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September 6, 2017

100 free things to do in New York City

Despite being one of the most expensive cities to live in, New York City offers many free activities, events, and attractions all year round, letting you pinch pennies when the rent check is due. From free lectures at the Met to free group meditation classes, there are tons of activities that don't cost a dime. To help New York visitors and natives alike, we've put together a guide of the 100 best wallet-friendly things to do in the Big Apple.
More this way
August 10, 2017

The Village’s Twin Peaks: From a quirky ‘Swiss-chalet’ to a landmarks controversy

Few buildings capture the whimsy, flamboyance, and bohemian spirit of early 20th century Greenwich Village as does the building known as "Twin Peaks" at 102 Bedford Street. Described as a "wonderfully ludicrous mock half-timbered fantasy row-house castle" by architecture critic Paul Goldberger, the present incarnation of the building was born in 1925 as a radical remodeling of an 1830 rowhouse into a five-story artists’ studio apartment building. In the mid 20th-century, the building became even more iconic with a cream and brown paint job that mimicked its Alpine cottage inspiration. However, a more recent paint job stripped away this history, resulting in a controversial landmarks battle.
The whole story
July 27, 2017

CetraRuddy proposes sustainable designs for first office building along the Village’s ‘Silicon Alley’

An "oversized Silicon Alley" is what some are calling Mayor de Blasio's plan to transform Union Square and its southern stretches into the city's next tech hub. The main component so far is the massive Union Square Tech Hub proposed to replace the P.C. Richard & Son building on East 14th Street, but Councilwoman Rosie Mendez and the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation are advocating that, in exchange for the building, the city rezone the surrounding blocks to prevent an influx of out-of-scale development. Despite their oppositions, CetraRuddy has revealed on their site two environmentally friendly proposals for the site at 799 Broadway, the former home of the St. Denis Hotel at the southwest corner of East 11th Street. Spotted by CityRealty, the 240-foot, 17-story office building would be the first catering to the Mayor's tech dreams, though the renderings are merely conceptual at this point.
All the renderings and details ahead
June 28, 2017

INTERVIEW: The NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project talks gay history and advocacy in NYC

"Where did lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history happen in New York City? In what buildings did influential LGBT activists and artists live and work, and on what streets did groups demonstrate for their equal rights?" These are the questions that the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is answering through a first-of-its-kind initiative to document historic and cultural sites associated with the LGBT community in the five boroughs. Through a map-based online archive, based on 25 years of research of advocacy, the group hopes to make "invisible history visible" by exploring sites related to everything from theater and art to social activism and health. To mark Pride Month, 6sqft recently talked with the Historic Sites Project's directors--architectural historian and preservation professor at Columbia Andrew S. Dolkart; historic preservation consultant Ken Lustbader; and former senior historian at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Jay Shockley--along with their project manager, preservationist Amanda Davis, about the roots of the initiative, LGBT history in NYC, and the future of gay advocacy.
Read the interview here
April 26, 2017

16 spring house tours to check out in and around NYC

It's that time of year again—house tour season! Architecture buffs, historic home junkies, and garden lovers revel in the spring lineup of events, and to make planning a bit easier, 6sqft has rounded up 16 tours in and around New York City. From Harlem brownstones and Park Slope townhouses to Hamptons estates and Nyack mansions to Jersey shore beachfront homes and Hoboken's secret gardens, there's a little something for everyone.
The full event roster, right this way
March 24, 2017

Behind the counter and into the caves at Murray’s Cheese

Murray's Cheese was founded in 1940 on Cornelia Street. When Rob Kaufelt bought the business in 1991, he grew the store into an internationally known food destination that now includes educational programs, a full-service restaurant, catering, and state-of-the-art cheese aging caves in Long Island City. Personally, our love affair with Murray’s Cheese began in 1994, when we were newlyweds on a budget, often buying cheese from the small Bleecker Street store to eat with some freshly baked bread purchased from the nearby Zito & Sons Bakery. Plus, with Murray’s being our namesake, we felt an immediate connection to the store. Just last month, the Kroger Company purchased the equity of Murray’s Cheese and its flagship Greenwich Village location to form a merger of the two companies. As this new era approaches, we decided to capture all the cheesy goodness of the store, restaurant, and caves, as well as chat with Rob, cavemaster PJ, and Murray's Cheese Bar's general manager Jake Goznikar to learn about Murray's history, unique contributions to local and world-wide food culture, and future.
Take the grand tour
March 10, 2017

The Urban Lens: Inside McSorley’s Old Ale House, NYC’s oldest bar

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, award-winning photographers James and Karla Murray return for Saint Patrick's Day with a look inside McSorley's Old Ale House. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. With Saint Patrick's Day just around the corner, McSorley's Old Ale House--located in the East Village on East 7th Street by Cooper Square--is readying to welcome a crowd of beer-loving New Yorkers and out-of-towners alike. What sets this watering hole apart, aside from its limited "dark or light" menu, is that it's the oldest bar in the city, a distinction proven after extensive research by the bar's official historian Bill Wander. We recently paid the Irish tavern a visit to capture its historic details such as the original wooden bar and pot-bellied stove; iconic tchotchkes adorning the walls, which run the gamut from shackles worn by a prisoner of war from the Civil War to a horseshoe that legend says came from one of the horses that pulled Abraham Lincoln’s hearse; and the fun-loving crowd that can be seen there on a typical day. We also chatted with Teresa Maher, the very first woman to work behind the bar in 1994.
See all the photos and hear from Teresa
February 1, 2017

The history of Little Syria and an immigrant community’s lasting legacy

In the light of Donald Trump's ban on Syrian refugees, 6sqft decided to take a look back at Little Syria. From the late 1880s to the 1940s, the area directly south of the World Trade Center centered along Washington Street held the nation's first and largest Arabic settlement. The bustling community was full of Turkish coffee houses, pastry shops, smoking parlors, dry goods merchants, and silk stores, but the Immigration Act of 1924 (which put limits on the number of immigrants allowed to enter the U.S. from a given country and altogether banned Asians and Arabs) followed by the start of construction on the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel in 1940, caused this rich enclave to disappear. And though few vestiges remain today, there's currently an exhibit on Little Syria at the Metropolitan College of New York, and the Department of Parks and Recreation is building a new park to commemorate the literary figures associated with the historic immigrant community.
The full history and details on the new developments
December 1, 2016

Artists’ storied 187-year-old West Village carriage house finally finds a buyer

A 187-year-old carriage house at 29 Downing Street on a quintessential West Village block has appeared in print for so many reasons it's hard to name them all–starting with the six-degrees-of-"Hamilton" fact that it was built in 1829 on land owned by third U.S. vice president Aaron Burr. 6sqft featured the historic home owned by artists John Bennett and Karen Lee Grant in early 2015 when it was listed for $13 million. The homeowners' vision reflected in this remarkable art studio, gallery and living space was featured in House Beautiful, Elle and two coffee table books; the Wall Street Journal called the 25-foot-wide home a "time capsule of development in the West Village." Not only is it one of the most photographed homes in the neighborhood, it's also among the oldest. Purchased by Bennett in 1977 for $155,000 with the help of a loan from the previous homeowners, the house recently sold for $6.8 million–about half the original ask–after two years on the market and several broker changes and price chops (h/t Curbed).
Get a peek inside this rare slice of Village life
November 23, 2016

‘Sex and the City’ Writer Candace Bushnell lists Victorian farmhouse in Connecticut for $1.4M

Though she created a vision of Manhattan that made an entire generation want to move to the big city and sip cosmos, "Sex and the City" writer Candace Bushnell also has experience in a more laid-back country lifestyle. The Journal recently toured her historic Victorian farmhouse in Roxbury, Connecticut, which is currently listed for $1.365 million. Bushnell said she's an old house lover who grew up antiquing, so when she saw the circa 1830 home in 2005, she couldn't help spending $661,500 on it, even though she admits she "could barely afford it." Clearly a good investment, the three-acre property has an apple orchard, barn, salt water pool, and pool house, as well as original moldings and floorboards.
See the entire property
October 26, 2016

My 630sqft: Inside ‘Store Front’ photographers Karla & James Murray’s East Village home of 22 years

You might not immediately recognize their names, but there is no doubt you know their work. Photographers James and Karla Murray burst onto the scene back in 2008 with the release of their seminal book "Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York," a work culling hundreds of images of the bygone retail graphics that once covered the city—and jointly, the mom and pop businesses that vanished alongside them. Since then, the Murrays have released two more tomes of the same vein, and collected countless awards and accolades for their documentary work along the way. In fact, their photographs can now be found in the permanent collections of major institutions around the world, including the Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the New York Public Library. Their images also decorate the homes of countless celebrities, among them Sarah Jessica Parker, Ralph Lauren, Alicia Keys and Roseanne Barr. In this week's My sqft, 6sqft visits this warm and spunky husband-and-wife team in their East Village home to talk about their tenure in the city (they moved downtown in the 80s—though Karla is from the Bronx) and their ongoing efforts to chronicle what remains of "old New York." We also get a peek inside their studio apartment/workspace of 22 years, which as Karla and James share ahead, has some crazy stories of its own.
go inside their home here
September 7, 2016

Kylie Jenner may have bought a $7M Tribeca penthouse

Unlike big sis Kim, Kylie Jenner may actually be paying for her NYC digs. Tribeca Citizen first reported information from an anonymous source that the model and youngest member of the Kardashian clan purchased a Tribeca penthouse, and Curbed determined, based on an Instagram photo and sales records, that it may be the $7 million top-floor unit at 15 Leonard Street. The five-bedroom triplex not only has luxurious interior details like floating concrete stairs and a limestone-clad master bath, but it boasts six outdoor terraces (perfect for setting up film crews).
Check it out
August 30, 2016

10 easy ways to give your rental kitchen a makeover

For renters, the kitchen is often the least attractive area of their home. And this is especially true in NYC where landlords often turn to the cheapest finishes, built-ins and fixtures they can find in order to save a few dollars. But even if your apartment ultimately won't be your forever home, there's no reason suffer through an interior design nightmare. Ahead 6sqft highlights 10 easy and affordable ways to transform a ugly rental kitchen into a chic space—all without putting your deposit at risk.
Our 10 tips here
August 11, 2016

The Success Story of Industry City as Told by Its Innovative Manufacturing Tenants

Industry City is a six million-square-foot, 30-acre industrial complex on the Sunset Park waterfront. Its 16 buildings made up the former Bush Terminal, a manufacturing, warehousing and distribution center that opened in 1895. After falling into disrepair over the past few decades, in 2013, a new ownership team led by Belvedere Capital and Jamestown began their $1 billion undertaking to update the complex while cultivating a diverse tenant mix that fuses today’s burgeoning innovation economy with traditional manufacturing and artisanal craft. Today, there are more than 4,500 people and 400 companies working in Industry City, and 6sqft recently paid a visit to four of them (a handbag designer, lighting designer, candle company, and chocolatier) to learn why the complex makes sense for their business and what unique opportunities it's afforded them. We also spoke with Industry City CEO Andrew Kimball about the unprecedented success of the complex and his visions for the future, as well as took a tour of the buildings and their wildly popular public amenity spaces such as the food hall, outdoor courtyards, and tenant lounge.
All this and more ahead
May 11, 2016

Skyline Wars: Accounting for New York’s Stray Supertalls

Carter Uncut brings New York City’s latest development news under the critical eye of resident architecture critic Carter B. Horsley. Ahead, Carter brings us his eighth installment of “Skyline Wars,” a series that examines the explosive and unprecedented supertall phenomenon that is transforming the city’s silhouette. In this post Carter looks at the "stray" supertalls rising in low slung neighborhoods. Most of the city’s recent supertall developments have occurred in traditional high-rise commercial districts such as the Financial District, the Plaza District, downtown Brooklyn and Long Island City. Some are also sprouting in new districts such as the Hudson Yards in far West Midtown. There are, however, some isolated "stray" supertalls that are rising up in relatively virgin tall territories, such as next to the Manhattan Bridge on the Lower East Side and Sutton Place.
read more from carter here
April 18, 2016

Skyline Wars: In Lower Manhattan, A New Downtown Is Emerging

Carter Uncut brings New York City’s latest development news under the critical eye of resident architecture critic Carter B. Horsley. This week Carter brings us his fourth installment of “Skyline Wars,” a series that examines the explosive and unprecedented supertall phenomenon that is transforming the city’s silhouette. In this post Carter looks at the evolution of the Lower Manhattan skyline. Lower Manhattan at the start of the Great Depression was the world’s most famous and influential skyline when 70 Pine, 20 Exchange Place, 1 and 40 Wall Street, and the Woolworth and Singer buildings inspired the world with their romantic silhouettes in a relatively balanced reach for the sky centered around the tip of Lower Manhattan. Midtown was not asleep at the switch and countered with the great Empire State, the spectacular Chrysler and 30 Rockefeller Plaza but they were scattered and could not topple the aggregate visual power and lure of Lower Manhattan and its proverbial “view from the 40th floor” as the hallowed precinct of corporate America until the end of World War II. The convenience and elegance of Midtown, however, became increasingly irresistible to many.
More on the the history of Lower Manhattan and what's in store
April 11, 2016

Uma Thurman’s Newly-Listed $6.25M Gramercy Duplex Comes With a Key to the Park

Actress Uma Thurman has just listed her Gramercy Park duplex co-op at 1 Lexington Avenue for $6.25M; a key to the private park is part of the deal. Thurman lived at the prewar co-op for nearly 15 years, buying several additional units and combining them—while keeping a hand in the real estate game all the while, including a four-bedroom co-op at the venerable River House at 435 East 52nd Street, purchased from romance author Barbara Taylor Bradford in 2013 for $10 million. She's finally parting ways with her Gramercy home to make that move uptown. The "Kill Bill" star reminisces in a NY Times interview about her family life in the building, "It was such a cozy place—it really was home for us."
Check out the gorgeous home that resulted
March 25, 2016

Actor Stephen Dorff Lists Chelsea Penthouse Loft With Party-Ready Roof Deck for $3M

The Chelsea loft penthouse at 251 West 19th Street belonging to actor Stephen Dorff just hit the market for $3 million, reports the Wall Street Journal. The apartment's best feature is undoubtedly its 850-square-foot private roof terrace with a wet bar/kitchen, outdoor shower and Empire State Building views. Dorff was a teen heartthrob in the '90s–known for the boxing film, "The Power of One" (1992), and the 1998 superhero film “Blade”–and an indie It Boy of sorts in the following decade, appearing in cult films like John Waters' "Cecil B. Demented" and slacker/grunge time capsule "S.F.W.." A stream of typical "evil guy" roles followed until 2010, when he starred in the Sofia Coppola film "Somewhere," which, perhaps ironically, is the tale of a disaffected hotel-dwelling actor. But Dorff has definitely worked hard if nothing else. And he may finally be seeing the benefits: WSJ quotes the actor in a 2013 interview as describing his less-than-savvy spending habits during the early days of his career: "After movies, I would rent these really expensive houses, and then I would run out of money and have to do another movie. I didn't like that feeling of having to take something I didn't want," he says. "Now I'm into buying—forget this renting stuff."
See more of this indoor-outdoor duplex
March 15, 2016

This Illustrated 1926 Map of Manhattan Shows the City as It Was, Both Fanciful and Familiar

This fascinating vintage map of "The Wondrous Isle of Manhattan” is an illustrated version of the island as it existed in 1926, when it was designed and illustrated by Charles Vernon (C.V.) Farrow (1896-1936) and published by Fuessle and Colman. The map, though not to scale, highlights scores of actual attractions like landmarks and parks. Familiar buildings and streets are labeled, as is the city’s transit system at the time, with elevated tracks running along the avenues.
Look closer for details of 1926 life in wondrous Manhattan
September 9, 2015

Fall House Tours: Go Inside Tribeca Lofts, Victorian Mansions, and Google’s Headquarters

While spring is the main season for house tours, the fall also offers up some great options to satisfy design-loving New Yorkers. From Tribeca lofts to New Jersey Victorians and mid-century modern estates to World's Fair relics, this October's tours have a little something for everyone. To help you plan your schedule, we've put together all the tours we could find.
Get the full Fall house tour lineup
July 14, 2015

INTERVIEW: Historian Francis Morrone on the Changing City, Modern Architecture and Why He Loves the ’50s

For the man who knows seemingly everything about New York City history, look no further than Francis Morrone. Francis is an architectural historian best known for his writings and walking tours of New York. Of his 11 books, he wrote the actual guidebook to New York City architecture—aptly titled "The Architectural Guidebook to New York City"—as well as the "Guide to New York City Urban Landscapes," "An Architectural Guidebook to Brooklyn," and "10 Architectural Walks In Manhattan." For six and a half years, Francis served as an art and architecture critic for the New York Sun, and he now teaches architectural and urban history at the New York University School of Professional Studies. As for walking tours, Francis was named by Travel + Leisure magazine as one of the 13 best tour guides in the world. You can catch his various tours, which sell out quickly and cover everything from "Midtown Manhattan's Side Streets" to the "Architecture and Changing Lifestyles in Greenwich Village," through the Municipal Art Society. We caught up with Francis recently after he published a much buzzed-about article for the Daily News entitled, "No, New York City Is Not Losing Its Soul," to talk about his life and work in the city, his opinions on modern architecture and development, and his favorite time period of New York City history.
Our conversation with Francis this way
July 9, 2015

This One-Bedroom Co-op in Park Slope Has the Parisian Touch

Could this one-bedroom co-op, located at 404 3rd Street in Park Slope, blend right in in Paris? The broker seems to think so, calling the unit a "precious bijou on Park Slope's Champs Elysees!" Indeed, the apartment has a little French flair and is located in one of the nicest areas of the Slope, on a tree-lined block of historic townhouses. This particular unit is now on the market with an asking price of $575,000.
Tour l'intérieur
February 25, 2015

Renderings Revealed for West Village’s New Triangular Park That Will Feature AIDS Memorial

In 2011, Rudin Management inked a controversial deal to convert part of St. Vincent's Hospital into luxury condos, now known as The Greenwich Lane. Part of the deal was that the developer would build a public park on an adjacent piece of triangular land that would include the city's first major AIDS memorial, a feature that garnered tons of press thanks to a much-talked-about design competition. Now, the Wall Street Journal reports that Rudin has broken ground on the new 16,000-square-foot West Village green space, located on Seventh Avenue between Greenwich Avenue and West 12th Street. And along with this news comes renderings from M. Paul Friedberg & Partners, the architecture firm that designed the Greenwich Lane and is also designing the park, which show winding walkways, curving benches, plenty of trees, play areas, a lawn, and water jets.
More details ahead
November 6, 2014

New York City’s Residential Skyscraper Boom: Living in the Sky Part II

You've probably realized that New York is in the midst of a skyscraper boom, but if the ubiquitous scaffolding and sidewalk detours haven't given it away, we bring you further proof — with part two of our series detailing the tallest residential towers set to rise high above the city, forever changing New York's skyline. Compared to the previous 26 projects — the tallest of the tall that included ultra-luxury and super-tall towers such as 432 Park Avenue and 125 Greenwich Street — this second batch is composed of smaller buildings ranging from 500 to 700 feet tall and features greater geographical diversity and lots more rentals. With developers scouring the city for less expensive areas to assemble properties, these often-controversial projects are slated to rise in some of our more human-scaled 'hoods such as East Harlem, South Street Seaport, and Williamsburg.
Will they all get built? Unlikely, but in any case here's our list