Search Results for: washington heights

March 11, 2019

Meet the women who founded New York City’s modern and contemporary art museums

When the first Armory Show came to New York City in 1913, it marked the dawn of Modernism in America, displaying work by Van Gogh, Gauguin, Cezanne, Picasso, Matisse, and Duchamp for the very first time. Not only did female art patrons provide 80 percent of the funding for the show, but since that time, women have continued to be the central champions of American modern and contemporary art. It was Abby Aldrich Rockefeller who founded MoMA; Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney the Whitney; Hilla von Rebay the Guggenheim; Aileen Osborn Webb the Museum of Art and Design; and Marcia Tucker the New Museum. Read on to meet the modern women who founded virtually all of New York City’s most prestigious modern and contemporary art museums.
More Modern Women
January 25, 2019

Beautifully restored Victorian townhouse with views of Morris Jumel Mansion asks $2.8M

Overlooking Highbridge Park and the historic Morris Jumel Mansion (Manhattan's oldest home), this impeccable High-Victorian townhouse at 427 West 162nd Street in Washington Heights is brimming with eye-catching details and artistry. Currently a two-family home with the potential for rental income, this is a one-of-a-kind property in a neighborhood that's been drawing a surge of new residents lately. Over four years ago, a townhouse sold on the same street for $2.4 million—a record-breaking sale for the neighborhood at that time. Now, offering six bedrooms and a combined total of 4,500 square feet, this fully restored stunner with a huge garden and amazing views is a catch for the asking price of $2,795,000.
Get the tour
January 3, 2019

Snag an affordable apartment in the South Bronx, from $590/month

A housing lottery launched this week for 32 affordable apartments in the Morrisania neighborhood of the South Bronx. The new building located on the corner of Third Avenue at 545 East 166th Street sits on the same block as the recently-expanded Estella Diggs Park, which has greenery, pathways, and new play equipment. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 40, 50, 60, or 80 percent of the area median income can apply for the units, ranging from a $590/studio to a $1,643/month two-bedroom.
Find out if you qualify
January 2, 2019

Greenpoint’s new ‘community-forward rental’ launches lottery for 60 affordable units

Ranging from $1,045/month studios to $2,795/month three-bedrooms, 60 low- and middle-income units at Greenpoint's new rental Otto have come online through the city's affordable housing lottery. The block-long, 197-unit building boasts that it is "community-forward," with amenities like a lounge, old-school game room, gym, and a large rooftop with a pool, hot tub, barbecues, and incredible Manhattan views. For comparison, market-rate apartments are renting from $2,279/month for studios to $4,704/month for three-bedrooms.
Find out if you qualify
December 26, 2018

Major 7 train disruptions between Long Island City and Manhattan in January and February

On weeknights in January and the first week of February, as well as all weekends in January, the 7 train will not run between 34th Street-Hudson Yards and Queensboro Plaza, the MTA announced. As 6sqft reported last month, after seven years of installing modern signals on the 7 line, the system failed the first day it went live. The upcoming work will address repairs needed on a 2,000-foot section of track near Grand Central, "where defects were discovered" during this recent Communications-Based Train Control (CBTC) modern signaling system installation.
All the details
December 11, 2018

Landmarks designates new Inwood historic district

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted today to designate the Park Terrace West-West 217th Street Historic District in the Inwood section of Manhattan. The historic district features an enclave of picturesque early 20th-century houses with landscaped topography that stand out among the neighborhood’s apartment buildings.
Find out more
November 13, 2018

See 120 years of NYC art and architecture planning at the Public Design Commission’s Archives

On the third floor of City Hall, in what was once an apartment for the building's caretaker, a small agency known as the Public Design Commission reviews works of public art, architecture, and design proposed on or over city-owned property. Projects as varied as West End Avenue's Straus Memorial, Central Park's Bethesda Fountain, Greenpoint's now-defunct Huron Street Baths, and all of the City's spectacular WPA murals, have come before the Commission for approval and safeguarding. Since the Commission was established under the New York City Charter in 1898 and approved its first project, the Maine Monument in Central Park, designed and carved in the Bronx by the great Attillio Piccirilli, the commission has conferred or withheld its blessing on more than 7,000 projects. Thankfully, what those projects are and where you can find them is all a matter of public record. Since 1902, the Commission has maintained a meticulous archive documenting all the projects it has reviewed. The Archive includes original drawings, photographs, and architectural plans of more than a century of the City's public works.
Set your designs on this Story!
November 12, 2018

In honor of the World War I armistice centennial, the city’s memorials get refurbished

Did you know NYC has one of the largest collections of memorials erected in the aftermath of World War I? 103 to be exact. And to mark the centennial of the WWI armistice, the Parks Department has announced that they've completed refurbishments of several of these sites, including Father Duffy in Times Square, the Pleasant Plains Memorial on Staten Island, the Abingdon Square Doughboy in Greenwich Village, and the Carroll Park monument in Brooklyn.
READ MORE
November 6, 2018

Behind the Scenes at Queens’ Loew’s Valencia, once the most successful Wonder Theatre in NYC

Earlier this year, 6sqft got an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour at the majestic Loew’s Jersey City Theatre, as well as the United Palace Theatre in Washington Heights. In 2016, we joined Untapped Cities and NYCEDC on a tour of Brooklyn Kings Theatre, and just last month, as part of Untapped Cities Insider’s Tours, we were lucky enough to tour and photograph the former Loew’s Valencia Theatre on Jamaica Avenue in Queens, which is now home to the Tabernacle of Prayer for All People church. The majestic Loew’s Valencia Theatre opened on Saturday, January 12, 1929, as the first, largest, and most famous of the five flagship Loew’s “Wonder” Theatres established in the New York City area from 1929-30. All of the grand movie palaces were built by Marcus Loew of the Loew’s Theatres chain to establish the firm as a leader in film exhibition and to simultaneously serve as a fantastical yet affordable escape for people of all classes from the tedium and anxieties of their daily lives. The Valencia most definitely did not shy away from this fantastical approach, with its Spanish/Mexican Baroque architecture, gilded ornamentation, rich jewel-tone colors, and elaborate carvings.
Take the grand tour
October 1, 2018

Ten secrets of the Eldridge Street Synagogue

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. With stunning stained glass windows and a striking mix of Moorish, Gothic, and Romanesque features, the Eldridge Street Synagogue cuts an imposing figure on the Lower East Side. The Synagogue opened in 1887 as the first and finest Orthodox house of worship built by Eastern European Jews in America and served as a spiritual headquarters for millions of immigrants as they made new homes in New York. By the turn of the 20th century, over 4,000 congregants supported three daily services, and holiday crowds overwhelmed the building. But, by the 1940s, the congregation dwindled, and the doors of the great sanctuary were sealed; not to be reopened until the 1970s. When preservationists rallied to save the building on its 100th anniversary, they rediscovered the splendor of the sacred structure and spent 20 years restoring it. Following a meticulous restoration, the Synagogue reopened in 2007 as the Museum at Eldridge Street. Today, the museum welcomes visitors from around the world, and preserves city’s immigrant history as well as the structure’s sacred secrets.
Learn about these 10 secrets of the synagogue
August 9, 2018

The best affordable and student-friendly off-campus neighborhoods in NYC

If you can’t bear the idea of living in the dorms for another year, you’re not alone. Unless you happen to go to Columbia where over 90 percent of students live on campus, there's a high likelihood you’ll be searching for your own apartment at some point during your college years, just like 57 percent of students at NYU and 74 percent at The New School. And if you're like most students, you’ll be looking for an apartment far from downtown that strikes the right balance between affordability, commutability, and access to services. To help you make the smartest decision possible, 6sqft has compiled a list of affordable, student-friendly neighborhoods in Manhattan and Brooklyn. By New York City standards, all of these are both safe (e.g., reported fewer than 1.5447 crimes per 1000 people in June 2018) and within reach (e.g., on average, three-bedroom units can still be rented for less than $5,000 per month). Using July 2018 City Realty data on average neighborhood rents, we've broken down how much you’ll pay on average to live in a three-bedroom shared unit in each of these neighborhoods. We’ve also provided average commute times to both Union Square, which is easily walkable to NYU, The New School, and Cooper Union, and to the Columbia University campus.
Get the guide
August 9, 2018

59-block Inwood rezoning vote draws protests from residents who fear its character will be lost

On Wednesday the City Council approved a rezoning plan for a 59-block section of Inwood, a neighbhorhood often referred to as the "last affordable neighborhood in Manhattan," the New York Times reports. The plan was approved last week by the city's zoning subcommittee and the Land Use Committee. The Inwood rezoning is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s plan to rezone neighborhoods across the city as part of the push to create and preserve 300,000 affordable housing units by his goal date of 2026. Inwood is the fifth neighborhood–including the also-controversial East New York and East Harlem–to be approved for rezoning under the plan.
Find out more
July 11, 2018

Live one block from the G train in Bed-Stuy for just $1,074/month

With the impending L train shutdown, the G train is looking better and better, and here's a chance to live less than a block from the Myrtle-Willoughby Avenues stop. The affordable housing lottery is for seven $1,074//month one-bedrooms, open to New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income, at 901 Myrtle Avenue, a new 30-unit rental building.
Find out if you qualify
July 6, 2018

Nathan’s may start weighing hot dogs in its eating contest; 1 in 8 new apartments are in flood zones

This Sunday, go on a free tour of the Little Red Light House in Washington Heights, Manhattan’s only remaining lighthouse. [NYC Parks] After a counting error with Joey Chestnut this year, the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest is considering using technology to monitor plate weights. [ESPN] After a July 1st fire, FiDi’s Dead Rabbit, voted the […]

June 18, 2018

100+ affordable apartments up for grabs at a South Bronx passive house, from $702/month

Located between East 151st and 153rd Streets, a 15-story affordable rental is now accepting applications for a whopping 107 units. Dubbed Park Avenue Green, the South Bronx building at 2980 Park Avenue is the second phase of a multi-phase housing project. Designed by Curtis + Ginsberg Architects, the building includes 154 apartments and a 4,300-square-foot community facility. Qualifying New Yorkers earning 50, 60 and 80 percent of the area median income can apply for the units ranging from a $702/month studio to a $1,823/month three-bedroom.
Find out if you qualify
June 18, 2018

Live in an affordable three-bedroom near Brooklyn College in Flatbush for $1,279/month

Via NYC HPD An eight-story affordable rental building in Flatbush is offering up seven three-bedroom apartments for just $1,279/month. Located at 1345 Rogers Avenue, just a short walk from Brooklyn College, Crystal Towers contains 91,100 square feet of residential space with a total of 123 apartments. Residents will have access to amenities like an on-site super, a rear garden, bike storage and on-site laundry.  Qualifying New Yorkers earning 60 percent of the area median income can apply for the seven $1,279/month three-bedroom apartments.
Find out if you qualify
May 25, 2018

The Urban Lens: Bill Hayes captures New Yorkers as they are – heartbreakingly real

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Bill Hayes shares photos from his book “How New York Breaks Your Heart“. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. A writer, Guggenheim Fellow, photographer and, since 2009, a New Yorker, Bill Hayes is quite familiar with the beautiful and painful ways New York City can play with the human heart. He recently published a book of his many portraits of the city's inhabitants, "How New York Breaks Your Heart," showing in black and white and living color some of the city's many faces, all very real and alive and core to this city's aura. We spoke with Hayes, a West Village resident, about the book, the, ity and its people.
Meet Bill and see his photos
April 26, 2018

Asking $1.4M, this renovated Castle Village co-op is a candy-colored uptown oasis

Tucked away in the prime line of the captivating Castle Village co-op at 260 Cabrini Boulevard in Hudson Heights, this two-bedroom home is blessed with high-bluff vistas and a riot of colorful interiors that qualifies it as, to quote the listing, a "residential work-of-art." Even without its definitely-non-beige decor, the light and views in every room make this unique home a one-of-a-kind oasis even in a city of millions,
Take a whirlwind tour
March 30, 2018

Our 1,400sqft: A vibrant couple in their 80s ditches the suburbs for the West 70s

Marv and Fran Lifson have been married for 32 years. After combining their families (she had five children, he four), and spending three decades in Westchester, this self-described "active, older couple" decided to sell their home and relocate not to Florida or the Carolinas, but the Upper West Side. Luckily for them, Fran's son David Katz has his own architecture firm and he stepped right in to help them with their search and, ultimately, renovation. After finding their dream home two years ago, a fixer-upper on 72nd Street and Central Park West, David combined a studio and one-bedroom into a spacious two-bedroom that's just as fresh and modern as its residents. 6sqft recently visited Fran and Marv to learn about why they'd grown tired of the suburbs, what they love about their new urban lifestyle, and how the renovation process went.
See the whole place and hear from Fran and Marv
March 29, 2018

When the Bronx Bombers were the Highlanders: A brief history of the Yankees

Not unlike their current powerhouse lineup, the most dominant team in American sports got off to quite a rocky start. Not only did the New York Highlanders, now known as the Yankees, have a losing record for many years, but the team’s first home field was also a mess: it was located near a swamp, the outfield had no grass, and the ballpark sat mostly unfinished. In just six weeks, 500 men hastily built the stadium on Broadway and 168th Street in Washington Heights, known as Hilltop Park, in time for the Highlanders' first home game on April 30, 1903. Due to the unsavory, rock-filled conditions, the last big league game at Hilltop Park was played in October of 1912. Following its closure, the Highlanders changed their name to the Yankees in 1913, moved to the Bronx, and went on to become one of the most successful sports teams in the world.
More this way
March 6, 2018

Celebrate Women’s History Month with these 15 feminist shops, events, and exhibits in NYC

It's not surprising one of the original observances of Women's History Month got its start in New York in 1909; the first women's rights convention in the U.S. happened upstate at Seneca Falls, the first large-scale suffrage parade ran through the city and in 1917, the state became the first on the East Coast to grant women suffrage. A century later, there are countless ways to celebrate Women's History Month in New York City, so to narrow it down, we've rounded up 15 feminist-friendly bookstores, art galleries, and educational events. Whether you want to shop for girl-power-themed swag at Bulletin or enjoy a female-led mediation session at the United Nations, there's something empowering for everyone this month. 
Get the scoop
March 1, 2018

As of today, the Met will start charging non-New Yorkers $25 for admission

At the beginning of the year, the Met announced that it would begin charging non-New Yorkers (i.e. those without a state ID) $25 for admission, waiving its pay-what-you-wish policy that had been in effect since 1970. And as of today, that policy is officially being implemented through signs at all entrances, 14 new kiosks in the Great Hall, roaming museum staff with iPads, and a brochure that explains the new fee system, reports the Times.
READ MORE
October 10, 2017

A borough-by-borough guide to NYC’s food halls

Cronuts. Raclette. Poke bowls. Avocado toast. While the list of trendy cuisines making a splash in New York City’s food scene appears endless, food halls are making it easier for New Yorkers to try a bit of everything all under one roof. The city is experiencing a boom in this casual dining style; real estate developers opt to anchor their buildings with food halls, as all-star chefs choose food halls to serve their celebrated dishes. Ahead, follow 6sqft’s guide to the city’s 24 current food halls, from old standby Chelsea Market to Downtown Brooklyn’s new DeKalb Market, as well as those in the pipeline, planned for hot spots like Hudson Yards and more far-flung locales like Staten Island.
More this way