Search Results for: garden

The listing calls this $26 million historic West Village townhouse a "singular and exceptional offering," and it’s hard to disagree (h/t Curbed). Brit expat and tech entrepreneur Jos White and his wife Annabel, former director of The Rug Company, bought the house from interior designer James Huniford in 2009 for $7.25 million and embarked on a three-year renovation helmed by notable architect Basil Walter of BWArchitects with interiors by Poonam Khanna. The end result, according to the architects, "fuses past and present into a new, sophisticated 4,000-square-foot home," which includes a wild rooftop glass atelier (inspired by the Maison de Verre in Paris), 17th-century wood paneling, and a never-ending roster of impressive decor.
Check out the interiors

February 18, 2016

MAPS: Where to Find the Best Studio Rental Bargains Right Now

Last week we took a look at the lowest priced studio condominiums in Manhattan and northern Brooklyn. Now, here's a glance at the lowest priced rental studio units currently on the market. More than 60 percent of city-dwellers are renters—that's more than double the national average. And with the rental vacancy rate hovering around three percent, it's no surprise NYC is among the most expensive places to rent in the country. The most affordable neighborhood in Manhattan or northern Brooklyn to find a studio rental apartment is Bedford-Stuyvesant, where the median rent is $1,422 per month. Bed-Stuy is then closely followed by Crown Heights and Harlem, with median rents of $1,550 per month. The most expensive neighborhoods to rent in are NoLiTa ($3,848), the Lower East Side ($3,489), and TriBeCa ($3,465). Below you'll find a list of ten of the best individual studio deals on the market right now, and a map showing the studios priced farthest below their neighborhood medians. But move fast because these deals tend to disappear very quickly!
See it all here

Distinctive Homes

February 17, 2016

INTERVIEW: Micro-Housing Architect Michael Chen Shares His Thoughts on the Tiny Trend

It's hard to flip through the home and garden television channels these days without seeing a program about tiny homes. But the trend has been gaining momentum for years, long before it made its way onto our TV screens. One of the creative forces behind this revolution is Michael Chen, firm principal of Michael K. Chen Architecture. With design offices in New York and San Francisco and 14 years of experience, Michael is considered a pioneer of innovative micro-housing. Not only does he share his "love of tinkering, of drawing, of discourse, and of making" with his clients, but he teaches at Pratt Institute School of Architecture in Brooklyn. Having recently finished the 5:1 Apartment–a compact, 390-square-foot space that fits all the functional and spatial elements for living, working, sleeping, dressing, entertaining, cooking, dining, and bathing–MKCA is taking the design world by storm with their thoughtful approach and clever product design. 6sqft decided to pick Michael's brain on just how he packs so much into such small footprints, where he thinks the micro-housing movement is headed, and the secrets behind some of his most spectacular spaces.
The interview, this way

February 16, 2016

Former Workman’s Cottage in the Warren Place Mews Now Asks $4,900 a Month

We've come a long way from the 1870s. That's when the Warren Place Mews was constructed on a short, private block of Cobble Hill by the wealthy merchant and philanthropist Alfred Tredway White. He advocated for housing for the working class in Brooklyn and built this mews–which consists of 34 modest, Gothic cottages that share an English courtyard–specifically for workingmen and their families. Today, these cottages have been priced into the millions, with 21 Warren Place hitting the market last summer for $1.5 million. Renting isn't for the everyday workingman, either. 8 Warren Place is now asking $4,900 a month for two bedrooms and bragging rights to living in one of the quaintest homes in Brooklyn.
Check out the cozy interior

February 12, 2016

Rent the Landmarked Clinton Hill Townhouse From ‘White Collar’ for $7,995/Month

This wood-frame townhouse at 106 Cambridge Place in historic Clinton Hill is in much better shape than some of its nearby Civil War-era brethren, many of which have been shored up and shined up with modern conveniences, leaving little remaining of their 19th century details. This 1860s house, however, is both gracefully preserved and filled with modern comforts both practical and stylish. Another distinction: The house appeared on the TV series "White Collar," as the home of FBI Agent Peter Burke. This five-bedroom, 20-foot-wide townhouse, after being listed for sale for $2.89 million last year, is now on the rental market for $7,995 a month. Since the listing refers to the upper triplex, we're assuming the garden apartment is either separately rented or otherwise used by the owners.
Take a look around

February 11, 2016

Construction Begins on 40-Story Marriott Hotel Replacing Antiques Garage in Chelsea

After an 11-year run, the popular Antiques Garage flea market, where bargain hunters haggled over an eclectic assortment of used goods, shuttered its weekend fairs in the summer of 2014. Like many soft sites around the Flower District, the parking garage used by the market at 112 West 25th Street was purchased by development interests, namely Extell, who later sold to Lam Generation for $68 million. Since the purchase, the three-story garage has been razed and groundwork has finally begun for a 330-room, four-star Marriott Renaissance Hotel. With the help of some unused neighboring development rights, Lam's tower will grow to 140,000 square feet of floor area and stand roughly 450 feet high over its mid-rise Chelsea locale. The neighborhood's current tallest building, Chelsea Stratus, is just one lot away and rises 25 feet higher than Lam's upcoming tower.
More details ahead

February 10, 2016

POLL: Are You a Fan of Bjarke Ingels’ Design for the Spiral?

On Monday, 6sqft brought you the latest reveal from starchitect Bjarke Ingels, a cascading supertall tower set for Hudson Yards and known as the Spiral. It caught people’s attention not only for the architect attached to it, but for its series of landscaped terraces and hanging gardens that twist around its glassy facade. The interior views are […]

February 10, 2016

Live in a Former Bed-Stuy Underwear Factory With City Views and Rustic Flair for $895K

This converted two-bedroom condominium is located within a former industrial building in an equally industrial, but rapidly changing, stretch of Bed-Stuy near the Clinton Hill border, with the Navy Yard just to the north. In what was once the Kaiser Underwear Factory at 970 Kent Avenue, you'll find open city views, 12-foot ceilings, a wall of city-facing windows and wide-plank wood floors setting the stage for a cool loft feeling. Recently renovated by the current owner, the home's interior has been transformed into quite a unique living space, and it's now on the market for $895,000.
See the whole space

Distinctive Homes

February 9, 2016

AW Architects’ Blue Rock House in the Catskills Resembles a Minimalist Dairy Barn

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

AW Architects' Blue Rock House is an ensemble of buildings suggesting a minimalist dairy barn. Sitting atop a rural hill in the small town of Austerlitz, a three hours drive north from New York City, the project groups a main house, guesthouse and garage, interconnected by a string of beautiful bluestone walls that give the project its name. Its privileged location affords wide-open views out into the Berkshire and Catskill Mountains, and the choice of minimal materials evokes rusticity, elegance and attention to detail.
Learn more about this farm-like home

February 9, 2016

$19M Extravagant Riverside Drive Mansion Once Belonged to the ‘Father of the West Side’

There's something a little intimidating about an 8,000-square-foot, seven-bedroom single-family mansion that once belonged to "the father of the West Side" himself. The property in question is 327 West 76th Street, in the Riverside Drive area of the Upper West Side. The home was built in 1892 and quickly sold to Cyrus Clark, a businessman who retired from the silk business and went into real estate, making it his mission to campaign on behalf of developing Manhattan's West Side. The house wasn't distinct just for its owner, but because the exterior architecture stands out so distinctly in a row of more refined townhouses. For years the home was broken up into apartments, but developer Leonard Zelin converted it back to a single-family a few years back. Now he's hoping the investment will pay off: Zelin bought the townhouse for $8.8 million in 2010 and it's now asking an impressive $18.995 million.
Take a look around

February 8, 2016

MAPS: Where to Find the Best Studio Bargains in NYC Right Now

Let's face it, if you're the average New Yorker and aren't shacked up or down with having a roommate, a studio is probably where you're heading. According to data from CityRealty, the median price for available studio condominiums in Manhattan and northern Brooklyn stands at $782,000. While there are a paltry number of these apartments available, roughly 200, these pint-sized units allow many first-time condo buyers and those with smaller budgets to enter the condo market. For neighborhoods with more than two studio condo units on the market, Washington Heights has the cheapest median average, coming in at just $633 per square foot, less than half the city's median of $1,389 per square foot. Soho, on the other hand, with its 18 availabilities, has the city's most expensive studios with a median price per square foot of $2,025. Keep in mind, however, that many downtown studios are "studios" in name only. For instance, the most expensive such unit in the city right now is a $6.75 million penthouse loft at 37 Greene Street, encompassing 3,200 square feet of raw space and a 2,400-square-foot rooftop terrace--likely not what that minimalist, low carbon footprint-seeking buyer has in mind. So, below is a list of the five best individual studio deals on the market right now, and a map showing the studios priced farthest below their neighborhood median averages.
See it all here

Distinctive Homes

February 8, 2016

The On Leong Tong Building: Chinese Architecture Brought to Life in NYC

By Penelope Bareau

If you're planning to head down to Chinatown for the celebration of the Lunar New Year, you'll likely amble past the corner of Mott and Canal Streets, where there is a remarkable building like no other in New York. It's called On Leong Tong, or, in English, the Merchants' Association building. Built in 1950, it combines modernism (though you wouldn't know it to look at it) with familiar Chinese architectural features—the pagoda roof, balconies, colorful columns and so on. Once you've seen it, you won't forget it.
Read the full history of this building

February 8, 2016

Brooklyn’s Most Expensive Rental Ups Its Price to $29K/Month

The listing calls this 6,300-square-foot Brooklyn Heights townhouse at 11 Cranberry Street, for rent at $29,000 a month, "five floors of fabulous.com." We'd hope it lives up to the praise: The meticulously restored and painstakingly designed historic home is available furnished, for short or long term, and the asking rent (up from last summer's $25K monthly ask) makes it the borough's most expensive rental. The pretty–and pricey–neighborhood, transcendent bridge and river views, and proximity to Brooklyn Bridge Park already count for a premium. In addition to historic bones and soaring ceilings, the home has designer flair and up-to-the-millisecond modern conveniences like "an epic 5 zone Sonos music system" (though with five stories, we're noting the lack of an elevator).
Take the tour

Distinctive Homes

February 8, 2016

Bjarke Ingels Reveals Design for Supertall Cascading Hudson Yards Tower, the Spiral

It seems safe to say at this point that two of starchitect Bjarke Ingels' favorite architectural elements are stepped facades and integrated natural spaces. His latest creation, an office tower appropriately dubbed the Spiral, incorporates both of these features, with a "cascading series of landscaped terraces and hanging gardens as its signature element," according to a press release sent out today. The 1,005-foot-tall, 65-story tower will rise at 66 Hudson Boulevard, at the intersection of the High Line and Hudson Yards, occupying the full block bound by West 34th Street, West 35th Street, 10th Avenue, and the four-acre Hudson Boulevard Park (BIG is also designing a pair of towers at the southern end of the High Line). Ingels said his conceptual design "combines the classic ziggurat silhouette of the premodern skyscraper with the slender proportions and efficient layouts of the modern high-rise."
Check out more views of the Spiral

February 7, 2016

$6M Newswalk Duplex Loft Has a Private Screening Room

The somewhat anomalous Newswalk building at 535 Dean Street in Prospect Heights was developed by the somewhat notorious Shaya Boymelgreen (who, for the record, is not known for aesthetically pleasing designs) just before the neighborhood became popular. The condo conversion named for its former life as the 1927-built New York Daily News printing plant doesn’t fit into any of the latest crop of easily dismissible residential building categories. There’s a certain credibility to be had, both from an invasive and a pioneering spirit in this complex neighborhood. And that makes its residences unique if a little confusing. This latest offering is no exception. The two-bedroom penthouse loft's interior design looks more Manhattan than Brooklyn, which may help explain the asking price of $5.9 million. Private outdoor space goes on for days, as does the list of building amenities–and there are a few surprises.
So what's with that home theater?

Distinctive Homes

February 5, 2016

UES Townhouse With Hermès Leather Walls and Smoking Room Could Set Record at $84.5M

Somerset Partners’ Keith Rubenstein just put his 15,000-square-foot townhouse at 8 East 62nd Street on the market for $84.5 million, outdoing Carlos Slim's $80 million listing. The luxury-filled Upper East Side home is one of the city's priciest townhouse listings ever (h/t WSJ), and if it fetches the listing price it would set a Manhattan townhouse record, besting the Harkness Mansion’s 2006 $53 million sale. In addition to marquetry flooring inspired by those at Pavlovsk Palace in St. Petersburg, there are his and hers suites, a basement spa and gym, and a pretty unique modern art collection (see the massive KAWS bunny sculpture in the living room). Some off-the-wall features include red Hermès leather walls, a smoking room equipped with ventilation system, and a dressing room with a lighted handbag display and temperature-controlled fur vault.
Check out the rest of the zany house

February 5, 2016

Combine This Matched Pair of UES Townhouses for a $22M Mega-Mansion

Last year, three massive UES townhouses were marketed for megamansion potential and listed for $120 million, and Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich bought this sprawling townhouse combo for his own makeshift manse. Now, here's an opportunity to combine a pair of more modest–though by no means small–late-1800s townhouses for an Upper East Side mansion of your own, albeit on–let's call it a more human scale (forgetting for a moment that some lucky human gets to live in 6,700 square feet with 38 feet of frontage.). When you first see this matched pair of houses side-by-side at 159-161 East 82nd Street, you're struck by their charm and how much they epitomize the neighborhood's tree-shaded, brownstone-lined blocks. The fact that both four-story homes are for sale as a package deal for $22 million presents a mind-boggling list of options. There are even alternate plans that show you where to put a cellar pool (plus a sauna and a gym)!
Take a look inside

February 4, 2016

Sarah Jessica Parker Peeps Shephard Condo Conversion in West Village

She's no Little Bo Peep, but according to the Post, SJP and hubby Matthew Broderick may be flocking to the Shephard, a new condo conversion at 275 West 10th Street. The 19th century warehouse and former rental building is in the process of being converted to luxury condominiums by Naftali Group. On a pretty tree-lined West Village street, the 38-unit Shephard boasts interior design by Gachot and oversized arched windows; a definite possibility for Parker would be one of three penthouses currently listed at the building, starting at $18.5 million. The pair sold their Greenwich Village townhouse for $18.25 million last year (they'd bought it for $19 million in 2011–and apparently never moved in.)
See what's cool about the Shephard

Celebrities

February 2, 2016

The Urban Lens: Documenting Gentrification’s Toll on the Mom-and-Pops of Greenwich Village

By James and Karla Murray

6sqft's new series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. To kick things off, award-winning authors and photographers James and Karla Murray bring us 15 years of images documenting the changing storefronts of Bleecker Street in Greenwich Village. Are you a photographer who'd like to see your work featured on 6sqft? Get in touch with us at [email protected] Bleecker Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenue South was once a huge Italian enclave with many traditional "mom and pop" stores catering to the large Italian families who resided in the neighborhood. By the late 1930s, it also had a significant bohemian population with many artists, writers, poets and musicians living in the area who set up galleries, coffee houses and music shops. Due to widespread gentrification and escalating real-estate values, the neighborhood has changed drastically and its unique appearance and character is suffering. We are here to take you on visual tour to experience how many of the truly authentic shops remain on this venerable Greenwich Village street, and to show you what has replaced the ones that have vanished. Many of the shops you'll encounter ahead have been featured with full-color photographs and insightful interviews with the store owners in three of our widely acclaimed books on the subject, but we've also rounded up several more ahead.
Walk the Greenwich Village of yesteryear and present

February 2, 2016

Construction Update: BKSK Architects’ ‘Hi-Side’ Tower Goes Vertical on the Far West Side

BKSK Architects have designed a robust steel- and brick-faced building at 509 West 38th Street, slated to open in 2017. After a failed condo proposal, a foreclosure, and a developer switch, the project is finally ascending and is already seven stories out of the ground since we last checked a week ago. Dubbed "The Hi-Side," the 158,000-square-foot, mixed-use tower is being developed by investment firm Imperial Companies, who picked up the site from Iliad Development in an undisclosed deal. Fast forward nearly eight years, and a 30-floor, 345-foot building is rising at the site. Situated at the eastern block front of the future Hudson Park Boulevard, bands of ribbon windows along its western face will provide residents with sweeping views of the Hudson River. The base of the tower, which will feature a restaurant, is clad in a muscular rhythm of exposed steel, brick spandrels, and large multi-pane windows.
Find out more

February 2, 2016

Lofty Park Slope Co-op Boasts Double-Height Ceilings and a Spiral Staircase

Forget the brownstones with historic detailing that dominate Park Slope. This apartment, located at the co-op building 302 5th Avenue, is modernly renovated and downright lofty, with double-height ceilings and a raised space above the kitchen. The sleek spiral staircase also adds a contemporary touch. And with two bedrooms, 1,700 square feet over three floors, and a garden, there is plenty of room to spread out. The triplex has just hit the market for $1.5 million.
Take a tour

Distinctive Homes

February 1, 2016

Maya Angelou’s Historic Harlem Brownstone Lists for $5M

During the last decade of her life, author, poet, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou split her time between Winston-Salem, NC (she taught American studies at Wake Forest University) and New York. While in the Northeast, she resided in an historic Harlem brownstone, located at 58 West 120th Street in the Mount Morris Park Historic District, according to the Times, which is now on the market for $5.1 million. The four-story home was built in the early 1900s, but when Dr. Angelou purchased it sight unseen in 2002, "it was a dilapidated shell...the victim of vandals, with missing stairs and rotting floor beams." She hired architect Marc Anderson of East Harlem-based firm M. Anderson Design to oversee a gut renovation that preserved the brownstone's historic details while adding contemporary amenities.
See the whole house

January 28, 2016

City Mistakenly Gave Away $10M in Tax Rebates to Condos and Co-ops

In a city where time is money, it's hard to believe that for four years the city’s Finance Department was mistakenly giving away tax rebates reserved for residential condo and co-op owners to those that are corporate-owned, totaling more than $10 million between 2013 and 2016. The Post reports that the program gave out money to "indoor parking garages, gardens, cabanas and even storage spaces," as well as "three office buildings and two retail shops," according to a recent audit. More than 1,000 building owners were improperly awarded the tax abatements, accounting for up to 28.1 percent of their total annual tax bills.
How did it happen?

Policy

January 23, 2016

$2M Historic Bed-Stuy Brownstone Comes With an Ethereal Interior