Architecture And Design

January 19, 2017

Perfectly preserved Victorian with a dreamy wraparound porch asks $785K in Hyde Park

It's hard not to crush on this Upstate Victorian, perfectly preserved since its construction in 1879 (h/t CIRCA). Located at 21 Curry Lane in New Hyde, both the architecture and location impress: the white house, with its original slate roof and wraparound porch, sits on a hill overlooking the Hudson River. It's a 15- minute drive to the Metro North station in Poughkeepsie for city dwellers, and it's $785,000 price tag is quite impressive.
See the grounds and interior

January 19, 2017

New renderings and photos show Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 5 uplands are almost complete

By Emily Nonko

You won't need to see more than a few renderings and photos of new park space slated for Brooklyn Bridge Park to feel ready for summertime. First posted by Curbed from the park's landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh Associates, renderings show the final design for one of the last undeveloped sections of the park between Montague and Joralemon streets. Known as the Pier 5 uplands, the hilly green space will be comprised of a stepped lawn, shaded grove, waterfront seating and new entrance off Joralemon Street. A sound-dampening berm will reduce noise from the nearby roadways. And it's all on track to wrap construction right before summer.
More images and details this way

January 19, 2017

$10.5M Federal-era house in Brooklyn Heights was Truman Capote’s muse

By Dana Schulz

When he penned an essay about his neighborhood of Brooklyn Heights in 1959, it was this wood-frame house at 13 Pineapple Street that inspired Truman Capote. "Cheerfully austere, as elegant and other-era as formal calling cards, these houses bespeak an age of able servants and solid fireside ease; of horses in musical harness," he wrote, referencing the 1830 Federal-era home that was around the corner from his personal house. The Wall Street Journal reports that, for the past 26 years, the residence has been preserved by a couple who were drawn to its grey shingles as a reminder of the old houses in Nantucket they love. But now that their children are grown, they're looking to downsize and have listed the storied property for $10.5 million.
All the history right this way

January 17, 2017

Ding uses your smartphone to revolutionize the doorbell

By Rebecca Paul

While smart home technology includes everything from turning on the heat to monitoring air quality, the simple job of a doorbell has been oddly overlooked until the arrival of Ding. A collaborative effort between the London-based startup and creative consultancy MAP (an arm of the industrial design studio Barber & Osgerby), the smart doorbell is a three-part system made up of an exterior button, indoor Wifi speaker (cleverly named Chime), and a corresponding iPhone app. When visitors come to the door, Chime functions as a normal doorbell, but the app allows residents to communicate with whomever is at the door remotely.
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Click here to enlarge infographic

January 17, 2017

128 tall buildings were constructed in 2016, a world record

By Michelle Cohen

We've just been looking at the amazing growth of the skyscraper in its early years, and now ArchDaily informs us that 2016 was a record year for tall buildings throughout the world. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) announced in its 2016 Tall Building Year in Review that 128 buildings 200 meters/656 feet or higher were completed in 2016, beating the previous year's record of 114 completions. Of those buildings, 18 nabbed the spot of tallest building in their respective city, country or region; 10 were classified as supertalls (300 meters/984 feet or higher). And it looks like we're on a roll...
Find out where the supertalls are rising and what the future might hold

Architecture And Design

January 17, 2017

$8.8M 20-room limestone Park Slope mansion was built in 1905 for a furniture tycoon

By Michelle Cohen

Even in the land of many mansions otherwise known as north Park Slope, 106 Eighth Avenue is, as the listing says, a rare Brooklyn treasure. Built in 1905 for furniture tycoon Henry Wallace Partridge, this Beaux Arts mansion built to accommodate "family, full time employees and guests" spans 8,000 square feet and 20 rooms, including seven bathrooms and nine fireplaces. Maintained with care, this extraordinary home has retained original details throughout, including hand-painted frescoes and a Tiffany stained glass atrium. It's currently on the market for $8.789 million (still far below the 17,500-square-foot Low mansion at 3 Pierrepont Place for $40 million), and awaits more family, full-time employees and guests to reimagine it for the 21st century.
Take the grand tour

January 16, 2017

TBD Architecture designs Tetris-like artist studios for an Upstate couple

By Rebecca Paul

TBD Architecture + Design Studio took on the challenge of designing two conjoined artist studios for a couple on the same property as their home in Watermill, New York. The creative housing is nestled amongst a cluster of trees at the edge of the site, and the double-studio structure is made up of two intersecting volumes each designed to accommodate the specifics needs of their respective artists-- a collage designer and a ceramist.
Learn more about this property

Architecture And Design

January 16, 2017

‘Ten & Taller’ exhibition maps the rise of Manhattan’s first skyscrapers from 1874 to 1900

By Michelle Cohen

Though it might seem that each recent generation attempts to take credit for the rise of the futuristic "skyscraper," buildings that rise ten floors or higher were born with the Gilded Age. "Ten & Taller: 1874-1900," on view through April 2017 at the Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park City examines every single building 10 stories and taller that was erected in Manhattan between 1874 through 1900 (h/t Curbed). Beginning in the mid-1870s, the city's first ten-story office buildings rose on masonry to 200 feet high with spires that stretched 60 more feet. By 1900 New York City could boast of 250 buildings at least as tall; the world’s tallest office building was the thirty-story 15 Park Row; framed with steel, it soared to 391 feet. As technology brought elevators and new methods of construction, the vertical expansion was becoming a forest of tall towers.
Follow the city's march skyward

January 16, 2017

This renovated historic townhouse in Mott Haven is only $800,000

By Michelle Cohen

File this one under things you won't find in Brooklyn: This pretty, totally modernized 2,828 square-foot Queen Anne row house at 418 East 136th Street in the Bertine Block Historic District offers four bedrooms with room for more, and four stories of townhouse loveliness, all for the well-under-a-million price of $800,000. Caveats apply, of course: It’s a narrow house at only 14 feet wide, and single-family so no rental income if you live there. But The Bronx is the place to be if you’re looking for townhouse living for under a mil.
Take a look

January 13, 2017

Natalia Geci’s clever furniture system was inspired by Marie Kondo’s de-cluttering principles

By Ana Lisa Alperovich

Like many organizationally challenged folks, Argentinean designer Natalia Geci was inspired by Marie Kondo’s bestselling book "The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up." Following the author's principal of only holding onto items that bring us joy, Geci created a freestanding, multifunctional furniture system to not only encourage de-cluttering, but to display these prized possessions.
Learn more about LYNKO

Own Frank Lloyd Wright’s horseshoe-shaped ‘Tirranna’ home in New Canaan, CT for $8M

By Dana Schulz

For the first time in 20 years, Frank Lloyd Wright's "Tirranna" home in New Canaan, Connecticut is on the market. The Wall Street Journal reports that the home, which Wright built just before his death in 1959 on a 15-acre wooded estate, has been listed for $8 million by the estate of its long-time owner, the late memorabilia mogul and philanthropist Ted Stanley and his wife Vada. Though the couple renovated the horse-shaped home, they maintained its original architectural integrity, preserving classic Wright details like built-in bookshelves, cabinets and furniture, as well as other unique features such as a rooftop observatory with telescope, gold leaf chimneys, and sculpture paths that wind through the woods.
See it all right here

January 13, 2017

Pieces of Thomas Heatherwick’s massive, climbable ‘Vessel’ arrive at Hudson Yards site

By Michelle Cohen

Back in September, Related Companies chairman Stephen Ross finally unveiled the large-scale artwork that would anchor the central public space within Hudson Yards. As Ross revealed, Thomas Heatherwick was chosen to design the piece, and it would cost an incredible $150 million to build. Dubbed "The Vessel,” the climbable sculpture would rise 16-stories—150 feet tall, 50 feet wide at its base and 150 feet wide at the top—and consist of a web of 154 concrete and steel staircases with 2,500 steps, 80 landings and an elevator; the piece, in fact, so massive that it could comfortably accommodate 1,000 visitors at a time. The sculpture was to be constructed in Monfalcone, Italy before being shipped to its home on the Hudson River. And now CityRealty reports that parts of what Ross once called "New York's Eiffel Tower" have officially arrived at the site and await assembly.
More photos this way

January 12, 2017

Queens houseboat asks $59,000 for 400 square feet of watery serenity

By Hannah Frishberg

Set sail for home in Jamaica Bay on this $59,000 houseboat, now for sale. According to its listing, the 400-square-foot model is good for year-round living and is equipped with central cooling, carpeted floors and wonderful waterfront views. Plus this "single family" vehicle has one bed, one bath, a very large covered deck and "great solar potential"—not to mention you've got the ocean as your playground. The listing says the houseboat, a 2007 Custom Flo-Lodge, was hauled a year ago across the Verrazano Narrows to its current docking point at Far Rockaway's Marina 59, and has been floating there ever since.
Yo ho a pirate's life in Queens

January 12, 2017

Interactive chart reveals the diversity of NYC’s street trees

By Diane Pham

Just as New York's population is a melting pot of ethnicities, the city's tree population is just as diverse. A new interactive chart from Cloudred give us a look at how tree genus breaks down across the five boroughs. As seen above, if one zooms in on the largest chunks of graph across Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Staten Island and the Bronx, it becomes quickly apparent that maple, oak, pear, and planetree trees have their roots firmly planted in the ground—as do a bunch of "unknowns," which account for about 14 percent of the city's total tree population.
find out more here

January 12, 2017

Video: Zaha Hadid speaks about what influenced 520 West 28th Street’s design

By Michelle Cohen

Zaha Hadid Architects has released a new video in which the firm's late principal, internationally celebrated starchitect Zaha Hadid, discusses the ideas that influenced the iconic, innovative and controversial design of her first residential project in New York City, the High Line adjacent 520 West 28th Street, developed by Related Cos. The 11-story residence was voted 6sqft's 2016 Building of the Year and is currently nearing completion.
'more freedom to innovate'

January 12, 2017

Jeanne Gang’s $340M Museum of Natural History expansion gets new interior renderings, details

By Dana Schulz

After the architects at Studio Gang tweaked their proposal for the American Museum of Natural History expansion to preserve more public parkland out front, the Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously approved the plans in October. And now that things are moving ahead, and the price has jumped from $325 to $340 million, the institution shared new details about how the 235,000-square-foot Richard Gilder Center for Science, Education and Innovation will operate. The update comes with a fresh set of interior renderings, which include views of the Butterfly Vivarium, Insectarium, and other educational spaces.
All the renderings and details this way

January 11, 2017

First look at the $30M penthouse at Robert A.M. Stern’s 30 Park Place

By Dana Schulz

The top-floor units at Robert A.M. Stern's 930-foot 30 Park Place have a way of making headlines. The 82nd floor penthouse, for instance, boasts the highest private outdoor space in the city, and the building's own developer, Larry Silverstein, recently snatched up the massive 80th floor spread for $34 million. But below these units are two duplex penthouses that span the 78th and 79th floors, notable for their double-height loggias that, as Curbed notes, have become a fixture in classic Stern buildings like 15 Central Park West and 520 Park Avenue. Curbed also got their hands on new photos of penthouse 78B, on the market for $29.5 million, which not only showcase the incredible views from the terrace, but new looks at the interiors.
More looks ahead

January 11, 2017

Norman Foster’s 50 Hudson Yards gets $195M in tax breaks from the city

By Dana Schulz

When completed, Related Companies‘ and Oxford Properties Group’s 50 Hudson Yards will be the city's most expensive office building, coming in at $3.94 billion. To make starchitect Norman Foster's pricey vision a reality, the developers had filed an application with the New York City Industrial Development Agency to take advantage of financial incentives that were enacted in 2006 to encourage development in Hudson Yards. And according to a new report in Crain's, the agency has approved $195 million in such tax breaks, which include making fixed payments towards the 985-foot tower's development costs instead of paying property taxes that vary from year to year, as well as receiving a discount on the mortgage recording taxes.
Find out more right here

Renderings via Loci Architecture

January 10, 2017

Gowanus Alliance reveals plans to bring Kentile Floors sign to new park

By Dana Schulz

Two summers ago, the Gowanus Alliance teamed up with Gowanus by Design on their vision to transform the land underneath the elevated subway tracks on 10th Street between Second and Third Avenues into a public park that would serve as a home for the iconic but dismantled Kentile Floors sign. Now that the MTA has completed its repairs on the tracks above, Brooklyn Paper reports that the group has tapped Loci Architecture for preliminary renderings of what this space, dubbed Under the Tracks Playground, could look like.
Find out more this way

Architecture And Design

January 10, 2017

Construction update: FXFOWLE’s Circa Central Park nears the finish line

By Dana Schulz

Last we heard from Circa Central Park, the circle-hugging Central Park north condo from architects FXFOWLE and developers Artimus, the lottery had launched for 10 affordable units in the building. Seven months later, with occupancy slated for this year and nearly all apartments sold, CityRealty stopped by the Harlem site to check on construction. They've shared some great views of the nearly-completed glass, metal, and brick facade, which utilizes "a brise soleil system of horizontal louvers and vertical fins" to reduce solar gain and add depth to the structure by highlighting them in bright colors.
More details ahead

January 9, 2017

Tower 28, Queens’ soon-to-be second-tallest residential building, gets new renderings

By Dana Schulz

When it's completed in March, Long Island City's Tower 28 (formerly 28 on 28th) will be the tallest residential building in Queens at 647 feet and 57 stories--that is, until it's taken over by the 66-story Court Square City View Tower nearby (this will also overtake the 673-foot 1 Court Square as the tallest overall building in the borough). Though its superlative will be short-lived, Heatherwood Communities' rental at 42-12 28th Street will still offer panoramic views, which new renderings from architects Hill West tell us will be taken in from a top-floor observatory, as well as a host of swanky amenities to "rival any vacation destination." According to CityRealty, the new exterior and interior views also come with news that leasing will begin in March, ranging from $1,900/month studios to $7,500/month three-bedrooms.
More renderings and details ahead

January 9, 2017

Built in Poland and shipped in pieces, NYC’s biggest modular hotel project is 55 percent complete

By Michelle Cohen

The 20-story, 300-room project at 185 Bowery was constructed in Poland and shipped to New York in 210 pieces. Owned by Dutch hotel developer/operator Citizen M with Brack Capital Real Estate, the high-rise hotel at 185 Bowery is more than half done, reports the Wall Street Journal. It will be the largest permanent modular hotel project ever in NYC. Modular construction is more common in Europe; the developer already has nine hotels up and running and 14 in the works. They’ve used the technique of stacking sealed, factory-made units containing finished hotel rooms on the majority of those projects.
Check out photos of the sealed hotel pods arriving

SOM reveals official rendering for American Bible Society-replacing condo-rental tower

The former American Bible Society building (L); SOM’s new design for 1865 Broadway (R)

January 6, 2017

SOM reveals official rendering for American Bible Society-replacing condo-rental tower

By Dana Schulz

In the fall of 2015, the American Bible Society moved from their long-time home at Broadway and 61st Street to Philadelphia. Their Columbus Circle/Lincoln Center headquarters was built in 1965 by architects Roy O. Allen Jr. and Donald C. Smith of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, who created a 12-story Brutalist structure that was the first in the city constructed with load-bearing, pre-cast concrete exterior walls. But with the institution's recent departure came the sale of the building at 1865 Broadway for $300 million to AvalonBay Communities. The developer returned to the original architectural firm to create a new condo-rental tower at the site, and CityRealty has now uncovered SOM's first official rendering of what will replace their former work, which, interestingly enough, harkens back to the Brutalist aesthetic.
Find out more this way

January 6, 2017

New renderings of Court Square City View Tower, Queens’ future tallest building

By Dana Schulz

When plans were originally filed in February 2016, the Long Island City skyscraper since dubbed Court Square City View Tower was set to reach 964 feet. In April, it got bumped up to supertall status at 984 feet, making it Queens' future tallest building. It's since been dropped to 66 stories, but according to a new project page from architects Hill West (formerly Goldstein Hill & West), it will still be Long Island City's tallest tower, and therefore the tallest in the borough. CityRealty first noticed the updated details, which come with the first true renderings of the 800-unit condominium at 23-15 44th Drive. In addition to 360-degree views of Manhattan, the tower will offer an all-glass curtainwall facade, a retail base, and a slew of corner-apartment balconies.
More details ahead

January 6, 2017

Before & After: 10 NYC blocks and enclaves transformed by pedestrian-friendly design

By Diane Pham

New York clocks in more steps on average than any other state in the country, and that number is most definitely skewed by New York City where more residents hit the pavement than the gas pedal. But in a town that's seemingly dominated by pedestrians, car culture maintains the right of way. According to Vision Zero, NYC's program to reduce traffic-related fatalities, being struck by a vehicle is the leading cause of injury-related death for children under 14, and the second leading cause for seniors. Providing more public space for pedestrians has become an increasing concern for the city over the last decade, and as such, a multitude of plans have been put forward to create sanctuaries from traffic or to reconfigure streets to keep people safe. But beyond preventing traffic accidents, by planting more trees, expanding sidewalks and bike paths, and installing seating, these urban renewal projects have also been key in promoting walking, biking, health and ultimately a more desirable and habitable New York City.
see more here

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