Search Results for: 84 New York Ave

In the 18th century, Bloomingdale Road (today's Broadway) connected the Upper West Side with the rest of the city. Unlike lower Manhattan, this area was still natural, with fertile soil and rolling landscapes, and before long, countryside villages began sprouting along the Hudson River. They were a combination of farms and grand estates and each functioned independently with their own schools and roads. 6sqft has uncovered the history of the five most prominent of these villages–Harsenville, Strycker's Bay, Bloomingdale Village, Manhattanville, and Carmansville. Though markers of their names remain here and there, the original functions and settings of these quaint settlements have been long lost.
Find out the history of these lost villages

History

January 22, 2016

Spotlight: Author Gay Talese Reflects on More Than Sixty Years in the NYC Journalism World

By Susan Cohen

"I was very curious as a grade school kid and that curiosity never abated," explains renowned writer Gay Talese. This curiosity has been both a driving force and a constant throughout Gay’s more than 60-year writing career; a career in which his observations and discoveries have been widely read and published. Gay’s first forays into writing were for his hometown of Ocean City, New Jersey’s local paper in high school. After graduating from the University of Alabama, where he had written for the school’s paper, he was hired as a copyboy at the New York Times in 1953. For Gay, this job laid the groundwork for a career in which he was a reporter for the Times, wrote for magazines such as Esquire (where his most famous pieces on Frank Sinatra and Joe DiMaggio were published) and The New Yorker, and published books on a wide variety of topics including the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. 6sqft recently spoke with Gay about his career and the changing landscape of journalism.
Read the interview here

My 1,400sqft: Painter Stephen Hall Brings Us Into His Greenwich Village Loft and Studio

Our ongoing series “My sqft” checks out the homes of 6sqft’s friends, family and fellow New Yorkers across all the boroughs. Our latest interior adventure brings us to artist Stephen Hall’s home and studio in Greenwich Village. Want to see your home featured here? Get in touch!

January 22, 2016

My 1,400sqft: Painter Stephen Hall Brings Us Into His Greenwich Village Loft and Studio

By Diane Pham

Since being transformed into homes for artists in the 1970s, Westbeth Artists' Housing has hosted some of New York City's most brilliant creatives. And long-time resident and painter Stephen Hall most certainly falls into that set, helping to fill the residence's walls with thought-provoking ideas for the last 17 years. Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Stephen came to New York back in 1978 and began exhibiting his work in the East Village in the early '80s. Today, his colorful pop-surrealist masterpieces can be found in collections all across the globe, with his paintings now commanding between $5,000-$20,000 a piece. He's also dreamt up art for major motion pictures, music videos and magazines. Curious to see the madness and magic behind his Stephen's off-kilter works—which he describes as "paintings [that] confront us with complex conundrums for which each of many possible solutions may very well tell us as much about ourselves as about the subject at hand"—6sqft recently paid a visit to his duplex loft, a family home that mixes mid-century modern design with pops of color and familiar but fantastical forms.
Keep reading to meet the artist, and to get a peek inside his live/work space

January 20, 2016

The Best Address for Less: Live in the Dakota for $1.85M

While it’s not exactly what we’d call affordable housing, you don’t have to be as rich as Yoko Ono or as famous as Lauren Bacall (whose apartment recently sold for $21 million) to live in the iconic Dakota overlooking Central Park. This pint-sized top-floor aerie on the Upper West Side offers a seriously rare chance to rub elbows with venerable co-op’s celebrity residents–and the memories of notable residents past–for a relatively earthbound $1.85 million. Though there’s still the nearly $3,000 monthly co-op fee to contend with, it’s not often that a space here that isn’t a storage unit finds its way to the market for less than four or five million at the very least; there are currently three eight-figure units listed, including Roberta Flack's pad and Judy Garland's former home. And the one-bedroom apartment itself is just the bright and elegant pre-war gem you’d imagine it to be.
Have a look around this rare little gem

Staten Island’s Abandoned Farm Colony to Undergo $91M Development for Senior Housing

Rendering via Nancy Owens Studio

January 20, 2016

Staten Island’s Abandoned Farm Colony to Undergo $91M Development for Senior Housing

Over a year ago, 6sqft shared the news that Staten Island's abandoned farm colony was set to undergo a massive rehabilitation that included a large senior housing building and a massive public park. And just yesterday, the City Council approved the New York City Economic Development Corporation's plan to sell 45 of the site's 96 acres to Staten Island developer Raymond Masucci for $1, according to the Times. Mr. Masucci will pour $91 million into the project, dubbed Landmark Colony, rehabilitating five crumbling Dutch Revival-style structures, tearing down five more but saving their stones for reuse, preserving a 112-year-old dormitory "as a stabilized ruin," constructing 344 condominiums for the 55 and older crowd, and designing 17 acres of public outdoor space.
More on the project and the history of the site

January 19, 2016

Sebastian Errazuriz’s Latest Creation Is a Cabinet That Functions As a Kaleidoscope

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

"The Space Between the Void (Kaleidoscope Cabinet)" is yet another attempt by New Yorker Sebastian Errazuriz to deconstruct the paradigm that a cabinet should simply be a box with two doors. 6sqft previously featured his Wave Cabinet and his Magistral Chest, but the psychedelic design of his latest creation deserves a special mention of its own. The Kaleidoscope Cabinet consists of a reflective storage unit that visually multiplies whatever is placed inside it, and it even has a peephole that functions just like its namesake children's toy.
Learn more about this mind-bending cabinet

January 14, 2016

Subway Stations Start Closing for Years at a Time; Donald Trump Sells off Another Condo

With less than a week’s notice, nine Brooklyn N train stops will close for more than a year. [DNAinfo] L train service between Brooklyn and Manhattan may face a similar fate. Better get going on that gondola plan. [Gothamist] Donald Trump sold a Trump Park Avenue penthouse for $21 million over the summer, and now […]

Uncategorized

January 12, 2016

Where I Work: Inside interior designer Ghislaine Viñas’ colorful, playful Tribeca loft

6sqft’s series “Where I Work” takes us into the studios, offices, and off-beat workspaces of New Yorkers across the city. In this installment, we take a tour of designer Ghislaine Viñas' colorful and Tribeca loft. Want to see your business featured here? Get in touch! The work of interior designer Ghislaine Viñas is unmistakable; the bright colors, bold prints, and fun and funky decor have made her the go-to firm for both local Tribeca residents and international clients looking to jazz up their homes. After 25 years and winning countless awards (many of which celebrate her use of color), appearing on television stations like HGTV, and gracing the pages of publications from The New York Times to Vogue, Ghislaine is showing no signs of slowing down. Long fans of her work, 6sqft recently toured Ghislaine's live/work space, which, not surprisingly is the perfect example of her playful, yet modern, aesthetic. We learned about what influences her designs, how her team works together, and new product collaborations. We also got some tips on how to incorporate color into our homes like a pro.
All this and more ahead

January 12, 2016

Massive Williamsburg Studio, Asking $3,750 a Month, Is Called a ‘Loft Lover’s Dream’

Are you the type of New Yorker who dreams of great apartments after you've gone to bed? Maybe you've dreamt up a loft that looks like this, with wide open space, strikingly high ceilings, a private terrace and roof deck with views of the Williamsburg Bridge (Every NYC apartment worth dreaming about has outdoor space!). The listing, anyway, claims this Williamsburg studio at 138 Broadway is the stuff of dreams, and we have to say that it does look dreamy in the photos -- especially the 20-by-22-foot main space that's being used as the living and bedroom. The apartment comes from a well-known Williamsburg building, the Smith Gray, a cast-iron design built in 1882 for the Smith and Gray Department Store Building. It was converted to condos in 2002.
Check out the apartment

Distinctive Homes

January 12, 2016

Asking $3.75M, Young Designer’s Tribeca Triplex Is a Perfect Girls’ Night In

This girly-modern Tribeca triplex belonging to young interior designer Sasha Bikoff was featured–along with its owner–in a buzzed-about 2014 NY Times story about how NYC's young contemporary millionaires live, illustrating a penchant for downtown glamour over uptown gilt. The then-26-year-old–who's designed her share of uptown interiors–is pictured in the stylish pad, which she purchased in 2011 for $2.3 million and bestowed with a total makeover. The article highlights architect Ben Hansen's dazzling glass-fronted boutique condo residence at 471 Washington Street as one of a handful favored by the iconoclastic (and well-heeled) under-40 set. Bikoff listed the apartment a year ago for an ambitious $4.5 million; it has since changed brokers and toned down its earlier ask to $3.75 million. The apartment's decor–and a bedroom-sized dream closet–make it clear that stylish singles' pads aren't just for the boys.
See more of the glamorous pad

Distinctive Homes

January 7, 2016

Tina Fey Buys the $9.5M Unit Above Her Current Upper West Side Co-op

By Annie Doge

Funnywoman Tiny Fey pissed off her Upper West Side neighbors recently when it came to light that she's on the board of the American Museum of Natural History, and therefore approved the institution's controversial expansion plan. Unfortunately, it looks like she might be digging herself further into a hole, as she's just bought the co-op above her current apartment at 300 West End Avenue, meaning she and hubby Jeff Richmond will likely be taking down some floors and walls to create one large duplex. According to the Observer, who broke the news, Fey paid $9.51 million for the new four-bedroom unit, much higher than the $7.5 million asking price.
Check out the new digs

January 4, 2016

Dr. Zizmor of Subway Ad Fame Retires and Sells Bronx Mansion All in One Day

Local celebrity Dr. Jonathan Zizmor has been both charming and perplexing subway riders for decades, thanks to his dermatology ads that subtly peddle cosmetic surgery against a rainbow background. But these will soon be a thing of the past, as the Daily News reported this morning that Dr. Zizmor has officially retired and closed his Upper East Side practice. And just hours later, Curbed broke the news that the doctor's Mediterranean Revival mansion in the Fieldston section of the Bronx has gone into contract for $3.075 million after three years on the market. (Bet you never thought you'd hear so much Dr. Zizmor news in day!)
Take a tour of his grand home

Real Estate Trends

January 4, 2016

Own an Upstate Greek Revival Mansion Built By a Circus Entrepreneur for $2.5M

Behold the Gerard Crane House, a granite-clad Greek Revival mansion built on 30 acres upstate and named for its original owner. Crane was a prominent Somers, New York resident who started exhibiting exotic animals in the 1800s, eventually becoming a circus entrepreneur. He built this home for himself in 1849. Since his death in 1872, the house and estate have stayed a private residence with very few alterations made. And even though it's on the market, there will be very few changes to come, as the property is a designated historic district and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Even the interior of the home looks like a time capsule of Gerard Crane's life.
See more photos of the $2.5 million stunner

Automat by Berenice Abbott, 1936

January 4, 2016

Horn & Hardart Automats: Redefining lunchtime, dining on a dime

In the 1930s, ‘40s, and ‘50s Automats were a New York City dining staple for a hard-working lunch crowd, a modernist icon for a boundless machine-age future. At their height there were over three dozen in the city, serving 800,000 people a day. And nearly everyone who actually experienced Automats in their heyday says the same thing: They never forgot the thrill of being a kid at the Automat. Created by Joseph Horn and Frank Hardart in Philadelphia in 1902, coin-operated Automats were lovingly-designed Art Deco temples to modern efficiency. Sleek steel and glass vending machine grids displayed sandwiches and main dishes as well as desserts and sides, each in their own little boxes, square and even, clean and well-lit. You put a coin in the slot, opened the door and removed your food—which was reportedly quite good, as the founders took terrific pride in their craft.
What was it about the experience that made for such a lasting memory?

December 30, 2015

Jonah Hill’s Brother Picks Up a Quirky Soho Co-op for $2.3M

By Annie Doge

Looks like Jordan Feldstein wanted to be much closer to big bro Jonah Hill. The talent manager (his clients include Maroon 5 and Robin Thicke) picked up a loft co-op at 37B Crosby Street in Soho, just a block away from Jonah's current pad at 27 Howard Street. City records show that Feldstein paid $2.3 million for the quirky duplex, which features exposed brick, fire engine-red railings, a custom wine cellar, and a private garden.
Take a look around

December 28, 2015

Big Price Drop at This Renovated Five-Story, Upper West Side Townhouse

The pricing over the years at 33 West 71st Street, located on the Upper West Side near Central Park West, is like reading the dramatic play, The Crazy Price Tags of New York. The historic townhouse sold in 1996 for $770,000, although back then it looks like the residence was chopped up into rental units. At some point, it was renovated back into a single family and the price tag started to skyrocket. It was listed in 2008 for $5.3 million, then in 2012 for $7.5 million. It sold in 2013 for $6.225 million and then was quickly listed again in 2014 for $18.5 million after the latest renovation. That price was lowered to $16.495 million this summer, and then quickly lowered again to $14.995 million. Got all that? Because now it's on the market with a price cut to $12.995 million, or you can rent it for $40,000 a month.
See more

Distinctive Homes

December 21, 2015

MAPS: Where to Find the Top Available One-Bedroom Rental Bargains Under $2,500

By Ondel Hylton

Can't seem to qualify for those popular affordable housing lotteries, or stuck on a waiting list 70,000 names long? Well, like many of us who are searching for low-priced rentals, you'll have to forage the city's daunting open market. The typical choices include shacking up with multiple roommates in prime neighborhoods, enduring long commutes in far-flung locales, or having to deal with an un-renovated, pre-war walk-up building. To make your search for these rather un-glamorous apartments a bit easier, we produced a list and map of currently available one-bedroom rentals that are priced furthest below their neighborhood medians. But act fast, because these units disappear quickly.
Check out the interactive maps and listings this way

December 14, 2015

A Massive Living Room Defines This Two-Bedroom Soho Co-op, Asking $2 Million

This two-bedroom, two-bathroom loft comes from a historic building at 37B Crosby Street, between Broome and Grand in Soho, that's been converted to a cooperative. Like many other downtown loft apartments, it is distinguished by its massive "great room"–an open living room, dining room and kitchen. Unlike the traditional loft, the bedrooms are built out in separate spaces. The design is completely modern and refined, paired with those great old loft details like high ceilings, big windows and exposed brick (there are even two working fireplaces throughout the apartment). It's all up for sale asking a cool $2 million. The apartment last sold in 2008 for $1.495 million.
Check it out

Distinctive Homes

December 14, 2015

Soho Loft Perfection ‘By the Same Designer as Barneys’ Asks $8.77M

This 3,162 square-foot three-bedroom loft at 104 Wooster Street hits all the high notes when it comes to just-right modern interior design and what we love about lovely Soho lofts. With interiors, according to the listing, "by the same designer as Barneys," the apartment last changed hands in 2012 for $5.35 million (below its $5.7M ask) to a partner in a commercial law firm; it looks to have gotten its expertly turned-out design upgrade since then–perhaps part of the reason for the $3M price-bump. Ascending by key-locked elevator to the fourth floor of this eight-unit boutique condo building on a quintessential Soho block, you'll immediately notice the light from a wall of windows and the presence of condo comforts like central air, built-in speakers and a home automation system. For celebrity cred, Academy Award-winning director Barry Levinson ("Rain Man," "Diner," "Bugsy") owns a loft two floors below.
Get more loft inspiration this way

Distinctive Homes

December 11, 2015

Manure Heaps, Fat Melting, and Offensive Privies: Mapping NYC’s 19th Century Nuisances

A New York City nuisance map today would consist of things like text-walking zombies, pizza rats, and Soul Cycle locations. But back in the 19th century, people had bigger problems, such as manure heaps, hog pens, and 400 families wading through "a disgusting deposit of filthy refuse" just to get home. Atlas Obscura uncovered these amazing maps that were created in 1865 by the Citizen’s Association of New York as part of a 300-page report on the city's sanitation and public health conditions in the wake of the smallpox and typhoid epidemics. "Rapid population growth, overcrowded apartment buildings, dirty streets and poor sanitation standards had meant that New York in 1860 had the mortality rate of medieval London," according to the blog.
See the maps and learn more

History

December 11, 2015

This $23 Million Soho Loft Comes With Designer Furniture and a Motorized Headboard

This enormous and undeniably awe-inspiring condominium at 50 Wooster Street seems pretty straightforward: A huge Soho loft with a sleek and expensive-looking contemporary renovation. And you have a choice! You can rent this gleaming 4,800 square-foot downtown pleasure palace for $40k a month, or just buy it for a mere $23.3 million.
Find out more

December 11, 2015

Demolition Begins on 500-Foot UES Condo Replacing the Art & Design Building

By Ondel Hylton

Demolition has begun at the Lenox Hill site of a forthcoming 30-story condominium being developed by Orlando-based Inverlad Development and Steve Mills’ Third Palm Capital. The future 45-unit, 481-foot tower will replace the five-story Art & Design Building at 1059 Third Avenue and utilizes development rights from an adjacent apartment building at 1065 Third Avenue, which will also host an entryway for the Lexington/63rd Street station of the Second Avenue Subway. The developers paid an entity associated with the Battaglia family $31.5 million for the property in 2012. Building permits were approved in late October, granting the team the go-ahead to build a narrow, slab-shaped tower designed by Manuel Glas. According to DOB filings, the first three floors will contain office space and a healthcare facility, and above are 32 residential units. The amenity floor on level 12 will feature a fitness center, spa, swimming pool, tenants' lounge, and an outdoor terrace. Above level 13, seventeen full-floor residences will possess commanding views of the burgeoning Billionaires' Row skyline, East River and Central Park.
More details ahead

December 8, 2015

Get a Look at the 900-Foot Views From Norman Foster’s Sutton Place Tower