes these Greek Revival homes built between 1825 and 1834. The 2,200-square-foot, three-story brick townhouse has retained its 19th-century architecture, with arched entryways, exposed brick, and wood beams. Within is the highest level of timeless comfort in the form of renovated marble bathrooms, a greenhouse, a private outdoor garden, wood-burning fireplaces–and a wine cellar built into an underground street tunnel from the same era as this unusual home.
Tour this home filled with history

$3.5M parlor-level condo in this 120-year-old East Village townhouse aptly mixes new and old

All photos courtesy of Melanie Greene for The Corcoran Group

March 22, 2022

$3.5M parlor-level condo in this 120-year-old East Village townhouse aptly mixes new and old

A condo that maintains original elements but manages to look brand new is not an easy task, but this two-bedroom home in the East Village does just that. Located on the parlor floor of a Greek Revival townhouse that was built in 1900, the apartment boasts original details like crown moldings, baseboards, and medallions, while keeping things modern with top-of-the-line appliances, heating and cooling systems, and stunning built-ins. The condo at 219 East 12th Street is now available for $3,495,000.
More this way

Distinctive Homes

New art installation is a tranquil sanctuary in the heart of Times Square

Rendering of Raúl Cordero’s Public Art Project, The Poem. Courtesy of the artist and Times Square Arts.

March 22, 2022

New art installation is a tranquil sanctuary in the heart of Times Square

Take a moment to escape the hustle and bustle of the city at this new public art installation opening in Times Square. Next month, Times Square Arts will debut Raúl Cordero's The Poem, a large-scale sculptural tower with illuminated text in its interior and cascading foliage on its exterior, reminiscent of a temple sanctuary. Guests step into the artwork and look up through 20 feet of cascading mountain laurel foliage only to see the night sky and the lines of a haiku fixed to the walls. The Poem is on view from April 8 through May 4.
Learn more

Events & Things To Do

Penthouse atop Upper East Side’s historic former Hotel Wales hits the market for $23M

Photo credit: VMI Studios

March 22, 2022

Penthouse atop Upper East Side’s historic former Hotel Wales hits the market for $23M

Capping the reinvention of the former Hotel Wales at 1295 Madison Avenue as luxury condominium residences, a newly-constructed 4,179-square-foot penthouse spanning the building's highest floor has just arrived on the market. The $23,000,000 home in the Carnegie Hill Historic District contains five bedrooms and seven bathrooms; its biggest asset, however, may be the 3,114 square feet of wrap-around terraces on two levels with Central Park views, an outdoor kitchen with a wet bar, a fireplace, and a butler’s pantry.
Get a peek at this parkside penthouse

$7.9M Upper East Side townhouse with a glass rear facade takes live-work balance to a new level

Photo credit: Eitan Gamliely for Sotheby’s International Realty

March 21, 2022

$7.9M Upper East Side townhouse with a glass rear facade takes live-work balance to a new level

From its distinctive mansard roof to a full-height lower-level office floor, 240 East 68th Street is a unique find on one of Manhattan’s loveliest blocks. Asking $7,900,000, this 5,400-square-foot single-family townhouse mixes 19th-century traditional style and stunning contemporary design, then adds the convenience of ample office space. Originally constructed in 1899, the home currently has seven bedrooms, five working fireplaces, a roof terrace, a glass-paned rear facade–and an elevator to put all of it within easy reach.
Meet the many sides of this unique townhouse

Distinctive Homes

NYC architects reimagine the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Morningside Heights campus

All renderings courtesy of Michael Moran

March 17, 2022

NYC architects reimagine the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Morningside Heights campus

The Jewish Theological Seminary on Thursday released images of its newly redesigned campus in Morningside Heights. The campus was redesigned by the award-winning Tod Williams Billie Tsien Architects who have reimagined it with the community-focused form of Judaism that JTS teaches and practices through new open, outward-facing architecture.
See more here

What you should know about this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC

Photo by James Felder on Flickr

March 16, 2022

What you should know about this year’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade in NYC

The world's largest Saint Patrick's Day Parade is back after two years of pandemic-related disruptions. On March 17, roughly 150,000 people will march up Fifth Avenue for the 260th event honoring St. Patrick and Irish culture in New York City. In March 2020, the city's St. Patrick's Day Parade was one of the first major events to be canceled because of Covid. In 2021, the parade was held virtually. This year, the parade, which typically attracts about two million spectators, will return to Manhattan in full force, according to organizers.
Get the details

Events & Things To Do

In Harlem, a treasure-filled corner condo with a huge outdoor terrace asks $4M

All photos by Eitan Gamliely for Sotheby’s International Realty

March 16, 2022

In Harlem, a treasure-filled corner condo with a huge outdoor terrace asks $4M

What's old is new again at this totally renovated corner apartment in the center of Harlem. On the 27th floor of the high-rise condominium at 1485 Fifth Avenue, this three-bedroom home is currently a showcase of antiques and artwork. Custom built-in lighted shelving throughout the apartment displays collected treasures in the most elegant way possible. Asking $3,995,000, this Uptown aerie offers breathtaking Manhattan views through walls of windows and a layout that maximizes privacy.
See more this way

March 14, 2022

750 spots open on waitlist for Mitchell-Lama Lower East Side co-ops, for sale from $19,677

Applications are currently being accepted for newly-opened waitlist spots for studios and two-bedroom middle-income units at the Gouverneur Gardens co-op at 305 Madison Street. New Yorkers earning 125 percent of the area median income can apply to purchase apartments in the post-war development on Manhattan's Lower East Side, priced from $19,677 for a studio to $35,418.60 for a two-bedroom.
Find out more

Affordable Housing

Hochul recommends five historic places in NYC to be added to state and national registers

Photo showing storefront stands on Ninth Ave. looking south from just north of West 40th St., 1936.(Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library.

March 14, 2022

Hochul recommends five historic places in NYC to be added to state and national registers

Gov. Kathy Hochul last week announced 21 nominations for possible placement on the State and National Registers of Historic Places. The list of nominations includes a diverse set of locations that are intricate to the history of New York. Nominations include early automobile manufacturing sites in Buffalo and Syracuse, a Mohawk Valley cemetery home to the author of the Pledge of Allegiance, and the only remaining 19-century textile mile in Troy. Of the total nominated places, five are located in New York City, including an abandoned Bronx train station designed by Cass Gilbert and an area in Hell's Kitchen once home to a famed open-air market.
See more here

Fernando Botero’s 8-foot ‘Sphinx’ sculpture has landed in the Meatpacking District

Photos courtesy of David Benrimon Fine Art

March 11, 2022

Fernando Botero’s 8-foot ‘Sphinx’ sculpture has landed in the Meatpacking District

Concurrent with an exhibition of celebrated Colombian artist Fernando Botero's work at David Benrimon Fine Art, Botero’s iconic "Sphinx" will be holding court in the Meatpacking District’s 14th Street Square until April 19. The exhibition and sculpture also mark the 90th birthday of Colombia’s most successful living artist. Botero's familiar style interprets mythological and everyday subjects with exaggerated, voluptuous proportions and flat, bright colors. The latest Meatpacking addition features the iconic creature with a human head, a lion's body and a falcon's wings in classic zaftig Botero style; there's no indication that it will be offering riddles.
International flair for a downtown square

Events & Things To Do

A guide to the Gilded Age mansions of 5th Avenue’s millionaire row

The Cornelius Vanderbilt II Mansion on 57th Street and 5th Avenue, now demolished. Photo via A.D. White Architectural Photographs, Cornell University Library.

March 10, 2022

A guide to the Gilded Age mansions of 5th Avenue’s millionaire row

By Michelle Young

New York City's Fifth Avenue has always been pretty special, although you'd probably never guess that it began with a rather ordinary and functional name: Middle Road. Like the 1811 Commissioner's Plan for Manhattan, which laid out the city's future expansion in a rational manner, Middle Road was part of an earlier real estate plan by the City Council. As its name suggests, Middle Road was situated in the middle of a large land parcel that was sold by the council in 1785 to raise municipal funds for the newly established nation. Initially, it was the only road to provide access to this yet-undeveloped portion of Manhattan, but two additional roads were built later (eventually becoming Park Avenue and Sixth Avenue). The steady northwards march of upscale residences, and the retail to match, has its origins where Fifth Avenue literally begins: in the mansions on Washington Square Park. Madison Square was next, but it would take a combination of real-estate clairvoyance and social standing to firmly establish Fifth Avenue as the center of society.
More on how the gilded mansions of 5th Avenue came to be

Photo credit: Russ Ross for The Corcoran Group

March 10, 2022

This $899K West Village co-op is bright and tranquil from top to bottom

Situated in a sliver of the West Village that embodies many a downtown NYC fantasy, this one-bedroom (convertible to two) pre-war co-op at 8 Bethune Street is the picture of Village charm. Asking $899,000, the walk-up apartment is only a two-flight hike, and nine-foot-plus ceilings, white-painted wood floors, pale brick walls, and treetop views make the walk worthwhile.
Take a peek

Distinctive Homes

Looking East; Rendering: DBOX

March 9, 2022

See the new $550M home for the New York Philharmonic, set to open in October

Nearly two decades after the project was first proposed, the New York Philharmonic's new state-of-the-art concert hall will open this October, two years ahead of schedule, officials announced Wednesday. The revamped David Geffen Hall aims to create a more intimate space, "a living room for New York City," as a press release describes, by moving the audience closer to the stage and improving sightlines. Plus, the project fixes the hall's poor acoustics and reduces the total number of seats by about 500. In addition to announcing the $550 million project was finishing on time, officials also released new renderings of the theater and public space.
Get the details

Architecture And Design

Penn Station’s transformation takes next steps with removal of low-hanging beams

All images courtesy of Marc A. Hermann / MTA

March 9, 2022

Penn Station’s transformation takes next steps with removal of low-hanging beams

A major step in the transformation of Penn Station has begun. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) on Tuesday announced they would begin the removal of seven massive low-hanging beams known as "head knockers," dated structural beams that have limited the height of passageways in Penn Station's Long Island Rail Road Concourse to under 7 feet. The removal of these beams will help project crews reach their goal of increasing the ceiling height to 18 feet across the entire concourse, doubling the width of the 33rd Street corridor to 57 feet, and improving lighting.
See more here

First skyline-view sleepover at Top of the Rock will be an all-night celebration of spring

The sleepover space: Weather Room at Top of the Rock; image courtesy of Rockefeller Center

March 9, 2022

First skyline-view sleepover at Top of the Rock will be an all-night celebration of spring

As we slowly make our way toward spending time out there among our fellow New Yorkers, Rockefeller Center is hosting a new way to celebrate spring. Star Party at Top of the Rock will be the first-ever overnight musical experience at the famous skyline-view venue, held in celebration of the spring equinox as the evening of March 19 becomes March 20. The first of a new quarterly series offers a small audience the opportunity to experience all-night meditation and ambient sound against the sparkle of the city skyline.
Find out more ⭐️ ? ? ? ?

Events & Things To Do

The Met Opera will host benefit concert for Ukraine relief efforts

Photo by Ajay Suresh on Flickr

March 8, 2022

The Met Opera will host benefit concert for Ukraine relief efforts

The Metropolitan Opera next week will host a benefit performance to support the people of Ukraine. A Concert for Ukraine will be held on March 14, with all ticket sales and proceeds going to relief efforts in Ukraine. The 70-minute program will be led by Met Music Director Yannick Nézet-Séguin and feature some of the opera's star soloists. Tickets are $50 and go on sale this Wednesday.
Find out more

Events & Things To Do

Gloria Vanderbilt’s childhood home on the UES has sold for $32.2M

Photos courtesy of Douglas Elliman

March 8, 2022

Gloria Vanderbilt’s childhood home on the UES has sold for $32.2M

After hitting the market for $50 million in 2019, the seven-story Gilded-Age Upper East Side townhouse where late socialite Gloria Vanderbilt lived as a child has sold for $32.2 million. According to the New York Post, a group of Russian investors bought the 27-foot-wide mansion for $19 million in 2014 with plans to transform the property into three separate condo units and sell for $70 million. The investors sold the home at 39 East 72nd Street to an unknown buyer using an LLC, according to the newspaper.
Get the details

Get lost on two sprawling floors of this $7.5M 12-room Upper East Side co-op

Photo Credit: Coldwell Banker Warburg

March 7, 2022

Get lost on two sprawling floors of this $7.5M 12-room Upper East Side co-op

If the location of this five-bedroom co-op at 1165 Fifth Avenue–with Central Park just out the window and across the street–weren't enough to make it a big deal, it's a veritable sky-townhouse with co-op convenience. Asking $7,495,000, the 12-room duplex is a combination of two apartments, resulting in space galore, divided among colorful, livable, renovated rooms.
Take the two-floor tour

Distinctive Homes

Explore hidden gems and lesser-known artists at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library’s new exhibit

All images courtesy of Alfonso Lozano

March 7, 2022

Explore hidden gems and lesser-known artists at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library’s new exhibit

The Hispanic Society Museum & Library has opened a new exhibition that brings attention to the wide variety of art, literature, and history from the Iberian Peninsula and South America. Curated by art historian Dr. Madeleine Haddon, Nuestra Casa: Rediscovering the Treasures of The Hispanic Society Museum & Library features select "hidden gems" from the museum's expansive collection of more than 750,000 pieces, including artworks by El Greco and Goya to masterpieces by lesser-known Latin American artists. The exhibition is open at the Washington Heights museum now through April 17.
Details this way

A luxurious wellness spa is now open on Governors Island

All images courtesy of QC NY

March 4, 2022

A luxurious wellness spa is now open on Governors Island

QC Terme Spas & Resorts' long-anticipated day spa has opened today within three historic buildings on Governors Island. QC NY is the luxury resort brand's first property outside of Europe and features relaxation rooms, themed saunas, Vichy showers, infrared beds, foot baths, hydro jets, steam baths, and other amenities meant to induce bliss. The resort will be the island's first year-round commercial tenant.
See more here

City Living

For $3.25M, this pretty Gramercy co-op has a near-perfect layout and a key to the park

Photo credit: Brown Harris Stevens

March 4, 2022

For $3.25M, this pretty Gramercy co-op has a near-perfect layout and a key to the park

Only a fortunate few residences in the Gramercy Park neighborhood come with keys to the actual park, and this two-bedroom co-op at 32 Gramercy Park South is one of them. The apartment–a two-unit combo asking $3,250,000–is fully renovated without the awkwardness sometimes found when units merge. Spacious bedrooms and extra living space make the layout just right, and city skyline views add to the perfect Manhattan apartment equation.
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

Director Baz Luhrmann lists vibrant Gramercy townhouse for $20M

All photos courtesy of Nina Poon/MW Studio for the Corcoran Group

March 4, 2022

Director Baz Luhrmann lists vibrant Gramercy townhouse for $20M

Writer and director Baz Luhrmann and his wife, costume designer Catherine Martin, are selling their Gramercy Park townhouse for $19,995,000, as the Wall Street Journal first reported. Located at 243 East 17th Street, the 28-foot-wide Anglo-Italianate-style six-bedroom home sits on Stuyvesant Square Park, within the area's historic district. Inside, the Australian couple put their own creative touch on the 19th-century home, with dramatic, patterned wallpaper, bright colors, and carefully curated furniture.
See inside

NYC’s first ‘flying theater’ RiseNY opens in Times Square

All images courtesy of Jeremy Daniel

March 2, 2022

NYC’s first ‘flying theater’ RiseNY opens in Times Square

Starting Wednesday, visitors will be able to soar through the sky on an aerial tour of New York City in a flying theater. Located at 160 West 45th Street, RiseNY is a state-of-the-art virtual experience created and produced by Running Subway that takes participants on an exhilarating journey of the city skyline and cultural landmarks. The experience is a three-part journey starting with a film narrated by Jeff Goldblum, taking guests through the recreation of NYC's first subway station and delving into the city's global impact.
Details here

Events & Things To Do

This $15M UES mansion has six floors topped by a solarium and roof garden

Photo credit: DDreps/Sotheby’s International Realty

March 2, 2022

This $15M UES mansion has six floors topped by a solarium and roof garden

Appropriately situated on one of the Upper East Side's grandest blocks, the Adele Kneeland Mansion at 154 East 71st Street is a 20-foot-wide Neo-Georgian townhouse with more than 11,000 square feet of interior space. Asking $14,950,000, this six-story residence boasts both original and updated architecture on the inside and outside. An elevator serves all floors, including the glass-walled double-height solarium and 1,250-square-foot landscaped rooftop terrace at its crown. The options here are many on the live/work spectrum; in addition to a palatial private home, it would be well-suited for a medical practice, school, private art museum, or non-profit organization HQ.
More about this historic Manhattan mansion

Distinctive Homes

Harlem’s massive $700M Taystee Lab Building is complete

Renderings courtesy of Janus Property Group unless otherwise noted

March 1, 2022

Harlem’s massive $700M Taystee Lab Building is complete